And then she found the haunting words of her beautiful, once-bubbly daughter: These guys did (expletive) to me while I was sleeping, read one message. I fucked up and I cant do anything to fix it. Audrie Pott, the 15-year-old California girl who killed herself after photos of her alleged sexual assault appeared online, felt 'tortured' by the experience of being betrayed by suspects that she . . Her parents split before she was five, and Larry Pott, an entrepreneur who ran a commerical-security business, married a younger Canadian woman, became a Jehovahs Witness and had three more children. Police interviews with the partyers pieced together what allegedly happened next. ', On top of that, for the past few years, Audrie had a particularly tortured relationship with her body. Among her last words were, You have no idea what its like to be a girl.. They were arrested on suspicion of two felonies and one misdemeanor involving sexual assault and the distribution of the images. On Friday, Robinson deferred comment to the superintendent of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District. It started without bras, Kathy says. Then Kathy Atabakhsh, one of her best friends, tore into her on the school quad, accusing her of drinking, of forgetting who she was, of becoming a different person. I had a conversation, a week before Audrie committed suicide, with my son. When she got drunk at a party one night, they stripped her, raped her, drew all over her naked body with markers, and then triumphantly shared the pictures. ., honestly like really no joke everyone knows. . Audrie Pott killed herself after humiliating photos of a sexual assault carried out on her were posted on social media. Do you know how people view me now? Saratoga, Calif. A few days after Audrie Pott killed herself, while her baffled parents were grieving and students across the Saratoga High School campus wore her favorite color, teal, in h Audrie hanged herself eight days later. The problem is systemic. Audrie belonged to the dominant group, but that offered little protection. That afternoon, she locked herself in her bathroom for a long time, and then huddled with her computer in her bedroom. Audrie wrote that the whole school knows. In interviews with police later, they admitted, to varying degrees, coloring half of her face black, then pulling down her bra, taking off her shorts and drawing scribbles, lines and circles on her breasts and nipples. 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Arguably, the Steubenville rape would never have been prosecuted without the video. . Her mom said Rehtaeh was mercilessly bullied by classmates for the next two years, even after the family moved to a new town to get her away from the abuse. This undated photo provided by her family via attorney Robert Allard shows Audrey Pott. In every single class, somebody raised their hand and said, Well, wasnt she drunk? They are not malicious, mean criminals. In September 2012, Pott went to party with 10 other teenagers who were mostly drunk. Sheila knocked and knocked again. There were some girls that sent pictures to any guys that asked. Eventually, 11 kids showed up, many of them to sip vodka and Gatorade cocktails. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. At some point, I was like, I feel superuncomfortable, everyones so trashed and we are just sitting here. So we left.. "She wouldn't eat anything for breakfast," her friend Amanda said. The Northern California girl committed suicide last year after the alleged rape, and news outlets have said that the photos of the assault were widely distributed in . She had been sexually assaulted at a party eight days earlier by three 16-year-old boys she knew and nude pictures of her were posted online. [2][3][4][5], On September 3, 2012, Pott went to a party with about ten other teenagers where she became drunk. Audrie Pott Foundation Public speakers.Sexual Assault education.Non-profit dedicated to memory of 15 y/o Audrie, died by suicide 2012, raped by 3 classmates #foraudrie Posts Videos Tagged SARATOGA When Audrie Pott woke up in her friend's house the morning of Sept. 2, after an apparent night of heavy drinking, she found herself undressed and her body covered in marker-drawn . At left, Larry Pott holds a photograph of his daughter Audrie Pott, with his wife Lisa Pott, in Audrie's bedroom, at the Pott's home in Saratoga, Calif., on Friday, Dec. 13, 2013. She refused to eat in public. Pott, a popular student, was harassed and cyberbullied by peers who saw and commented on the photos. One of my best friends hates me. They did unimaginable things to her while she was unconscious, Allard said. Show More Show Less 5 of 15. (Audrie Pott Foundation via Facebook). And they dont want them to think theyre not cool.. Savannah went public with their names after that, nearly earning herself a contempt-of-court citation because of the juvenile-court privacy regulations, but ultimately influenced the court to rule for the boys to have a misdemeanor on their records for life. Especially with the people who were there.'