Dominic Crouch

Meet Dominic Crouch, age 15.  Dominic committed suicide in May of 2010 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK.

From the story:

Public schoolboy Dominic Crouch, 15, plunged from the six-storey building near the exclusive St Edwards School in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in May of last year, just days after coming back from a four-day art class trip to the Forest of Dean.

Dominic appeared to be happy after returning from the trip, the inquest in Cheltenham heard.

However, on he Tuesday after the expedition the 'carefree' rugby-loving schoolboy left the school at lunchtime and went to a locked block of flats nearby called Withyholt Court.

He managed to gain access to the roof and threw himself off.

Paul Harvey, the school's current headmaster, told the inquest a helper on the trip, Lucy Evans, had reported after Dominic's death that the Year 10 children had been playing 'spin the bottle' on the trip and that it was said Dominic had kissed a boy.
This led to gossip that he might be homosexual.

From The Advocate:

“Dominic was clearly upset about rumours that he believed were being spread about him,” Dominic’s father Roger Crouch told the inquest. “We need to realize that what may be a laugh to some young people are deeply upsetting to another.”

Gloucestershire's deputy coroner David Dooley has ruled the death a suicide.

UPDATE 4/2/2011:

Via a comment from Dominic's mother, Paola Crouch:

I have been so moved by your website. The utter needlessness of loss of life caused by bullying or worse (I see with sadness that one young man was beaten to death). I am Domi's mother. Dominic was not in fact gay but was instinctively opposed to all forms of discrimination. He was driven to his death by taunts which he confirms in his last notes to us, were not true. Dominic was tough and physically fearless which I fear contributed to his undoing. He was also tremendously kind and compassionate and would never have participated in a similar hate campaign against a fellow pupil. We, his family, and the world in general have lost the sort of person that made life worth living, a boy without a single bad bone in his body. Rest in peace my beautiful child.

UPDATE 12/6/2011:

Roger Crouch, Dominic's father, who had spent his time since Dominic's death fighting bullying in schools, committed suicide on November 28th, 2011.  Apparently he had never come to terms with his son's death.

Read more here.



Sources:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/12/05/father-who-set-up-anti-gay-bullying-campaign-after-son-s-suicide-hanged-himself-inquest-hears-115875-23612446/
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/859523-gay-rumours-schoolboy-dominic-crouch-jumped-off-block-of-flats
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/03/31/Gay_Rumors_Led_Teen_to_Suicide/

Anthony Collao

Meet Anthony Collao, age 18.  Anthony, who was not gay, was beaten to death by five suspects yelling anti-gay slurs at a party.  The party was hosted by two gay friends.

Anthony died when he was removed from life support on Moday March 14th, 2011.

From the story:

Party crashers yelled anti-gay slurs, then beat and stomped a teen to death at a Queens birthday bash, sources and witnesses said.

Anthony Collao, 18, a recent high school graduate who wanted to help run his family's ice cream business, died Monday at Jamaica Hospital.

It's not clear why Collao was targeted. Friends said he had a girlfriend and was not gay - though the two men who threw the party are openly gay.

...


The crashers flashed gang signs, yelled anti-gay slurs and scrawled epithets in red marker on the walls, the two party hosts said.

"They called us homos and all kinds of stuff," said one of the men, who was celebrating his 20th birthday.

Sensing trouble, Collao left with a friend and was chased, sources said. The gang caught up to him, pinned him against a car and "beat him to within an inch of his life," a source said.

A memorial was held March 24th, 2011. 

Police have arrested five suspects thus far in connection with the deadly attack on Collao, who passed away after he was taken off life support. At least one of the suspects is a juvenile. All were charged with manslaughter and assault as hate crimes.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was at the vigil, denouncing anti-gay violence.

"That is what happens when hate goes unchecked. That is what happens when you allow homophobia and anti-immigrant sentiments to fester in a society," said Quinn.

Anthony Collao was not gay, but Thursday night he had the full support of the gay community.  And a sister who still can't believe her brother is gone.

"It just broke my heart completely because losing your older brother, blood running through, it just hurt. It's a pain you can't imagine," she said.

UPDATE 6/24/2011:

According to CBS NEWS  6 men have been charged with murder as a hate crime in Anthony's death.

...


Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said Thursday the defendants were each charged in a 21-count indictment that includes second-degree murder as a hate crime. Brown said the charges were upgraded after new evidence from witnesses.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said previously that the suspects made "homophobic remarks" and scrawled on a wall with red markers after crashing the party.

