In the end, whether the pictures really went viral or not is irrelevant. [13], A documentary film titled Audrie & Daisy, about the sexual assaults and social media bullying of Audrie Pott and Daisy Coleman, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2016. Bill had a reputation as a troublemaker, while Ron was more of a sweet guy. . 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 . 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. Trending Audrie started to cry. SAN JOSE -- An attorney for the family of a 15-year-old who killed herself after an alleged sexual assault by classmates said Monday that Audrie Pott had "some markings . Photo: Courtesy Audrie Pott Foundation. The summer before her death, Audrie had started to change, moving away from the kids shed hung out with since middle school. Whats that? she asked. The students who talked to Rolling Stone were much like the parents divided into two factions about the boys relative guilt. But it is never talked about in class., Writer Laurie Halse Anderson published an influential book in 1999 called Speak, about a high school rape and its effects on a victim. This undated photo provided by her family via attorney Robert Allard shows Audrey Pott. SAN JOSE, Calif. . . The popular cheerleader hanged herself after a topless selfie circulated. On Audries dresser, under an earring tree draped with the sparkly baubles her daughter favored, Sheila has placed a simple, hand-tooled metal rose wrapped in a piece of notebook paper. Help this epidemic of sexual assault, distributing photos and cyber-bullying to stop.' Audrie Pott's step-mother, Lisa, read private Facebook messages Audrie sent after the alleged attack, found . Adding another layer of tragedy to Audrie Potts death is that virtually the same thing had happened in the town three years earlier. Days after the suicide, responding to questions from a San Jose Mercury News reporter about rumors of school bullying, principal Paul Robinson said that the rumor was as far from the truth as it can be. Administrators have since refused to respond to questions, citing the ongoing police investigation. Details of the now-infamous party and the days that followed have been uncovered by Burleigh in the Sept. 26 issue ofRolling Stone magazine. She had been sexually assaulted at a party eight days earlier by three 16-year-old boys she knew, and pictures of her were posted online with . JOSH: lol that shit gets around haha everyone knows mostly everything hahaah AUDRIE: oh my god. Divorced parents is not something unique. This piece of legislation is meant to give us an opening to tell young people in middle school and high school that this is a crime, says Rosen. 'My life is overI ruined my life and I don't even remember how,' Audrie said to a classmate in the days following the incident. They were not strangers, he said. This episode Web of Lies examines the tragic case of teen Audrie Pott, who . Then three boys shed known since middle school Bill, Joe and Ron and one of their friends, Mary, helped her upstairs into a bedroom (the names of these four have been changed because of the boys status in a juvenile case). According to Audries friends, one of the three boys eventually arrested for the assault, Joe, was a leader of the teasing pack in middle school and especially sadistic. Almost immediately after Pott's 15-year-old daughter, Audrie, was sexually assaulted at a party in Silicon Valley, California, her assailants - teenage classmates - spread photos of the . 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. ', On top of that, for the past few years, Audrie had a particularly tortured relationship with her body. One Saratoga mother of a teen boy and girl, Selena Kellinger, says shes talking to both her kids about the issue. Teen sexting is all a way of magnifying girls fantasies of being a star of their own movies, and boys locked in a room bragging about sexual conquest., But as of yet the law provides little protection to the rights of those violated. Pott's family has declined to comment on the criminal case, but appear to be outraged by the anonymity the boy's get to enjoy. A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization providing anti-cyberbullying presentations to schools, art and music scholarships, grants for school. But her friends noticed cuts on her arm, which she claimed were due to a broken vase on her mothers couch. 'As much as we strongly disagree with and are actively attempting to change the lenient privacy laws afforded to juveniles, even when they commit as here heinous acts on an unconscious minor, we cannot publicly comment on any aspect of any criminal proceedings involving these young men,' Robert Allard, an attorney for Lawrence and Sheila Pott - Audrie's parents - said in a statement to SFGate. People falling over, walking around. 'This case is and will always be about the tragic consequences associated with sexual assault and cyber bullying.'. SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) Awakening in a friend's bedroom after drinking too much at a sleepover, 15-year-old Audrie Pott looked down and realized she had been sexually assaulted and her attackers . The family of Audrie Pott, a California teenager who allegedly was raped and then committed suicide in September, intends to file a wrongful death lawsuit, the family's lawyer told reporters . And I was so upset that she had changed. Audries story swept across the country Friday, echoing recent cases in Nova Scotia, Canada, and Steubenville, Ohio, involving drinking, sexual assault and online photos. Names You Should Know More Than a Decade After the Tragedy Began In 2012, Audrie Taylor Pott and Catherine Daisy Coleman were just 15 and 14 years old, respectively, with their A senior connected with the football team would tell a reporter that he was among a number of boys who had looked at a photo of Audrie on Joes phone. Five years after teenager Audrie Pott ended her own life to relieve the stress and shame of a sexual assault in Saratoga, California, her grieving family still holds out hope for closure, healing a But on September 13th, Kathy went to talk to school administrators and describe what she knew about the party at Saras house and how kids at school had pictures of Audrie. Thoughts from Audrie Pott are written on paper in her home in Saratoga, Calif. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP). The family has also filed a suit against the Saratoga High School District, alleging that educators did not do enough to prevent the cyberbullying they claim led to their daughter's death. When she returned to school, she missed classes to avoid people and had an argument with one of her closest friends, Kathy Atabakhsh, who accused her of becoming a different person. But recent Saratoga High graduate Jessica Hayes describes a school environment where disrespecting girls is neither rare nor effectively addressed. Finally, how do you instill in impulse-driven teens of both sexes the knowledge that whatever they record on their phones and send can reach the entire world and stay public forever? Audrie Taylor Pott (May 27, 1997 - September 12, 2012) was American girl. The boys in her class would ridicule the girls about their bodies, while at the same time pressuring them to expose themselves for the camera. Friends said that Pott struggled with body issues, and was self-conscious of her body, only eating when no one else was around. She loosened up. O n the last day of her life, Audrie Pott walked through a crucible of teenage torment. Three days after her last online cry of despair, she was dead. She was humiliated that everybody at the school would find out and she wanted answers from people at the party about what happened.. Audrie lived in the Silicon Valley suburb of Saratoga, California. She had problems like any other high-schooler. ", Friends said that Pott struggled with body issues, and was self-conscious of her body, only eating when no one else was around. Audrie was already stumbling and incoherent, taking shots and making out with different boys on the living-room couch. 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 her memory, a couple of the 15-year-old girls closest friends came to Audries mother and delivered a shocking message: There is more to this than you know.. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Then she looked down and saw drawings all over her body, even near her genital area. Mary appears to have left the room when the boys started pulling off Audries clothes and drawing on her with Sharpies. But Sheila couldnt pry the cause of the academic struggles out of her daughter. Find Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok profiles, images and more on IDCrawl - free people search website. She then pleaded with the boys to delete the photos. In September 2012, Pott went to party with 10 other teenagers who were mostly drunk. 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 . On April 15th, the Pott family held a press conference announcing they were filing a civil suit against the boys and their families (the parents who own the party house settled in August), and filed an administrative claim against the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District, alleging that administrators were lax in responding to bullying against Audrie bullying that the school claims was never discussed. A friend told Rolling Stone that for the years leading up to her death, Pott had body issues, perhaps stemming from her early development of 34DD breasts at age 13. She had been sexually assaulted by three teenage boys, Bronson Barna, Saha Ghafouri and Vince Rositano[1] at a party eight days earlier and pictures of the assault were When Audries old middle-school friends, Kathy, Amanda Le and another girl, arrived around 9 p.m., there was no music, just the sound of sloppy-drunk talk. 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 . SFGate.com reported that Allard described the document as 'a revolting attempt to deflect responsibility away from his clients. Audrie's parents, Larry and Sheila Pott, are now separated, and Larry is remarried. Audrie drank hardest of all. She was also bullied. . A photo or multiple photos were taken of the assault as it was taking place.. 