Bullies Blamed In Teen's Death

A 14-year-old Illinois student has killed himself less than one week after the start of the school year, apparently following four straight days of bullying.

With the death of Andrew Rudy, the small Illinois farming community of Freeburg has lost a top student, reports CBS News Correspondent Cynthia Bowers. Police Chief Stephen Flater says, "I think it's alarmed and distributed an awful lot of people."

Father Earl Rudy says Andy, who was his only son, was looking forward to starting high school, but now "I've been told that he was put in a locker for at least an hour at a time."

The school's Superintendent denies that happened, but students told police they saw upperclassman hold him up against a wall and force the freshman to make derogatory comments about himself in front of others.

"He was just continually barraged and harassed about everything," explains Slater. "I think that probably led him to feel he had no way out.

Police and school officials say they are continuing their investigation. At this point only one thing is certain: One week ago the straight-A student e-mailed his best friends saying, in effect, he hated high school. He then turned the shotgun he and his Dad frequently used for hunting on himself.

According to Earl Rudy, "I would have done anything for my son, but he just couldn't come to me."

Psychologist Dorothy Espelage says that's not uncommon. "They don't want to burden them and worry them with what's going on at school," she explains.

Espelage just completed a 5-year study on bullying. One of the more surprising findings was that while 15 percent of kids could be classified as the typical schoolyard bully, as many as 80 percent admit that they sometimes are bullies.

Bullying is a peer process, says Espelage. "They will engage in behavior even though they know that it hurts the child's feelings and feel bad about it later," she says. "They don't feel like they have the skills to go against the crowd."

Earl Rudy says he hopes that we can learn to teach our kids to stand up for themselves, and also to be strong enough to stand up for others. "We don't ever want that to happen to another family," he says. "We loved him."