An 11-year-old New Jersey girl who died in February, two days after being found in a bathroom at her middle school had taken her own life, authorities said.
The Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office told the Daily Voice that another student at F.W Holbein Middle School in Mount Holly discovered Felicia LoAlbo-Melendez unresponsive in a bathroom on February 6. Her manner of death was deemed a suicide — and her cause of death was attributed to complications from her attempted suicide.
“An investigation into the student’s death by the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, which included a review of the school’s surveillance cameras, determined that she was alone in the restroom when this tragic action occurred,” the office said in a statement to NJ.com.
According to the Daily Voice, LoAlbo-Melendez’s father, a NJ Transit detective, died from pancreatic cancer on January 25, about two weeks before her suicide.
In light of her death, LoAlbo-Melendez’s mother shared a voice note from 2021 in which her daughter insinuates that she will not be around in the future but advises to “never, ever…be a bully.”
“Unless you’re me, well you’re listening to this from the future,” she says. “Say hello to future mom, future dad… future everyone.”
LoAlbo-Melendez’s mother also told the Daily Voice said that she and the grandmother had sent numerous emails to administrators about ongoing bullying but nothing was done. During a Board of Education meeting, a parent of one of LoAlbo-Melendez’s friends said his daughter revealed to him that LoAlbo-Melendez was bullied but he “failed to convey” this message to teachers “in time.”
NJ.com reported that a week before her death, LoAlbo-Melendez emailed school administrators about she and her friends being bullied — and that they were breaking the law by failing to act. According to her mother, a month earlier, her daughter emailed the school about starting a “trauma club” in which students could talk about their trauma or stress.
“Felicia’s email will not go unheard,” LoAlbo-Melendez’s mother told NJ.com. “This isn’t about me. This is about our children.”
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[Featured image: Felicia LoAlbo-Melendez/Facebook]
