Here's What We Know About Aubreigh Wyatt, Whose Death Is All Over TikTok
Aubreigh Wyatt's mother is facing a lawsuit after speaking about her daughter's death.
Jul. 5 2024, Published 10:07 a.m. ET
The death of a young person is always a tragedy, and Aubreigh Wyatt's death is no exception. The Mississippi teenager died in September of 2023 by suicide, and her story has been trending across social media in the months since.
If you've seen Aubreigh's name pop up somewhere like TikTok, then you may be wondering exactly what happened to her. Here's what we know about the still-unfolding drama and why so many people are raging against bullies after hearing her story.
What happened to Aubreigh Wyatt?
Aubreigh died by suicide after facing what her mother, Heather, claims to be a torrent of bullying from her classmates. Heather has begun a coordinated campaign on social media to speak out both against bullying and about teenage mental health more generally. The campaign has not named any of the people who allegedly bullied Aubreigh, but a lawsuit has since been filed that forced Heather to take down all of her social media posts related to her daughter's death.
The case was filed against Heather by the parents of four girls accused of bullying Aubreigh, each of whom has faced severe harassment and threats since Aubreigh's story began going viral. Heather herself has not threatened anyone, and she even stopped discussing bullying in her more recent videos, focusing instead on mental health and the grief she and her family continue to feel.
“I think [bullying] is a subject that needs to be addressed, but I don’t want to create hate for anyone, so I chose to only focus on the mental health aspect of it,” Heather told the Biloxi Sun Herald. “I felt like that would be helpful and it would also not cause any animosity or any conflict to any other individuals.”
Heather has claimed that cyberbullying was responsible for her daughter's death though, and even filed a lawsuit against social media companies with that claim.
An investigation into Aubreigh's death has stalled.
Although police did initially investigate Aubreigh's death, that investigation stalled in part because Aubreigh was not alive to testify against any of the girls who allegedly bullied her.
Aubreigh's story has moved millions of people, though, which is part of the reason some of her classmates might be facing harassment campaigns of their own.
Even as Heather's popularity on TikTok has continued to grow, there are a number of other accounts who have taken up Aubreigh's cause and the story around it. While some of these accounts speak positively about the importance of teen mental health, others are focused on more punitive attacks on the girls they believe to be responsible for Aubreigh's death.
One of those girls was even doxxed, with their information being shared repeatedly online. As Aubreigh's mother has made clear, though, she doesn't want anyone to be attacked over Aubreigh's death. Instead, she was simply trying to raise awareness about the pernicious and often unintended effects of bullying, especially for young people.