. She said it was the boys she had known who assaulted her and, in addition to this, took images of the assault using their phones and share them vie text, emails and, finally, social networking websites, namely, Facebook. According to sources, when the police executed a search warrant on the boys, on September 21st, they discovered that Rons phone was broken and one of Bills phones had gone missing. I could sue The New York Times for invading my privacy or Rolling Stone for defaming me, Andrews says. In her passing, she has been a catalyst for change, and all who knew her would expect nothing less.". But his office is pushing the California Assembly to write a law making cyberbullying an aggravating element in sexual-assault cases. SARATOGA (KCBS) -- Journalists with Saratoga High School's newspaper who questioned reports that semi-nude photos of teen Audrie Pott had gone 'viral' before her suicide received a Society of . Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, the school is home to high-achieving children of parents working at Apple, eBay, Netflix and other tech corporations headquartered within 50 miles. One of three teenagers who admitted that they sexually assaulted a 15-year-old Northern California girl who later committed suicide has . The popular cheerleader hanged herself after a topless selfie circulated. . The family divulged some of the Facebook messages their very private daughter sent in her last days, deciding it was better, in the wake of her suicide, to reveal the details of what happened than to hide. Paramedics arrived within a few minutes. Audrie had considered those boys her friends. After admitting to the attack - during which the three teens 'digitally penetrated' the young girl - the boys each were sentenced to serve 30 to 45 days in a juvenile detention facility. Pott Was Bullied and Devastated. Many are too humiliated to stay in school. In the car and all that day, Audrie was pensive and quiet. She was also bullied. Audrie was already stumbling and incoherent, taking shots and making out with different boys on the living-room couch. SAN JOSE Audrie Pott thought everybody at her high school knew what happened that night. The Saratoga Falcon student newspaper reported approximately 10 students saw an image of her defiled body. She had problems like any other high-schooler. . A Northern California sheriff's office has arrested three 16-year-old boys on accusations that they sexually . I ruined my life and I don't even remember how. Back in her room, Audrie wasnt so nonchalant. Shit always does. There was stuff all over the tables, Kathy says. Thoughts from Audrie Pott are written on paper in her home in Saratoga, Calif. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP). (Audrie Pott Foundation via Facebook). Lisa says she was a disciplinarian who put a tracking app on Audries phone and wouldnt let her miss school, whereas her mother was more lenient. Audrie had a lot of other problems in her life, and everybody in Saratoga knows that., Its a sentiment shared by many parents around town. By Maria L. La Ganga and Kate Mather, Los Angeles Times. This is costing their families thousands and thousands of dollars, and we are not all rich.. But after his band class, his teacher, Jon Pwu, told the percussion class to learn from the shocking event. . An adult monitor handed her a dress-code violation her skirt was too short even though all the girls in her class dressed that way and monitors rarely objected. Kids in England had to wear masks at school because No10 'didn't want an argument' with Nicola Sturgeon - Health ministers knew there was no evidence to justify making kids abide by rule of 6 - but No10 'didn't Charles evicting Harry and Meghan is the act of a King putting his country first: REBECCA ENGLISH reveals A royal princess at Eton? Jun. In one exchange, she speaks to one of her alleged attackers: AUDRIE: u know what im talking about i dont remeber anything about that [A friend] had to tell me everything i swear to god if u still have those pictures illl killl u, BOY: They are deleted and I didn't take them I promise it wasn't