Samantha Kelly Bullied to Death: Mich. 14-Year-Old's Suicide Followed Harassment After Rape Claim

HURON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (CBS/AP) Samantha Kelly was taunted and harassed for making rape allegations against a senior boy at her high school until she finally collapsed under the stress and killed herself, according to her mother, and her family has apparently endured more of the same treatment on the memorial Facebook page they set up in her name.

It all started in September. The 14-year-old girl and her mother, June Justice, went to the Huron Township police station, the day after the teen's alleged encounter with 18-year-old Joseph Tarnopolski, to file a sexual assault report. At the time it was considered a statutory rape case, meaning the pair had consensual sex but that she was under the age of consent.

But then on Oct. 18 a local t-v station aired an interview with Samantha Kelly and Justice, in which Justice criticized the school for not protecting her daughter, and further accused Tarnopolski of rape. That's when the taunting started, according to Justice.

Kelly hung herself on Monday, Nov. 8, after an especially brutal day of taunting and harassment. By Wednesday the sexual assault charges against Tarnopolski were dropped, with prosecutors saying they had no case without the accuser's testimony.

Samantha's mother screamed at Tarnopolski after his brief court appearance and had to be restrained by a relative. She told reporters she was not consulted about the decision to dismiss the third-degree criminal sexual conduct charge.

"My daughter did not get any justice," Samantha Kelly's mother said.

The memorial Facebook page "RIP, Samantha Kelly" has over 3,500 members and has also reportedly been under the same onslaught of taunts that drove the 14-year-old to suicide.

The offending comments appear to have been removed but the reactions to the comments remain and at least one suggests that photos were involved.