Daisy Coleman‘s body was found in Colorado on Aug. 4 after she passed away by suicide at the age of 23 and now her hometown sheriff, Sheriff Randy Strong, of the Nodaway County Sheriff’s Office in Maryville, Missouri, is speaking out about the shocking and devastating incident. Sheriff Strong admitted that he has been speaking with Daisy’s mother, Melinda Coleman, and found out about what happened late last night. “I stay in touch with her mother and Daisy through Facebook and I saw that Melinda posted that information at around 11:20pm last night, our time here in central time,” Sheriff Strong EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife.
He went on to express his heartbreak over Daisy’s death and pointed out that his administration wasn’t involved in the case of her 2012 assault, which put her in the spotlight. “It’s a terrible tragedy. It should have never happened,” he explained. “I came into office after that. That didn’t happen under my administration, we turned things around and it’s just a terrible tragedy.”
Sheriff Strong also commented on the fact that Daisy had a tragic life that not only involved assault, but also the loss of family members. “Yeah, she’s lost her father, her brother,” he said.
Daisy’s passing was first confirmed to the public by her mother, Melinda. The grieving parent took to Facebook to announce the sad news. “My daughter Catherine Daisy Coleman committed suicide tonight,” Melinda wrote in the post. “If you saw crazy messages and posts it was because I called the police to check on her.”
“She was my best friend and amazing daughter,” she continued. “I think she had to make it seem like I could live without her. I can’t. I wish I could have taken the pain from her! She never recovered from what those boys did to her and it’s just not fair. My baby girl is gone.”
Daisy’s death comes after her rape case was featured in Netflix’s popular 2016 documentary Audrie & Daisy. Although the documentary helped to shed light on victims of abuse and how abuse can negatively affect lives for many years to come, Daisy’s appearance in the film led to bullying and backlash in her small town. She still managed to stand up for what she believed in though by becoming an advocate who spoke out against abuse and co-founded the organization called SafeBAE (“Safe Before Anyone Else”), “a survivor-founded, student-led national organization whose mission is to end sexual assault among middle and high school students.”
She was also the subject of a second documentary called Saving Daisy. It is about her “journey of healing from lifelong trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, through EMDR Therapy,” according to the film’s site.