Culture

Fla. Teen's Suicide Followed Months of Online Bullying

Girls kept telling her to kill herself. Eventually she did.

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For nearly a year, as many as 15 girls ganged up on 12-year-old Rebecca Ann Sedwick and picked on her, authorities say, bombarding her with online messages such as "You should die" and "Why don't you go kill yourself."

At some point, Rebecca decided she couldn't take it anymore.

She changed one of her online screen names to "That Dead Girl." She messaged a boy: "I'm jumping." And then, on Monday, she went to an abandoned concrete plant in Lakeland where she liked to hang out, climbed a tower and hurled herself to her death.