An eight-year-old girl found dead in the woods near her home had hanged herself after being bullied, police have said.
The body of little Tori Blair Wilson was discovered just 80 yards from her house near Palestine, East Texas, after she went missing from a neighborhood barbecue.
Following a weeks-long investigation, an autopsy has now revealed the second-grader died from suicide by hanging.
Anderson County Sheriff Greg Taylor told CBS: “It appears she was a good student with no problems at school, but we did receive information she may have been bullied at some point.”
It was also found that pretty eight-year-old had talked about suicide in the past, once even putting her head in a noose in front of one of her friends.
School district superintendent Dr. Ed Lyman paid tribute to Tori when she died, telling KYTX: “Teachers loved her, very fine student, she came from a great family. We just want to send our condolences to the family.”
He said counselors and pastors were on hand at both the district’s school campuses to help grieving students.
Sheriff Taylor described Tori’s death as “disturbing”, but said it was not an isolated incident and he had dealt with the suicides of younger children before.
He told the Herald:
“We’ll never know why. How an 8-year-old can come to that conclusion? Unfortunately, it’s not totally an isolated incident.”
Has your child ever been a victim of bullying? How did you help them?
