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Destiny Gleason: 14-Year-Old Missouri Student Commits Suicide After ‘Relentless Bullying’ From Classmates

By Lindsay McCane
Published on: 03:27 PST, Apr 27, 2016

Destiny Gleason, a 14-year-old middle school student from Warrenton, Missouri, took her own life after months of “relentless bullying” from her classmates.

According to Fox2 Now St. Louis, Destiny Gleason committed suicide on Wednesday, a day after a fight at school left her being taken away in handcuffs and charged with assault. Gleason’s parents discovered her hanging from a pull-up bar in her bedroom.

Stephanie Clark, Destiny’s mother, said they moved to Warrenton last summer, and she entered Black Hawk Middle School that fall. Almost as soon as the school year began, Destiny became the target of bullies, both at the school and through social media.

“At one point they took some photo of some random person’s private parts and put Destiny’s name across it and spread it around the school,” Stephanie said. “Anything they could possibly do to hurt her and bring her down.”

Stephanie and her husband, Kurtis Clark, said the school was aware of the bullying, and did little to nothing to stop it from happening.

“We tried to be there for her as much as possible and do everything that we possibly could,” Kurtis said. “It would have been nice if somebody else would have too, instead of just saying we are going to talk to them, or we had a talk with them and telling them not to talk to each other,” he said.

Due to Tuesday’s fight, Destiny was set to start intensive behavioral therapy on Wednesday. However, Tuesday night, Destiny started receiving mean messages on Facebook from the students at her school. Feeling helpless, Gleason found an extension cord and went to her room, where she hung herself. Stephanie and Kurtis say they hope Destiny’s death will bring awareness to the affects of bullying on children.

“She just wanted everybody to like her, that’s all she wanted,” Stephanie said. “Words matter. That old saying, ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me’ — well, they will and we lost our daughter because of words.”

Stephanie’s best friend set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for Destiny’s funeral expenses. She shared a very similar story of how Destiny was bullied after entering the middle school, and how Destiny tried so hard to fit in and make friends with her fellow classmates.

“There of coarse were a group of girls that were jealous of her and instead of being accepting how blessed they were to know someone like her their hatred and jealously caused them to shun her and do everything they could to make her life unbareble,” the fundraising page read. “I know first hand how ruthless they were I witnessed her tears due to her bullies.”

“The monthswent by and away went her smile and her carefree self I remember the day I first found out about Destiny being bullied some little girls with nothing else better to do I don’t know how many times that she cried I don’t know how many times that she wish things were different and all she wanted was to be liked.”

A memorial service for Destiny has been scheduled for Saturday, April 30 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Broemmelsiek Park in Defiance, Missouri. A group of parents have also scheduled a candlelight vigil on May 17 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the ball fields across from Black Hawk Middle School. A benefit for Gleason’s family is scheduled to take place on June 11 at the Bulldog Saloon in Wentzville.

According to the GoFundMe page, all of Destiny’s organs were donated, including her heart. Her family said she was “saving lives all over the state.”

[Photo via Shutterstock]

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