Parents' agony as 'bullied' girl, 14, hangs herself from middle school bleachers during class

Tragedy: Braylee Rice, 14, of Marian, Indiana left class at 8:45 a.m. and was found hanging from the bleachers outside her middle school at 10:17 a.m.

A 14-year-old girl hanged herself from her middle school's bleachers during class on Monday morning, and family members say she was bullied.

Braylee Rice of Marian, Indiana left class at 8:45a.m. and was found hanging from the bleachers outside McCulloch Junior High School more than an hour later at 10:17 a.m.

Rice's older sister, who goes by 'Moka,' said her sister was driven to suicide by bullies at school.

'She lived a great life until those kids from school told her to go and kill herself,' Moka wrote online in a Facebook group created in memory of Braylee. 'My sister already had depression and suicidal thoughts, and the school knew that, and they didn't help her. We tried so hard, our family really did.'

Fellow student Haley Simpson also says that Braylee was bullied.

'She was bullied and she didn't deserve what she got,' Simpson told WISE-TV . 'She didn't deserve to have to go through that pain. The fact that she had to commit suicide to feel the release that she wanted...'

School administrators say they were not aware that Braylee was being bullied, but dozens of parents posting to the Facebook memorial group claim otherwise, saying bullying is a systemic problem in the school.



Bullying: Rice's older sister, who goes by 'Moka,' said her sister was driven to suicide by bullies at school

Honoring Braylee: Posters, stuffed animals and other gifts were left under the bleachers at the site of her death Monday

Crime scene: These are the bleachers outside McCulloch Junior High School where Braylee was found hanging Monday morning

One parent claimed that on the morning of Braylee's death, students were throwing water bottles at her and calling her names. Those reports haven't been independently confirmed. A police investigation into Braylee's death is ongoing.

Braylee's mother, Carrie Rice, posted a message on Monday about the difficulty of having to identify her daughter's dead body.



'I did one of the hardest things I had to do today - ID my baby's lifeless body,' she wrote on Facebook. 'This is my daughter I gave birth to, loved with everything in me.'

Police say there were no witnesses to Braylee's suicide but Jennifer Smith, the parent of a student at the middle school, claims her son saw it happen.

Smith said that her son and a couple of other students were standing outside the school and spotted Rice on the bleachers. Shortly after that, they heard a loud noise and saw Rice's body hanging.

Family: Braylee's mother, Carrie Rice, (right) said she was devastated by having to identify her daughter's dead body on Monday. Braylee (left) is pictured at a much younger age



'He seen it, he seen the whole process, and he knew her so the hardest part is just trying to worry about, you know what's going to happen to him tonight when he closes his eyes. That's my biggest fear,' Smith told WISE-TV on Monday.

Classes continued and students were not let out of school after Braylee's body was found. School administrators said counselors are being provided at the school and on her school bus.



Parents and students are planning to hold a rally against bullying in Braylee's honor on Friday and the school has scheduled an anti-bullying event for Thursday.

