According to recent studies, nearly 1 million people worldwide commit suicide every year. Another 10 to 20 million people fail in their attempts. In recent years there has been a sudden rise in teenage suicides in both the United States and abroad. Reasons for this increase vary; however, in many recent cases teens found themselves unable to cope with peer pressures and relentless teasing from bullies. In their book Bullycide: Death at Playtime — An Exposé of Child Suicide Caused by Bullying, authors Neil Marr and Tim Field spent three years researching cases of teen suicide caused by bullies. In 2001, they coined the term "bullycide." Statistics are still being calculated to determine how many suicide cases are attributed to bullying. However, in the United States alone over 250,000 students a month report they have been physically attacked by bullies, leading some states to pass anti-bullying laws.
One of the most recent and heartbreaking stories of bullycide occurred in Belgrave, Australia, this past year. The case stands out among others, in that it was not a single suicide, but that of two 16-year-old girls — Stephanie Gestier and Jodie Gater. The girls both came from loving and caring families, but in the end they were unable to cope with the relentless harassment and teasing they were subjected to at school. In their eyes, suicide was their only escape.
On the morning of April 15, 2007, Stephanie and Jodie got permission from their parents to go shopping at a local mall. Unaware of the girls' intentions, their parents had no qualms about the two best friends spending time together, but asked them both to return home for supper later that day.
As morning turned to night neither girl returned home, which caused both sets of parents to become concerned and file a missing persons report with local police. Given that both girls were active users of the Internet, detectives decided to check their online accounts for clues to their sudden disappearance. What they found caused them great concern.