me And I'm sorry about the marker, AUDRIE: You have no idea what it's like to be a girl, CLASSMATE: lol that shit gets around haha everyone knows mostly everything hahaah. Audrie Taylor Pott (May 27, 1997 - September 12, 2012) was a 15-year-old student at Saratoga High School in Saratoga, California, who died by suicide.She had been sexually assaulted at a party eight days earlier by three 16-year-old boys she knew, and nude pictures of her were posted online with accompanying bullying.. On September 30, 2014, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Audrie's . Audrie had gone to a girlfriends house on Sept. 2, Allard, the familys lawyer said. The 15-year-old had . This can mean rape victims get more justice than in years past. Find Audrie Pott stock photos and editorial news pictures from Getty Images. 'ill make sure nothing goes around. Especially with the people who were there.". A sexual assault on an unconscious victim is not considered forcible. The boys also started to draw . And I now have a reputation I can never get rid of., Writing to another boy on Facebook, she said, My life is over. How much punishment can they mete out to boys, who in many cases are only a year or two removed from childhood, who seem to think they are committing pranks with phones and passed-out girls, and for whom the ultimate charge rape means the end of their lives before they start? Audrie Pott, a student at Saratoga High School in Silicon Valley, hanged herself in her bathroom on Sept. 10, 2012, only a week after passing out drunk at a party where she said boys she had known for years took off her clothes, sexually assaulted her and took images of the attack on their phones. Three area attorneys representing the boys issued a statement in April saying in part that it was "disturbing" to link Pott's suicide to the three boys. Audrie Pott, 15, hanged herself on Sept. 10, 2012, eight days after a party in which she says she was sexually assaulted and was drawn on using markers. JOSH: lol that shit gets around haha everyone knows mostly everything hahaah AUDRIE: oh my god. They eventually guzzled a bottle of tequila that Saras parents kept in their own cabinet. One student said there were no assemblies and no announcements about the arrests. SFGate.com reported that Allard described the document as 'a revolting attempt to deflect responsibility away from his clients. We are hopeful that everyone understands that these boys, none of whom have ever been in trouble with the law, are to be regarded as innocent., The lawyer representing the Pott family on Friday said, however, that there was nothing else so distressing in her life that would cause her to kill herself. Audrie lived in the Silicon Valley suburb of Saratoga, California. . She gives a tour of Audries bedroom, where she hasnt moved a thing. She was engaged in a frantic attempt to discover what had happened to her body. Teenagers using technology to sexually harass and bully others is a phenomenon that has been made shockingly effortless by the advent of new technology. Pott went to Saratoga High School, pictured. Partygoers also said they saw her making out with two different boys. "I have a reputation for a night I don't even remember, and the whole school knows," Pott wrote to a friend in a message on Facebook days before she took her own life. Audrie brushed her off. Sheila Pott poses with a portrait of her daughter Audrie in Los Altos, Calif., ON May 23, 2013. She had problems like any other high-schooler. Opinion: Colorado farms going fallow? I heard you cut yourself, the girl said loudly. Photos of her passed-out body were circulated around her . In Nova Scotia, Rehtaeh Parsons, 17, was taken off life support and died this April, three days after her mother discovered her hanging in the bathroom of their Halifax home. Audrie Taylor Pott (May 27, 1997 - September 12, 2012) was American girl. See-through shorts and thongs pulled up, shorts pulled down, recalls an older girl. When she kneed him, she was disciplined. Teachers know. AUDRIE: he said no but I think its BS SAM: ur fine. The photo went viral apparently shared electronically all the way down to schools in Fresno that played against the Los Gatos teams. Audrie Pott was 15 when she was sexually assaulted at a party, also in 2012, and had crude words drawn on her body with marker pen. 