NEWS

Family of girl who killed herself sues school

Keith BieryGolick
kbierygolick@enquirer.com
Emilie Olsen

FAIRFIELD - A few days before she killed herself, a teacher noticed Emilie Olsen often sat by herself in the lunchroom and didn’t eat.

That teacher told Emilie's father she rarely smiled and only responded to questions with one-word answers.

At the same time, messages such as “Emilie is a whore” and “Go kill yourself Emilie” were scribbled on bathroom stalls at the Fairfield Middle School.

Previously, a fake social media account entitled “Emilie Olsen is Gay” posted she loved to chew tobacco and have sex with random people in the woods.

She was 13 years old.

Her family is now suing the school district, saying in a federal lawsuit that school officials knew about the bullying, but did little to stop it. In addition to damages, the family is seeking reforms to the district’s practices and policies about bullying.

“Sadly, Emilie’s case is not an outlier,” according to the lawsuit.

Family unsatisfied with probe of Fairfield girl's suicide

School officials have continuously denied those allegations. Fairfield Township police have said they found plenty of social media speculation, but no substantial evidence to link her death to bullying.

Those positions stand in stark contrast to the 82-page lawsuit, which lists Emilie’s parents and sister as plaintiffs. In it, they say Emilie's time in the Fairfield City School District became an abusive battlefield that continued to escalate until she shot herself in the head Dec. 11, 2014.

"Emilie and her parents tried to end the bullying and repeatedly pleaded with (the school) for help," according to the lawsuit. "Consequently, Emilie suffered severe anguish, distress, and depression, and ultimately committed suicide."

The lawsuit alleges Emilie was bullied for the better part of three school years because of her association with a group of white students who wore camouflage and were considered “country” by other students. Emilie, of Chinese descent, was adopted when she was nine months old.

“Chinese people don’t wear camo,” one student told her.

On a separate occasion, a group of students pushed her into a locker, saying, “Asians shouldn’t wear camo and boots."

Before starting seventh grade, Emilie told her parents she was scared to go back to school because her class schedule grouped her with several students who picked on her in previous years.

In sixth grade, one of those students allegedly followed Emilie into the bathroom, handed her a razor and told her to "end her life."

Before she did, she told her parents she wanted to dye her hair as an attempt to conceal her ethnicity.

“Why can’t I be white like you and mom?” she asked her father.

The horrific picture painted in the wrongful death lawsuit, filed one year after Emilie’s death, outline allegations that aren’t new. Her family and other prominent figures in the Asian-American community have publicly criticized district officials for a lack of transparency and a lack of tangible action regarding bullying.

Did racial bullying spur girl's suicide? Dad thinks so

Fairfield Schools spokeswoman Gina Gentry-Fletcher on Monday said the district is aware of the lawsuit.

"The district will be defending the litigation and will be providing appropriate responses in the course of the litigation,'' said Gentry-Fletcher.

She declined further comment.

School officials previously acknowledged communication with Emilie's parents regarding bullying in the sixth grade, but said their investigation revealed that any reported issues were resolved "to the complete satisfaction of the family."

Fairfield Township police spoke to Emilie's boyfriend and best friend after her death. Neither mentioned her being the victim of bullying during the first part of the 2014-15 school year, according to a police report obtained by The Enquirer.

According to the police report, her parents told investigators they suspected the 13-year-old had been "consuming alcohol on a regular basis and may have been taking recreational drugs, particularly acid."

But a coroner's toxicology report came back negative for any drugs.

Her father also told police and The Enquirer his daughter suffered from depression and had intentionally cut her arms and legs in the past. The police investigation revealed text messages from Emilie to friends about committing suicide.

Fairfield schools again accused of lax bullying enforcement

The Fairfield City School District Board of Education conducted a public meeting in recent months to highlight the district's policies for bullying, but did not answer questions from the audience. In October, parent Ray Schmitz complained his eighth-grade daughter also was bullied. He told the school board a classmate intentionally tripped his Asian-American daughter at the middle school, resulting in a concussion.

Several other incidents, including the one Schmitz told school officials about, were included in the lawsuit. Two students at the school district even tried to kill themselves before Emilie did, the lawsuit states.

Several hundred people attended a candlelight vigil for Emilie after the lawsuit was filed in federal court Friday. A man who identified himself as her father said he rarely posts on Facebook, but felt compelled to after the event.

"My daughter's death is not in vain," he said. "Good will come of this."

Sue Kiesewetter contributed to this report.