Melinda Coleman suicide: Daisy Coleman mother kills self four months after her daughter shot herself dead after dealing with a stalker and news she could never conceive. Heartbroken mother posted timeline on Facebook before taking her own life.
The cycle of tragedy and grief continues. The mother of Netflix documentary ‘rape survivor’ Daisy Coleman has killed herself just four months after her daughter took her own life while on Facetime to her boyfriend.
Melina Moeller Coleman, 58, died on Sunday evening, following the death of her 23-year-old daughter Daisy who spoke candidly about her traumatic sexual assault at the age of 14, in the 2016 Netflix documentary Audrie & Daisy.
Daisy spoke in the film about how she was plied with alcohol in 2012 and raped in a Missouri house but no one was ever convicted of the assault.
She and her best friend Paige Parkhurst, 13, were having a sleepover when they snuck out of Daisy’s home at the invitation of Matthew Barnett now 22.
The girls claimed being sexually assaulted in the basement of one of the high school’s most popular footballers, the scion of a well connected political family.
Cycle of grief & loss
SafeBae, a youth-led sexual assault prevention group created by Daisy, made the announcement of Melinda’s death on their Instagram page.
The tragedies surrounding the Coleman family began years earlier when Daisy’s father died in a car accident – a few years before Daisy’s assault.
A few years later, Daisy was raped at 14 years old.
Soon after the family home burned down in a fire in 2013 and five years later in 2018, Melinda’s son, Tristan Ash Coleman, also died in a car accident — at age 19 while he was helping his sister move to Colorado Springs.
Announcing the mother’s death, SafeBae posted: ‘We are in shock and disbelief to share with our SafeBae family, that we lost Melinda Coleman to suicide this evening.
‘The bottomless grief of losing her husband, Tristan and Daisy was more than she could face most days.
‘Melinda was a gifted veterinarian, devoted mother and wife, and talented body builder. More than anything, she loved and believed in her children. It is no accident that she created some of the most gifted, passionate, and resilient children.
Melinda posted on Facebook prior to suicide
The statement also mentioned Melinda’s two surviving sons Logan and Charlie.
It added: ‘Our hearts are with Logan and Charlie. There are no words for our sadness, only that if you are struggling with trauma or depression, you are not alone.’
On August 5, 23-year-old Daisy after being plagued with mental health issues and having already made no less than four attempts to take her own life over the years was found dead.
Daisy died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound while talking to her boyfriend on FaceTime. Melinda later confirmed her daughter’s death on social media following Daisy discovering she would never be able to conceive.
Just hours before her own suicide death, Melinda posted a series of posts and pictures of Daisy to her Facebook page.
‘There aren’t enough I love yous I could have said when I was holding your cold, broken , dead body,’ wrote Melinda.
A family scorned, a family denied justice
‘I held you like a baby anyway, my baby. The baby I held when you first came into this world. It has always been my greatest honor and joy to be your mother and best friend. Mama bear!’
After the Netflix documentary aired Daisy said she found it hard to listen to then Nodaway County Sheriff Darren White‘s clear belief that Daisy and her friend Paige – who was raped on the same night – were somehow as culpable as the boys. He also slipped a note to the camera that ‘teenage girls lie.’
She suffered victim blaming from the community. T-shirts worn by people in her dance class read: ‘ ‘Matt 1: Daisy 0.’
Social media exploded with hateful hashtags, branding Daisy a ‘skank’ a ‘whore’ and a ‘liar.’
Coleman ended up self-harming and carved the name of the alleged rapist into her skin.
Melinda told The Sun her daughter had been told by doctors weeks before her death.
She also claims her daughter had a stalker who had been harassing her by text since December and who Daisy had filed a police report about just hours before she died.
‘It was two weeks ago, it feels like it’s been a really long time, and like it’s been no time at all, if that makes sense,’ Melinda told The Sun.
‘She was my best friend, and she would say the same, we talked every day. We were really close.
‘I really thought we were past this [her feeling suicidal], in my heart, but then she got hit with a lot of stuff recently.
‘She just found out weeks before that she couldn’t have children. She was very upset about that.’
She said doctors placed the blame on her ‘brutal’ rape when she was a 14-year-old.
‘That just shows how brutal it was, and they were trying to say it was consensual, that’s what really gets me.’