The defendants could face up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

Sources:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20073784-504083.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/03/15/2011-03-15_teen_beaten_to_death.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/03/16/2011-03-16_5th_suspect_arrested_in_fatal_beating_of_queens_teen_bragged_of_hate_crime_on_fa.html
http://www.queerty.com/queens-remembers-anthony-collao-the-straight-teen-gay-bashed-to-death-20110325/
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Community-Mourns-Teen-Hate-Crime-Victim-118626209.html

Nick Kelo Jr

Meet Nick Kelo Jr.  Nick was 13 when he died of a self inflicted gunshot wound on Wednesday, Feb 23, 2011 in Rittman, OH.

It is not known whether Nick was gay, but bullying based on the perception that he was gay, apparently played a role.

From the story:

At the tender age of 13, Nicholas Kelo Jr. knew what it was like to be relentlessly bullied. It may have been what persuaded him to pry open a safe inside his Rittman home and remove the gun that killed him.

...

''It had been going on for years,'' Jacqueline Kelo said. ''We would talk and he would say [of the bullies] that they were not worth his time.''

Nick played football in middle school but gave up the sport this year to participate in high school band. The switch, Jacqueline Kelo reasoned, resulted in swelling rumors. Some, she said, wrongly assumed that a kid who would prefer to play the tenor sax rather than tossing a pigskin must be gay.

''After that, it [the bullying] spiraled out of control,'' she said.

...

After Nick's mother found him, an emergency squad rushed him to Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital. He then was transported by helicopter to Akron Children's Hospital. But the handsome boy with the incredible mind could not be saved.

Even in the throes of anguish, his parents had the mindset to donate his organs. ''We just wanted something good to come out of this tragedy,'' said the senior Kelo, who lives in Cuyahoga Falls.

Because the boy had worked so hard to earn a second-degree black belt in tae kwon do and held a red-black belt in kumdo, his body was in remarkably good shape.

''They were able to get nine organs,'' Jacqueline Kelo explained.

...

Nick had once told his mother that if anything happened to him, he wanted his organs to be donated. It was quite a selfless decision for a kid his age, but then Nick wasn't an average child.

A while ago, the Kelos had to have Nick's IQ tested for a program at school. His mother teasingly refused to tell her son that he had scored 152, which is classified as superior intelligence.

''Your head would never fit through the door if you knew,'' she joked with him.

He was curious about how to obtain patents for things he had invented, such as a waffle fork to remove hot food from a toaster and an incinerator trash can.

Sources:

http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/117770373.html

http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2011/03/anti-gay-bullying-leads-to-another-tragic-teen-suicide/

http://thepostnewspapers.com/northernwayne/obituaries/obit-kelo-NW-3-5

Lance Lundsten

Meet Lance Lundsten, age 18.  Lance was an openly gay student at Jefferson High School in Miltona, Minn, when he committed suicide Saturday Jan 15th.

Many of Lance's friends say he was bullied continuously in school because of his sexual orientation.

From the story:

Around 10 p.m. Saturday the Douglas County Sheriff's Office responded to an emergency call at the Lundsten's residence in Miltona.

When officers arrived, they discovered 18-year-old Lance Lundsten needing emergency medical care. Lundsten was transported to the Douglas County Hospital where he later died.

The Sheriff's Office confirmed to KSAX that they believed Lundsten's death was a suicide. The Sheriff would not confirm the nature of the medical emergency.

According to his Facebook page, Lundsten was openly gay. On a Facebook memorial page in Lundsten's honor, friends said  that Lundsten had been bullied at school for his sexual orientation. Some students who knew Lundsten believed the bullying may have led to his suicide.

Another Jefferson High School student started a Facebook group following Lundsten's death called the Jefferson Anti-Bully Coalition.

UPDATE 3/7/2011:

According to KSAX, Lance's death has been formally ruled a suicide due to mixed drug ingestion.  There had been some speculation that an enlarged heart might have been the cause of death, but this has now been ruled out.

Sources:
http://ksax.com/article/stories/S2005847.shtml?cat=10230
http://ksax.com/article/stories/s1928689.shtml
http://prideinutah.com/?p=8242

Aiden Rivera Schaeff

Meet Aiden Rivera Schaeff.  Aiden was 17 years old, just one month shy of his 18th birthday when he committed suicide on April 22 of 2010.  Aiden was female-to-male transgendered, and had begun his transition in high-school. 

According to one of his best friends, Ava, he had endured constant bullying in high-school, until he finally dropped out two months into his senior year.

