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Rape Charge Dropped After Teen Accuser's Suicide

Samantha Kelly, 14, was bullied by classmates after senior charged

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 11, 2010 1:22 AM CST | Updated Nov 11, 2010 6:45 AM CST

(Newser) – Friends and family of Samantha Kelly say the 14-year-old girl was relentlessly bullied after accusing a popular senior at her high school of raping her. The charges against Joseph Tarnopolski, 18, have now been dropped after Kelly hanged herself at her Michigan home after coming home from school earlier this week, the Detroit Free Press reports. A judge dismissed the rape case after prosecutors told him that they didn't have a case without the girl's testimony.

"People took sides," a 10th-grader at Huron High School tells the Detroit News. "Most of them lined up with him because it looked like he was going to go to jail for a relationship. People said she was lying that she got raped. It got pretty ugly. She lost a lot of friends." A Facebook page has been set up in her honor, with one teen writing: "RIP, Samantha Kelly. We love you." Kelly's mother screamed at Tarnopolski after his brief court appearance, and had to be restrained by relatives. "My daughter did not get any justice," she said. (Click here for another heartbreaking bullying suicide story.)

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A stuffed animal memorial is shown at the home of Samantha Kelly in Huron Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Samantha Kelly. (Facebook)

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She told me she was being extremely bullied, and it was extremely stressful. People bumped into her in the hallways at school. On two occasions after school, people tried to jump her. - Neighbor Devyn Waldecker, 16

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 17 comments

orwellian

Nov 11, 2010 7:25 PM CST

People obsess about sex this wouldn't have happened . Sex is the new American witch hunt

JoeQ

Nov 11, 2010 7:08 PM CST

That kid is going to be looking over his shoulder for a long while. I wouldn't be surprised if he tripped and fell and hurt himself one of these days.

Disillusioned

Nov 11, 2010 6:06 PM CST

This young lady is gone and such a tragedy and a total waste but now this young man who was never found guilty and could well be innocent as evidently there was no physical evidence has his life ruined due to rumor and innuendo This is a very sad day, two lives ruined and for what..........................

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Rape Charge Dropped After Teen Accuser's Suicide

Samantha Kelly, 14, was bullied by classmates after senior charged

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[Quotes (1)]

OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

suicide • rape • Michigan • bullying • teen suicide • bullying suicide • rape charges

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More Newser Stories

New York Bullying Victim Kills Herself

Staten Island teen walks in front of bus

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Pa. boy Brandon Bitner is the latest victim of torment to kill self

Adults Failed Bully Victim Phoebe Prince

They all looked the other way before and after suicide

Bullied Kids 'Prone to Self Harm'

Adolescents react by cutting themselves, pulling out hair, or worse

At Ohio School, 4 Bullied Teens Lost to Suicide

Tragedy at Mentor High School

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