The mother of the 14-year-old Kansas girl who killed herself in front of a deputy recently shared a Facebook message directed at parents and children, warning them of the fatal consequences of bullying.
Reported to be a runaway, Jaylee Chillson was being escorted from a party by a police officer when she made a statement of her suffering and fatally shot herself.
Her dad was waiting in a car outside and after hearing the shot, he ran in and tried to revive his daughter, who died in his arms.
Now her mom is charging her daughter’s death to those who had a “part in crushing her.”
Keep reading to learn more about Jaylee’s tragic death.
On September 16, 2023, Jeb and Stacie Chillson reported to Cloud County’s Sheriff’s Office that their 14-year-old daughter had left home without permission. Knowing that Jaylee had a history of being bullied, and also believing she was with a 20-year-old man, the girl’s parents were concerned for her well-being.
Hours later, Jaylee was seen at an outdoor field party in Aurora, Kansas, and her father drove 40 minutes, hoping to bring her home.
Instead of storming through the crowd of college and high school students at the party, Chillson, a former EMT, instead called police for help.
When a deputy from Cloud County arrived, he turned on his cruiser’s flashers and drove to the gates of the “cabin and a pasture,” while Chillson waited in his vehicle on the ground’s perimeter.
“He’s (the deputy) in there a few minutes, I hear a shot ring out,” said Chillson. The 38-year-old father explains he then jumped out of his car toward the gunfire, hoping to help.
“They told me not to go in there, but I said used to be an EMT, I can help,” he told the Daily Mail. “When I got closer, they told me that there was a girl shot, so I took off running.”
“I see my daughter on the ground, being held up by one of the partygoers. As I come up to the deputy, he tells me that she pulled the gun out and shot herself as he was going over to her,” Chillson said.
After performing CPR for several minutes, Jaylee died in her father’s arms shortly after midnight.
According to a press release from the Sheriff’s Department, “He was escorting her to his patrol vehicle when she pulled out a firearm and shot herself. The deputy did not draw his firearm.”
The bullying
Devastated by her death, her father said that over the last two years, Jaylee was seeing a therapist to help with the pain caused by being bullied by other kids in their rural community.
“But nobody saw this coming,” Chillson said. “There was never any reason when this happened to even suspect this was going to happen.”
According to Jeb, the distressing situation started when Jaylee was in middle school. “My daughter would come in, covered in bruises and stuff like that,” he said, explaining that students encouraged her to cut herself, sent cruel messages to her on social media, and even dumped rubber cement in her hair while others watched.
Jaylee was pulled from school and continued classes online.
But her pain was too deep.
Calling her daughter one of the world’s “brightest lights,” her mother Stacie posted an emotional tribute to Jaylee on Facebook.
“This girl has the biggest heart of anyone I know and has since she was just a little girl,” she writes. “Our hearts our shattering. It’s unbearable. It’s not fair. She was our best friend. The best daughter. The best big sister. The best granddaughter. There is nothing that will ever make this hurt go away.”
Stacie also took the opportunity to warn those who “failed” her daughter.
“I’m also angry. I’m angry with those that hurt my baby. I’m furious with those I KNOW hurt her and will talk about her now like they didn’t play a part in crushing her.”
Armed with Jaylee’s phone, Stacie said she’s read several messages from her daughter’s “friends” who treated Jaylee with disdain. She also faulted a handful of parents for “calling her names and talking badly about her to their kids.”
Before ending her post with “we love you with all our heart and soul, our sweet baby girl,” Stacie writes: “No one outside of our family and her [therapist] know what the last year of her life has been like. Please stop making assumptions, please don’t judge her. And please do not, if you know YOU were part of the problem, if you knew YOUR child was part of the problem, use my daughter’s name now that she’s gone. You don’t deserve to.”
Meanwhile, the family is receiving some support through a GoFundMe, which was created to “help this grieving family.” Or as one contributor writes, “to help the family with her funeral costs and in Jaylee’s remembrance, as well as to bring as much attention as possible to child and teenage bullying.”
Expressing her gratitude for the “immense support and love and support” from strangers, family and friends, Stacie writes: “We ask you say her name, share her story, and do absolutely everything in your power to stand up to the dark, hateful, cruel people of this world. You will continue to see our daughter’s name. We will use her legacy to find ways to combat the pandemic of young people being affected by intense social pressures and harassment,”
Jaylee leaves behind her parents, four brothers and four grandparents.
Rest in peace, Jaylee. We are so saddened to hear about this child’s tragic life and death, and really hope that her family finds some peace.
Please share this story so others know the deep trauma caused by bullying and its sometimes fatal outcome. Bullying is no joke!
Be sure to check out the story of the settlement a family received after the 2019 bullying death of 13-year-old boy.
READ MORE
- 15-year-old tragically commits suicide following a pattern of bullying and mistreatment at school
- Family of 18-year-old Texas school shooter who injured four say he was a victim of bullying