Said Ava in her It 'get's better video' in his honor: "I know that there are a ton of people out there, who like Aiden, they're  amazing and just beautiful, and they're loved, and they can't see it because they have to deal with so much hate every day."



Ava's 'It Gets Better' video for Aiden:




There is a permanent page set up in his memory at: http://aidenriveraschaeff.com/

His obituary is at: http://yourlifemoments.ca/sitepages/obituary.asp?oId=387072

Sources:
http://yourlifemoments.ca/sitepages/obituary.asp?oId=387072
http://aidenriveraschaeff.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0lGt-jeqIo&feature=player_embedded

Joshua Wilkerson

Meet Joshua Wilkerson, age 18.  Wilkerson’s bound and burned body was found in a field in Pearland Texas on Wednesday Nov 17th after a 24 hour search.

Hermilio Moralez

Hermilio Moralez, 19, was charged Thursday with murder in the death of Joshua Wilkerson.  Authorities now say that Joshua Wilkerson, 18, was beaten with a large wooden rod and that his body was burned.






From the story:

According to court documents, Wilkerson gave Moralez a ride home from school Tuesday and Moralez stated that Wilkerson began to make sexual advances towards him. Moralez said they got out of the truck and began to fight when Wilkerson grabbed a large wooden rod and tried to hit him. Moralez said he took the piece of wood from Wilkerson and began to hit him with it. He said Wilkerson was not moving afterwards.

The police report provides more detailed information.  It's a pdf encoded image so I cannot cut and paste portions of it, but basically:

Moralez got into a fight with Wilkerson on the patio of Moralez' fathers home after being given a ride home from school by Wilkerson.  According to Moralez, Wilkerson made a pass at him.

During this fight, Wilkerson was beaten with a wooden pole.  Police have recovered the pole.

Afterwards, Moralez bound the hands and feet of Wilkerson, and took him to a field in Wilkerson's pickup truck.  There he set fire to the body.  He then discarded Wilkerson's backpack and shoes in a dumpster, and abandoned Wilkerson's pickup truck near a bar in Pearland.

When police found Moralez walking along a road, he was arrested and eventually told the story, as well as leading police to the body.  The body was partially burned, with the feet and hands bound.

According to Wilkerson's mother, the two had been friends and had known each other for about 5 years.  Wilkerson had frequently provided a ride home for Moralez.

More information becoming available:
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/101118-pearland-teen-arrest
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7797238


Sources:
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/101118-pearland-teen-arrest
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7797238
http://www.dallasvoice.com/breaking-pearland-teen-beaten-death-body-burned-antigay-hate-crime-1052971.html
http://www.dallasvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/pearland-teen-probable-cause.pdf

Brandon Bitner

Meet Brandon Bitner, age 14.  Brandon killed himself on Friday, November 5th by jumping in front of a tractor-trailer, after leaving a suicide note, and walking nearly 13 miles from his home.

From the story:

There seems to be little doubt in the students’ minds why Bitner did what he did.

“It was because of bullying,” friend Takara Jo Folk wrote in a letter to The Daily Item.

“It was not about race, or gender, but they bullied him for his sexual preferences and the way he dressed. Which,” she said, “they wrongly accused him of.”

His death came just days after an anti-bullying assembly at the high school, which, according to district Superintendent Wesley Knapp, was not held in response to any specific problems at the school, but because it is an issue Principal Cynthia Hutchinson has always felt strongly about.

After the assembly, according to student Briana Boyer in another letter to The Daily Item, “No one took it seriously, and joked around about it.”

Former Midd-West student Erin Barnett sent a letter as well, blaming the school, saying that when students report bullying, “Nothing is done.”

“Bullying should be addressed in every school, and should have a punishment,” Barnett said.

“I do not appreciate … kids bullying others for their own gratification,” Folk wrote. “Because of bullying, one of my closest friends took his own life.”

“I am writing this (because) Midd-West School District has bullies, and kids who are bullied are not okay.”

Other high school students on Friday described Bitner as extremely gifted.

“He was very talented,” said sophomore Alley Sharp, of Middleburg, as she remembered an “Evanascence” song he played on his violin at a middle school talent show, wowing the crowd.

Here is a link to a Memorial facebook page set up for him: http://www.facebook.com/pages/RIP-Brandon-Bitner/163850276981688?v=wall&_fb_noscript=1

Sources:
http://dailyitem.com/0100_news/x603547374/Bullied-student-kills-self
http://www.shewired.com/Article.cfm?ID=26086
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/11/08/Bullying_Suicide_in_Penn/
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/09/national/main7038306.shtml