Two teenage girls have been arrested in a Florida bullying case after one of them admitted online over the weekend that she harassed a 12-year-old girl who killed herself last month.
Police arrested a 14-year-old girl because they were worried she would continue cyberbullying other girls, said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd on Tuesday.
The girl is accused of threatening to beat up 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick, telling her "to drink bleach and die" and saying she should kill herself, the sheriff said.
After nearly a year of bullying by as many as 15 girls, authorities said Rebecca climbed a tower at an abandoned concrete plant on September 9 and hurled herself to her death.
Before her death, Rebecca changed one of her online screen names to "That Dead Girl" and she messaged a boy in North Carolina: "I'm jumping."
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Detectives found some of her diaries at her home, and she talked of how depressed she was about the situation.
Last December, Rebecca was hospitalised for three days after cutting her wrists because of what she said was bullying, according to the sheriff.
Later, after Rebecca complained that she had been pushed in the hallway and that another girl wanted to fight her, Rebecca's mother began home-schooling her in Lakeland, a city of about 100,000 midway between Tampa and Orlando, Judd said.
This northern fall, Rebecca started at a new school, but the bullying continued online, authorities said.
"The one issue that Rebecca's mom said to us was, `I just didn't want to have her not like me, so I wanted to give her access to her cellphone so she could talk to her friends'," Judd said.
It was one of the latest in a string of student suicides that have drawn attention to the problem of bullying in schools in the US and its northern neighbour, Canada.
The US federal government last year released data showing a rise in cyberbullying and youth suicide, despite efforts by schools and authorities to combat the problem through anti-bullying laws and various educational and awareness programs.
Judd said police arrested the 14-year-old girl after she posted online on Saturday that she bullied Rebecca and she didn't care.
"We decided that we can't leave her out there. Who else is she going to torment, who else is she going to harass?" Judd said.
Police also arrested a 12-year-old girl who is accused of bullying Rebecca. Both have been charged with felony aggravated stalking.
Judd said the bullying began after the 14-year-old girl started dating a boy that Rebecca had been seeing.
She "didn't like that and began to harass and ultimately torment Rebecca", Judd said.
The girls were arrested on Monday night and released to their parents' custody. They remain on home detention.
The 12-year-old girl was Rebecca's former best friend, but Judd said the 14-year-old girl turned her against Rebecca. Other girls also stopped being friends with her in fear of being bullied, the sheriff said.
Authorities have said Rebecca was "terrorised" by as many as 15 girls who ganged up on her and picked on her for months through online message boards and texts.
Witnesses told investigators the 14-year-old girl told Rebecca "to drink bleach and die" and said she should kill herself.
Judd said neither girl's parents wanted to bring their daughters to the sheriff's office, so detectives went to their homes and arrested them.
Judd said the 14-year-old was "very cold, had no emotion at all upon her arrest".
* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for young people aged 5 to 25)
