‘NEVER RECOVERED’
‘Audrie and Daisy’ star Daisy Coleman dead at 23 after ‘killing herself’ following ‘brutal rape as a teen’
TEEN “rape victim” Daisy Coleman, who told her story in the Netflix documentary Audrie & Daisy, has killed herself at the age of 23, her heartbroken mom revealed.
According to her mother, Melinda, Daisy took her life on Tuesday night, reported.
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"She was my best friend and amazing daughter," Melinda said in a .
"I think she had to make it seem like I could live with out her. I can't. I wish I could have taken the pain from her!"
Daisy's body was recovered after her mother called police asking them to do a welfare check.
The 23-year-old was featured in a 2016 documentary that followed her and her family dealing with the trauma of her alleged rape at a Missouri house party when she was 14.
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"She never recovered from what those boys did to her and it's just not fair," Melinda wrote, "My baby girl is gone."
No one was ever convicted in the assault and the documentary showed the negative reaction from her own community.
While no one was convicted, Matthew Barnett pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child after he supplied Daisy with alcohol and left her in "sub-freezing" temperatures outside of her house, Time .
An additional charge against another boy who allegedly filmed a sexual encounter between Daisy and Barnett was also later dropped.
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During the aftermath of the rape, Daisy was harassed in her community at school and online.
Regardless of the harassment, Daisy told the that she had forgiven her rapist.
"I feel no resentment towards my attacker only because I have come to realize that he was only passing on some form of negativity to me which at some point was passed onto him so once I came to that realization…that made me forgive him in a sense even though he never presented an apology."
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She added that she didn't cope with the situation well as she was young and was very negative towards herself.
"I lost all of my confidence. I didn't realize who I was anymore because I lost my position on the cheerleading squad."
"I faced a lot of identity problems and lot of that journey was just redefining myself and recognizing that even though all these people are saying all these things about me doesn't mean that they're true, because I get to define who I am," Daisy said.
Daisy struggled with healing from the attack for years after.
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In an post by SafeBAE, an organization Daisy co-founded in 2017, they said "As many of you know she's struggled with healing for years and had been making incredible progress, but healing is never a straight path and can often have setbacks."
Daisy co-founded SafeBAE to help end sexual assault among middle and high school students while assisting survivors.
In the post, the organization said they were"devastated" by her death and that they have "suffered an irreplaceable loss."
"Nothing inspired her more than knowing that she could help other survivors and work to prevent sexual violence," they added.
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Daisy's family faced heartache in 2018 when her young brother Tristan, 19, died in a one vehicle car in Western Kansas.
In an post, Daisy honored her younger brother saying he was her "best friend."
"I don’t understand why the universe decided today was the day to let you go. But I’ll never stop loving you. You’ll never stop being my best friend. My baby brother you’ll always be," she wrote.
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If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.
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