'How much can business take?' An art teacher organized a girls-leadership group to facilitate discussion among girls about self-respect. She grabbed the first thing she could find to jimmy the lock the tiny metal rod at the end of her phones earplug and jammed it into the doorknob. He released a statement reading: 'The sole issue in this case is the callous behavior of the suspects which directly led to Audrie's unnecessary death. Photos of Audrie Pott being raped by three of her classmates never went "viral" at the high school, students at the school are now saying. 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Ted Cruz during FAA confirmation hearing, Man killed in shooting outside of Aurora apartment complex, Denver East High student dies more than two weeks after being shot outside school, Denver just got a direct flight to this Caribbean island known for music history and vegetarian cooking, Coloradans may have another chance to see the northern lights Monday night, Denver gang member gave 14-year-old permission to open fire on woman with AR-15 after fender-bender, DA alleges, Feds sue water company for rupture damaging Rocky Mountain National Park -- again, Price of gas in Colorado has risen 51% since Suncor's refinery shutdown in late December. Audrie started to cry. Edgewood Center for Children and . Audrie Pott's parents have worked to turn the tragedy of their daughter's suicide into hope for reform. All Rights reserved. Healthy mother-of-two, 32, collapsed and died from brain bleed while she led fitness bounce class, Taking Vitamin D each day could cut your chances of getting dementia, study claims. [9][14][15], The case was also profiled on an episode of the Investigation Discovery show Web of Lies (season 5, episode 1) titled "With Friends Like These", originally aired March 13, 2018. Delete it. That night, several friends from around the area were drinking heavily at the house and attendees said they saw Potts downing shot after shot. SAN JOSE, Calif. . Grief counselors were brought in. Half the people have seen her naked, half the people think shes a whore, and judge and bully her. . Diane Rosenfeld, director of the Gender Violence Program at Harvard Law School, says such incidents are far more common than just those that wind up in court or involve suicide. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeffrey Rosen declined to comment on the specifics of Audries case. For most of her life, Audrie shuttled between her fathers sprawling hillside home and her mothers smaller house. And on Thursday, three 16-year-old boys were arrested in San Jose, Calif. for sexually assaulting 15-year-old Audrie Pott, who was also humiliated by online photos. Flinging the door open, she confronted a sight now permanently etched in her memory. ", As a rebuttal, the Potts' family lawyer, Robert Allard, responded in a statement: "Nothing remotely would cause her to do this. 'I swear to god if u still have those pictures illl killl u [sic],' she wrote to one of her alleged attackers in the days after the party. Industry chief demands planned corporation tax hike from 19 to 25% in this Ukrainian soldier takes out five Russian tanks and three armoured vehicles in ONE DAY using US-supplied Sources: 3 teens admit to sexually assaulting Audrie Pott, Do not sell or share my personal information. She told friends she had cut herself on a vase. Audrie Pott, 15, hanged herself on Sept. 10, 2012, eight days after a party in which she says she was sexually assaulted and was drawn on using markers. The student-newspaper editor Sam Liu said there is a lot of sympathy for the Potts, but also tons of rumors that Audrie had family problems that provoked her suicide. ill make sure nothing goes around AUDRIE: its gonna get out. When they got to their ranch-style home, where they had been living alone together since Sheila had split with her boyfriend the year before, Audrie retreated to her bedroom, with its Audrey Hepburn poster and silk-upholstered window seat. The accused boys kept going to school, whispers died down. Audrie, who had gone to a house party in Saratoga on Labor Day weekend, had too much to drink and fell asleep in a bedroom and woke up to the worst nightmare imaginable, according to her familys lawyer, Robert Allard. In the little dry cleaners, boutiques, delis and coffee shops along Saratogas curving main street, Big Basin Way, and in the mansions up on the purple, piney mountainsides that shade the town long before sunset, two camps formed. Related Heartbroken: Larry Pott and Audrie's stepmother Lisa believe that the bullying at school led to the tragedy. Audrie didnt answer. The actor was in his 20s at the time, and it wasn't long before he captured many people's attention with his incredible acting skills. [9], In April 2013, three sixteen-year-old boys were arrested in northern California