Why did no one help her? Distraught teenager sent 144 tweets expressing her pain before killing herself
Last updated at 1:20 PM on 11th November 2011
An 18-year-old high school student sent 144 tweets expressing her pain and grief before killing herself.
Ashley Billasano did not go to her school in Rosenberg, a suburb of Houston, Texas, as usual on Tuesday morning.
Instead, the senior at BF Terry High School took to her Twitter page, posting more than 100 tweets over the course of six hours.
Tragic: 18-year-old high school student Ashley Billasano sent 144 tweets expressing her pain and grief before killing herself
In the messages, the pretty 18-year-old said she has been molested and forced into prostitution, My Fox Houston reported.
More than 500 people were following her Twitter account when she tweeted, 'I'd love to hear what you have to say but I wont be around.'
And finally her last tweet,
'Take two. I hope I get this right.'
'Take two. I hope I get this right.'
The troubled teen used the social networking website to describe how she felt the first time she was abused. She wrote: [afterwards] 'I went to the bathroom and locked the door'
SOME OF ASHLEY'S FINAL TWEETS
9:45AM Nov 7th: There is somebody in my dreams
9:46AM Nov 7th: I want them gone
9:47AM Nov 7th: Kinda lonely right now
9:47AM Nov 7th: There was so much more I wanted to do
9:48AM Nov 7th: Ahhh well time to move on
9:48AM Nov 7th: My thought process is too crazy
9:48AM Nov 7th: I totally think I’m bipolar
9:49AM Nov 7th: Or just crazy
10:21AM Nov 7th: My legs hurt. And my heart was filled with despair
10:21AM Nov 7th: I went to the bathroom and locked the door
10:22AM Nov 7th: I took apart a razor I had just gotten from the store
10:22AM Nov 7th: I did what I had to do to forget.
1:47PM Nov 7th: Well that’s. The story of how I came to be who I am. Well the condensed version. I’d love to hear what you have to say. But I won’t be around
2:08PM Nov 7th: Take two. Hope I get this right
9:46AM Nov 7th: I want them gone
9:47AM Nov 7th: Kinda lonely right now
9:47AM Nov 7th: There was so much more I wanted to do
9:48AM Nov 7th: Ahhh well time to move on
9:48AM Nov 7th: My thought process is too crazy
9:48AM Nov 7th: I totally think I’m bipolar
9:49AM Nov 7th: Or just crazy
10:21AM Nov 7th: My legs hurt. And my heart was filled with despair
10:21AM Nov 7th: I went to the bathroom and locked the door
10:22AM Nov 7th: I took apart a razor I had just gotten from the store
10:22AM Nov 7th: I did what I had to do to forget.
1:47PM Nov 7th: Well that’s. The story of how I came to be who I am. Well the condensed version. I’d love to hear what you have to say. But I won’t be around
2:08PM Nov 7th: Take two. Hope I get this right
'I took apart a razor. I did what I had to do to forget. I swear after that night I was never the same'
She explained that she had confided in adults about the horrific secret, but nothing happened.
'I remember telling my closest teacher and CPS and the police detectives' she said.
'I remember having to tell them everything.'
Chief Craig Brady of the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Department told My Fox Houston: 'It's obvious she needed somebody to talk to and that's what I believe those tweets were.
'She was trying to communicate and trying to get people to talk to her.'
Brady said Ashley had made allegations of abuse a year ago in Williamson County, near Austin.
According to friends the suffering Ashley wanted her death to make a difference even though her life had become insufferable.
Her 144 tweets, which took place over six hours on 7th November and finished a short time before she killed herself through suffocation, seemed to recount sexual abuse at the hands of a family member and other adults.
Ashly Escamilla, her classmate and best friend told the Houston Chronicle: 'This wasn't random. She planned this for a reason.
'She made a decision that this was what she was going to do to get attention if she was not going to get justice.'
Loss: More than 500 people were following Ashley's account when she wrote her last tweets
Ashly Escamilla said that her friend had craved justice from 'the beginning' of the alleged abuse, when she was aged 14.
She told the Chronicle: 'She said police and CPS acted like it was nothing. She said it was like they did not want to believe her.
'So, to go on living when someone hurt her, and no one ever did anything about it - wouldn't that drive you insane? To feel ignored by people who were supposed to help you. That was crazy.
The grieving friend added: 'She had support from me and my boyfriend and her mom, but she did not have justice.
'She needed to get her point across and to make it known that she was wronged.'
Ashly Escamilla remembers her friend as a fun, but caring person, closer than any sister.
Ashley Billasano, known as Billy to her friends, had moved to Rosenberg only last year, but the two girls were very quickly, in their own words, like 'peas and carrots.'
The two school girls would sometimes dress up as Batman and Robin to go and get tacos at night.
Soon before her death Billy gave the 'other' Ashly a poignant reminder of their friendship- two glow-in-the-dark stars to attach to the ceiling of her room to see before she went to sleep each night.
Ashley Billasano's mother, Tiffany Ruiz Leskinen, told the Chronicle her daughter told a teacher about the sexual abuse. The school told police but the investigation did not go anywhere, she said.
Leskinen said that the detective told her that she had trouble believing Ashley. She said: 'Here is someone who has been abused and is forced to be silent for so long.
'Then the one person you go to looking for help says they might not believe you.'
Young: Ashley Billasano, known as Billy to her friends, had moved to Rosenberg only last year
Investigation: Police looking into the abuse told Ashley's mom that they had trouble believing her daughter's story. Ashley is pictured left
Chief Brady said: 'My understanding, that was looked into the sheriff's office there, the D.A'S office and a grand jury. There was no indictment issued.'
On her last day Ashley tweeted 'Weeks passed, then I got the call. They said sorry but there isn't enough evidence I hung up.'
'That's when I changed. I didn't care anymore and the people I was meeting gave me no reason to.'
Police said they didn’t want a lot of detail about her death to be published to avoid encouraging copy cats, but said it might not be the first time the teen had tried to take her own life.
Brady said: 'Authorities believe this was not the first time she had attempted suicide. She had learned the method of the internet.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060099/Ashley-Billasano-18-sent-144-tweets-expressing-pain-killing-herself.html#ixzz1dkWULlCl
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