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. She went out the following weekend and joined a posse of girls, even stopping in at the home of one of the three boys who had allegedly abused her the weekend before. She told her mother she was spending the night with a friend. Amanda couldnt give her any clues, other than to say shed seemed very bombed. They are not malicious, mean criminals. "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. One of Audries friends from middle school was overheard telling another student, Shut down your Facebooks, cops are looking. Another friend had even acknowledged in a Facebook message to Audrie before she died that he didnt want to discuss it further on Facebook presumably because there would be a record. According to accounts told to the police, three classmates that Pott had known since middle school helped carry the intoxicated teen upstairs. 04/12/13 AT 10:19 AM. Updated: 12:08 PM PDT Mar 23, 2015. Shit always does. Audrie Pott's parents have worked to turn the tragedy of their daughter's suicide into hope for reform. She had been, literally, the best person you could meet always honest and trustworthy, Kathy says, recalling the episode almost a year later. She walked across the kitchen and down the long carpeted hall to the bathroom door adjoining Audries room. The law is still in the writing stages, though, and the local legislator hasnt even introduced it. In the car and all that day, Audrie was pensive and quiet. At some point Audrie went to a bedroom and fell asleep. Around 20 minutes passed before Sheila decided to check on her daughter. An art teacher organized a girls-leadership group to facilitate discussion among girls about self-respect. A lot of what happens on campus starts online the night before, Los Gatos principal Markus Autrey told a local newspaper reporter after Nabers death. In court documents filed by attorney Philip Pereira on behalf of one of Pott's unnamed attackers, the boy claims that Lawrence and Sheila Pott failed to act on the girl's 'long-standing and serious emotional problems before her suicide and they should have sought professional help.'. The local DA said that penalty was the most severe available in Kentucky juvenile court. This story is from the September 26th, 2013 issue of Rolling Stone. As Audries mother hunted for clues, a female sheriffs deputy assigned to patrol Saratoga High School began hearing whispers that at least one graphic and humiliating photo of Audrie was racing through social media. Grieving: Audrie's mother, Sheila Pott, found her daughter hanging in the bathroom in September 2012. On the night of the attack, a group of teenagers were at a friend's house drinking heavily. Audrie didnt answer. Audrie persevered. Hayes recalled two ugly incidents with football players that occurred during her own freshman year. She began missing school so much that she flunked a class. By the time police arrived to interview students, word had already started to spread through campus and students were sharing rumors about who was getting hauled into an administrative office and why. She had started to drink a little and had dated a slightly older guy. One senior says that he knew from casual conversation that a clique of friends had passed around the pictures. 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. I fucked up and I cant do anything to fix it. Saratoga High School, with its country-club-worthyquad, Olympic-size swimming pool and plush tennis courts, is one of those affluent California schools American teens recognize from movies and TV. Back in her room, Audrie wasnt so nonchalant. The messages show her pleading with Joe to delete the pictures. .. Paramedics arrived within a few minutes. On Friday, Robinson deferred comment to the superintendent of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District. It was Sheila who took her daughter home from school on Sept. 10 after Audrie pleaded to be taken home. Her friend, identified only as Jane C., also helped her into the room, but could have left after. Over the course of the next week, Audrie learned that cellphone photos had been taken of her during the assault and shared with students at the school she attended with the three attackers. . 3 of 15 4 of 15 Photo of Audrie Pott provided by the Pott family. They all belonged to their classs popular clique, the girls dressed as provocatively as possible, even by the loose standards of California high schools. (Supplied)Triple j's Veronica & Lewis spoke with the co-director of Audrie and Daisy, San Francisco-based filmmaker Bonni Cohen.She explained that Daisy, like Audrie, had attempted . The mixer of choice was Gatorade, or downed straight. What really strikes me is that, when it comes to recording sexual assaults and wanting to show it off, the young men committing them are not seeing them as crimes, they see them as pranks. ASB president Sasan Sadaat agreed that the photos were far less widespread than originally claimed. 'How much can business take?' She had problems like any other high-schooler. Rosenfeld and her students work with girls, sometimes filing civil suits and encouraging them to graduate. 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. Opinion: Colorado farms going fallow? ill make sure nothing goes around AUDRIE: its gonna get out. Sheriff's officials arrested three 16-year-old boys Thursday on suspicion of sexual battery against Audrie Pott, who committed suicide in September, eight days after the party. April 15, 2013 12 AM PT. At dinnertime, Sheila stood beside her and noticed a green strip of ink on her daughters cleavage. The flip side of this ugly trend is that when gang-rape participants and bystanders record and disseminate pictures of an assault, public outrage is inflamed and cops and prosecutors have evidence they can take to court. Audrie Potts. They also took turns scribbling crass comments with a black permanent marker all over her naked body. Sometimes, she loosened up a lot. The girl who lived at the house threw the party when her parents left town. 