A teenager posted a heartbreaking video on YouTube chronicling years of
bullying in school and online, cutting and humiliation up until she died
this week.
Amanda Todd, 15, posted the video called "My story: Struggling,
bullying, suicide, self harm" on Sept. 7 and was found dead in her home
town of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, just over a month later.
"Hello, I've decided to tell you about my never ending story," the black
and white video begins. Todd can only be seen from her nose down for
most of the video, occasionally moving around so that her face is
visible. She silently tells her story through a series of white cards
with black marker writing on them.
She describes using webcam chats to meet and talk to new people online
as a seventh grade student. She said that people told her she was
"stunning, beautiful, perfect" and a man pressured her to flash her
chest. One year later, she did.
Todd received a Facebook message from a man she did not know saying that
if she did not "put on a show" for him, he would send the photo of her
chest to everyone. Over Christmas break, Todd said police came to her
house at 4 a.m. to tell her that the photo had been sent to everyone.
"I then got really sick and got anxiety, major depression and panic
disorders," she wrote. "I then moved and got into drugs and alcohol."
A year after moving, Todd said things were going better until the man on
Facebook came back and used the photo of her chest as his profile
picture. Todd said she "cried every night, lost all my friends and
respect people had for me again."
"I can never get that photo back," she wrote. "It's out there forever."
She described being called names, eating lunch alone and resorting to
cutting herself. She also told the story of an incident where she made a
"huge mistake" and "hooked up" with a boy at her school who had a
girlfriend, but who she believed really liked her.
A week later, she said she received a text message telling her to get
out of school and then a group of students, led by the boy's girlfriend,
surrounded her at school and said, "Look around, nobody likes you."
"A guy then yelled, 'Just punch her already,' so [the girlfriend] did,"
Todd wrote. "She threw me to the ground and punched me several times.
Kids filmed it. I was all alone and left on the ground."
Todd said she "wanted to die so bad" when her dad found her in a ditch.
She drank bleach when she went home and had to be rushed to the hospital
to have her stomach pumped, she said.
"After I got home, all I saw was on Facebook--'She deserved it. Did you
wash the mud out of your hair? I hope she's dead,'" she wrote.
Todd moved to another school in another city, but said the torture
followed her through Facebook. Students posted photos of ditches and
suggested she try another bleach.
"Every day, I think, why am I still here?" she asked towards the end of
the video. "I'm stuck. What's left of me now? Nothing stops. I have
nobody. I need someone. My name is Amanda Todd."
Authorities were called to a residence in Port Coquitlam, British
Columbia, just before 6 p.m. on Oct. 10 to investigate the sudden death
of the tormented teenager.
While authorities have not officially called the death a suicide, Cpl.
Jamie Chung of the Coquitlam Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a
statement, "At this time it has been determined that the teen's death
was not suspicious in nature and that foul play was not a factor."
The coroner is investigating the death, police said.
Todd said in her video that she did not want to press charges against
the girl who beat her up because she ?wanted to move on? when she moved
to another city and school.
Police did not immediately respond to ABCNews.com's question whether
there was a probe into the man who used Todd's Facebook photo in an
effort to exploit her and then made it public.
Todd's family has declined to speak, but Cheryl Quinton, spokeswoman for
the Coquitlam School District, told ABCNews.com, "The family was
wanting to pass along that several supports were in place for their
daughter on the school, home and community levels. There was a lot of
intervention and a lot of support. I know that is the message that they
want to convey."
Todd was in the tenth grade at the Coquitlam Alternate Basic Education
School when she died. School officials would not release the name of her
previous school.
Quinton said the death has been "very devastating" to the small school
where resources are being provided to students in regards to suicide
prevention and bullying.
"We typically, as a school district, don't talk about such deaths but
with the family's endorsement we did choose to do so because it is
important to point out the dangers associated with social media and
cyber-bullying," Quinton said.
