Her 11-year-old daughter died by suicide. Now this South Jersey mother is fighting to toughen anti-bullying laws in schools
On that fateful Feb. 6 morning, Felicia LoAlbo-Melendez chatted over breakfast with her mother about an upcoming Disney play and then headed off to F.W. Holbein Middle School in Mount Holly, New Jersey.
A few hours later, Felicia, 11, was found unresponsive at the school and was rushed to the hospital. She died two days later in her mother’s arms. Her death was ruled a suicide and authorities said foul play was not suspected.
Her mother, Elaina LoAlbo, believes her only daughter died after years of being harassed and bullied by classmates, and filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the South Jersey school system for failing to protect her daughter. The sixth-grader repeatedly asked school officials for help, she said.
“It’s really hard,” LoAlbo, 41, said in an interview. “It shouldn’t have happened to her.”
LoAlbo, who also has two sons, said she is coping with her grief by remembering her daughter as her “happy hope” and hearing from other parents who have lost a child. She’s also mourning her husband, Alex Melendez, a highly decorated New Jersey Transit police detective, who died from pancreatic cancer two weeks before their daughter’s death.
Despite the bullying incidents at school, Felicia seemed like she was looking forward to school on the last day her mother saw her alive. She had been tapped to play the role of Te Fiti, a goddess in Disney’s " Moana," an epic adventure about a spirited teen who sets sail on a daring mission to prove herself.
“She was so excited,”...