#Daisy Coleman, star of Netflix doc ‘Audrie & Daisy,’ dead at 23

By Mackenzie Nichols, Variety

Daisy Coleman, one of the subjects of the 2016 Netflix documentary “Audrie & Daisy,” died by suicide on Tuesday, according to her mother, Melinda. Coleman was 23.

Coleman’s body was found after her mother asked police to conduct a welfare check. “Audrie & Daisy” detailed Coleman and Audrie Pott’s experiences with sexual assault, and how their families coped with the trauma and subsequent rejection from Coleman’s community. The movie, directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

“My daughter Catherine Daisy Coleman committed suicide tonight. If you saw crazy / messages and posts it was because I called the police to check on her,” Melinda wrote on Facebook. “She was my best friend and amazing daughter. I think she had to make make it seem like I could live without her. I can’t. I wish I could have taken the pain from her! She never recovered from what those boys did to her and it’s just not fair. My baby girl is gone.”

Coleman was raped at a party in Maryville, Missouri, in January 2012, when she was 14 years old. Her perpetrator was never convicted. She was harassed online and at school after the rape, which made national headlines.

Pott was assaulted in Saratoga, California, in September 2012. She died by suicide just 10 days after.

Coleman attended Missouri Valley College and used her platform to co-found SafeBAE, an organization dedicated to ending the sexual assault of middle school and high school students. The org also helps survivors cope with their experiences.

If you or anyone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.