Suicide Pact: Minnesota Teens Haylee Fentress and Paige Moravetz Commit Suicide at Slumber Party
Bullying is cited in hanging deaths of two eighth grade girls.
April 20, 2011 — -- A slumber party in Minnesota ended in tragedy when two eighth grade girls fulfilled a suicide pact, killing themselves and leaving behind suicide notes telling their families that they loved them.
The bodies of best friends Haylee Fentress and Paige Moravetz, both 14, were discovered Saturday by Fentress' mother, Tracy Morrison.
Haylee's aunt, Robin Settle, said the girl had recently moved to the rural town of Lynd, Minn., and had complained to her family that she felt ostracized and bullied. Settle also said there are indications that the girls had planned their deaths for a long time, even including funeral details in a good-bye note.
"I'm shocked and I'm mad and I'm sad...I don't understand the mentality of kids torturing other kids, kids having to go through this. They don't think they have anywhere to go to," Settle told ABC News.com.
Settle said that her niece, Haylee, had been the victim of bullying after moving to Minnesota from Indiana with her mother and 8-year-old brother.
"She was made fun of for being overweight, her red hair," Settle said. "She posted on my [Facebook] wall that she really wanted to come back...that the people were mean and cruel and she didn't fit in."
Even though Haylee wasn't severely overweight, she was so uncomfortable about her size that she rarely ate in public at school, Settle said.
Paige was Haylee's closest friend.
"They were best friends. Haylee started school here about a year ago and over the course of the year, they'd become best friends," said Brett Behnke, Paige's uncle.
Paige played hockey and was teaching Haylee to skate, Behnke said.
"She had a big, round face and a smile that's intoxicating, just a charmer," Behnke said of his niece.
The two girls were so close, Haylee had hyphenated her last name on Facebook to include Paige's last name.