'She had been, literally, the best person you could meet always honest and trustworthy,' Kathy told Rolling Stone. But his office is pushing the California Assembly to write a law making cyberbullying an aggravating element in sexual-assault cases. Once she was drunk, she was dragged up the stairs and into a bedroom. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act effectively means that no Internet provider can be forced to take down content for invading a persons privacy or even defaming them. Most disturbing is the attempt to link Audreys suicide to the specific actions of these three boys, according to the statement from Eric Geffon, Alan Lagod and Benjamin Williams. Select from premium Audrie Pott of the highest quality. But Sara had already texted around a dozen friends to drop in for her kickback. Shockingly, one of the boys convicted of assaulting Pott is claiming that the girl's parents share some of the blame in their daughter's tragic death. 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. Audrie was invited to a party on September 3, 2012, which included many other teenagers, along with having alcoholic beverages available. 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. Edgewood Center for Children and . . At some point, I was like, I feel superuncomfortable, everyones so trashed and we are just sitting here. So we left.. When she woke up the next morning, Audrie didnt know how shed gotten into the bedroom or where her clothes were. By seventh grade, boys were daring girls to send them photos: bra or no bra. The girls, not understanding the lasting consequences, more often than not complied. On campus and around Saratoga on Friday, dozens of students declined to talk about whether they knew anything about what happened to Audrie. The brown-eyed girl who loved horses, art and pranks would never breathe on her own again. The three teens, aged 16 to 17, pleaded guilty to the attack and taking photos in . It is uncertain whether they will be tried as adults. I could sue The New York Times for invading my privacy or Rolling Stone for defaming me, Andrews says. They were friends.. With no assault, with no cyberbullying, Audrie is in art class right now, Larry Pott said at the April news conference, choking back tears. With Saratoga High in communication-lockdown mode because of the threat of a lawsuit, and administrators refusing to speak even to the community, parents are on their own as far as what they are supposed to do or say to their kids. 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. [6] A few kids had stolen rum, and an adult had bought them vodka at a liquor shop. I had a conversation, a week before Audrie committed suicide, with my son. She gives a tour of Audries bedroom, where she hasnt moved a thing. Audrie Pott, a 15-year-old high school student from Saratoga, California, went to a classmate's house party where she was raped and sexually abused after she passed out drunk. Sheila Pott poses with a portrait of her daughter Audrie in Los Altos, Calif., ON May 23, 2013. Look out for each other, Pwu told the class. Audrie Pott reasonably believed images of her nearly naked body being fondled and abused without her consent were embedded in phones all over school, and that it was only a matter of time before everyone she knew either saw them or knew what had happened to her body. Pott's parents also filed a lawsuit against the three teenagers, and in July 2013 they added a fifteen-year-old girl as a defendant in the suit, alleging she was present during the assault and later lied about it to help cover it up. The problem is systemic. She was a good kid and she had a long life ahead. She stumbled into the bathroom and ferociously scrubbed away the ink on her face. The comments below have been moderated in advance. Partygoers also said they saw her making out with two different boys. During Audries freshman year at Saratoga, she became unhappy in a way that confounded her parents. All the while, they took photos on their phones, which were forwarded to classmates and circulated on social media. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeffrey Rosen declined to comment on the specifics of Audries case. Audrie was insistent, and then stopped answering texts. He threw up in the kitchen sink into which someone had already tossed Audries iPhone. On Facebook, messages were pinging into her inbox, each one delivering another gut punch: shit went down ahah jk i bet u already got enough ppl talking about it so ill keep it to myself haha. 'And I was so upset that she had changed. 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. Pictures of the assault were posted online, accompanying bullying. In the days that followed, Pott was forced to endure torment at the hands of her alleged bullies, trying to piece together why she woke up without clothes on and covered in marker. She also messaged another boy who had been at the party to ask if one of the teenagers had photographs of her.