Twelve-year-old Joel Morales was a victim of bullying, which may have been the cause of his life ending this week. His mother found him hanging from a shower rod in their bathroom at around 11:30 p.m., on Tuesday night. This tragic story comes as another reminder of the growing intensity of bullying in schools.
It's reported that Lizbeth Babilonia discovered her son and cut him down from the shower rod with a knife, but had to be restrained by a neighbor because she was trying to stab herself in hysterics. That in and of itself is rather questionable, but there isn't much reported on whether or not this case is being investigated by police. This is in no way insinuating that the mother could be involved, but it certainly would not be the first time a parent has done something related to this type of death.
It's said that Joel Morales was the victim of bullying that was so severe the mother had to put the boy in a different school. Then, the bullying continued. The family of the child claim that they even sought a protective order against one of the bullies, and met with the children's parents to no result.
If the bullying was this intense, then yes, something must be done. However, one must take into consideration that not all sides of the story have been told yet. It is only known that a 12-year-old child hanged himself and like just about every child suicide that's been reported in the past few years the parents and guardians are saying bullying is to blame. Is it really, though?
Joel could have very well simply been suffering from depression. His father had apparently passed away, which was something he was picked on about evidently. And it also seems odd that he was reportedly bullied so harshly, when he is also reported as being a popular young man among his female peers. His family is now calling on "god" to punish his bullies.
Look, it's sad that this boy is dead. It's even sadder that he appeared to take his own life. However, there seems to have been some at-home problems as well that may have contributed to the mental and emotional state he was in -- leading to a possible suicide.
Crime analyst and profiler Chelsea Hoffman can be found on The Huffington Post, Chelsea Hoffman: Case to Case and many other outlets. Follow @TheRealChelseaH on Twitter or click here to contact Chelsea directly.
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Comments: 6
It's a shame this happened, but I also feel that there was more to it than bullying.
Their all trying to figure themselves out, the hormones are changing, and a lot of time their mean to each other. And if your a little different from the others it can be hell.
And just because the girls liked him, doesn't mean the boys did.
What you think jealousy doesn't start til High School?
I don't mean to be rude but to me as soon as you started telling this story you sounded like you had already made up your mind that Bullying was an excuse, or that it was the Mother's fault.
I don't know you and I would never want to judge you, but honestly I think you sounded a little hard. I have five biological children and two more that we took in. My oldest is 28 and the youngest is 13.
Being preteens and teenagers was never easy, now days it's worse.
Have a little compassion here. The woman lost her husband and now her son. IF it turns out that she did hurt her son then you can get mad about it.
You could be hurting this woman's reputation, what if it's all true? And what if she read this, you could be causing her pain.
We are not here to judge, we are suppose to be here to help each other.
I am here to observe, speculate, analyze and share.
Thanks for reading and commenting. :)