The Connecticut high school student who died of an apparent suicide on Saturday had been released from a hospital the night before her death.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Hailey Nailor died after she voluntarily fell or jumped from the fifth-floor balcony of a parking garage at the Danbury Fair Mall on Saturday afternoon. Police responded to a report of a suicidal person, but by the time they arrived Nailor had “fallen to her death,” Danbury Police Detective Mark Williams told the Connecticut Post.
A fellow student at Danbury High School told the news outlet that Nailor had posted a video to Snapchat discussing whether or not she should take her own life.
“[S]he recorded herself contemplating if she should go through with it,” Luis Lopez told the Connecticut Post. “She sadly did go through with it.”
Did bullying lead to Connecticut teen, Hailey Nailor jumping to her suicide death from Danbury Fair mall? Posted Snapchat video moments before jumping. https://t.co/jdyMCj8QHl
— Scallywagandvagabond (@ScallywagNYC) February 11, 2019
According to the NewsTimes, Nailor had struggled with anxiety and depression. Hailey’s father Kevin Nailor told the news outlet that Hailey had been admitted to Danbury Hospital on Friday, after she had reportedly made threats to harm herself, and stayed at the hospital for nine hours before she was discharged.
On Saturday, she went to the mall with her grandmother, who reportedly believed Hailey was in an Apple store at the time she was preparing to take her own life.
“She had more friends than she would acknowledge,” Kevin Nailor, who does not appear to have been Hailey’s custodial parent, told the NewsTimes. “She was surrounded by people who loved her and cared about her.”
The news outlet reports that Nailor’s friend Maria Garcia is planning a vigil for the 16-year-old on Saturday at the Danbury Fair Mall.
“She was a great friend to me and always had my back through everything as well to many others,” Garcia posted on Facebook. “It’s heartbreaking to know she went the way she did and I wish with every ounce of me I could of helped her make the right decision or someone else could have.”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, screenshots of Snapchat posts believed to be made by another student, and appearing to taunt Nailor after her death, have circulated on social media in recent days. It is unclear at this time if authorities are looking into the possibility that bullying may have been a factor in Nailor’s suicide.
CrimeOnline will provide further updates when more information is available.