on suspicion of sexual battery to Pott. Audrie Pott was founded hanged photos of an alleged assault circulated (Facebook) Three Californian teenagers have been arrested on suspicion of sexual assaulting a 15-year . As part of the terms of settlement, two of the boys were required to verbally apologize in open court, admit again to the sexual assault, admit to their role in the death of Audrie Pott, agree to being filmed in a documentary, pay a combined $950,000, support the petition for an honorary diploma for Audrie Pott, and give ten presentations on sexual assault and sexting. Not only had she been sexually assaulted after drinking too much at a house party, her familys lawyers say, but pictures of her naked during the attack were being shared online. The messages show her pleading with Joe to delete the pictures. Published: 06:54 GMT, 15 January 2014 | Updated: 10:07 GMT, 15 January 2014, Loss: Audrie Pott, 15, killed herself last year after she was allegedly sexually assaulted at a party. FILE - In this Thursday, May 23, 2013, file photo, Sheila Pott poses with a portrait of her daughter Audrie in Los Altos, Calif. Audrie Pott committed suicide in September 2012 after being . S*** always does. Their records will be sealed when they turn 18. In another, she speaks with another of the alleged assaulters. The three teens, aged 16 to 17, pleaded guilty to the attack and taking photos in . Rolling Stone magazine has revealed the torment Audrie suffered in the days before her death and has detailed the messages she exchanged with her alleged attackers, whom she had known since middle school. Rape stats may be no higher than in years past, but the numbers are as shocking as ever. Since her iPhone was drowned in vomit in the kitchen sink, she had to borrow a friends phone to call her mother. Years later, talking about the incident . Audrie persevered. She was also on Facebook with Josh. The news from him was not good. Divorced parents is not something unique. I never saw, I had just heard about times she had gotten drunk, says Kathy. They are goofy and silly. 'This case is and will always be about the tragic consequences associated with sexual assault and cyber bullying.'. In Louisville, Kentucky, in 2011, Savannah Dietrich, 16, got drunk, passed out and woke up to later learn two male acquaintances had stripped and sexually abused her, capturing the action on their phones and then sharing the pictures with pals. 'This is the most ridiculous thing I've seen!' In addition to the criminal charges, the Potts have filed a civil lawsuit against the teens they say are responsible for their daughter's suicide. Some like it, NOT! They were not strangers, he said. ", "San Jose: Boys in Audrie Pott case apologize in settlement", "Interview with Sheila Pott (mother of Audrie), Daisy Coleman, and Melinda Coleman (mother of Daisy): Part 2", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Suicide_of_Audrie_Pott&oldid=1127452633, This page was last edited on 14 December 2022, at 20:07. After seven months of detailed investigation, including the confiscation of numerous cellphones and computers of students, sheriffs deputies arrested three 16-year-old boys on Thursday, pulling two out of Saratoga High School classes where they were still enrolled and one who had transferred to Christopher High School in Gilroy. You cant capture things on the Internet. Pott was forced to endure taunts on Facebook, with classmates sending her messages saying things like, "u were one horny mofo," according to Rolling Stone. . This story is from the September 26th, 2013 issue of Rolling Stone. They want the boys to like them, says Amanda. . They wanted the attention so much that they would do anything for it and they didnt think what the consequences would be. Audrie, another friend said, might have sent one once. In the following days, Pott was bullied by some who saw the photographs. On campus and around Saratoga on Friday, dozens of students declined to talk about whether they knew anything about what happened to Audrie. [10], Three teenage boys admitted in juvenile court to sexually assaulting and possessing photos of Audrie Pott, both felonies. Audrie Pott, a 15-year-old California girl, killed herself eight days after attending a party she was assaulted at in 2012. At some point, Mary returned to find Audrie in her underwear and put a blanket over her, then left the room again. Photo: Courtesy Audrie Pott Foundation. Three San Jose lawyers representing the boys issued a statement Friday saying that much of what has been reported over the past several days is inaccurate.