Katelyn Davis, The 12-Year-Old Girl Who Livestreamed Her Suicide

30/12/2016

A 12-year-old Katelyn Nicole Davis, known online by the username ITZ Dolly, broadcasted her death on social media using streaming service Live.Me.

The streaming service quickly removed the content but it was too late. The 40-minutes video footage of her hanging herself at her backyard had spread to other social media networks, like YouTube and Facebook, and went viral.

The disturbing video quickly spread around the internet after people kept sharing the heartbreaking video. The police apparently had no authority to take down the the footage.

YouTube made a quick move in removing the clip and its different versions off its platform, citing them as a violation against its "policy on violent or graphic content." But the footage continued to spread. It took Facebook two weeks to wipe out the video from its website.

By the time the streaming and social behemoth removed the video from their platforms, it has been viewed by thousands of people across the globe.

Katelyn Nicole Davis
Katelyn Davis, the 12-year-old girl who committed suicide because of depression.

Katelyn Nicole Davis was considered an active blogger on multiple social media sites. And on the last few months of her life, she had recorded dozens of videos.

And among the videos she uploaded, she shared a detailed insight on her life that led to her death.

For example, in various videos, she sings, shares spiritual philosophy, or takes care of her two younger siblings. In other videos however, she was showed arguing with her mother, alleging criminal activity, to then break down emotionally.

Davis claimed to have been neglected by her biological father alongside being physically and sexually abused by her stepfather.

And worse, she mentioned in one of her videos, that her stepfather encouraged her to kill herself.

"He told me I should go hang myself because I was worthless," Davis said.

Putting even more into her depression, Davis also said that she had been bullied at school and that she had been a victim of cat-fishing by someone pretending to be of the opposite sex online.

With so much the young girl suffered, Davis attempted suicide by overdosing herself with drugs.

That attempt failed, as she was rushed to the hospital for a relatively quick recovery.

Before that, she was engaged in self-harm, like cutting her wrists and thighs. But still, she also sought to help others overcome problems with both self-harm and depression.

Her videos showed that she had cried out for help but nobody listened.

Unfortunately for the young girl, her next suicide attempt managed to take her own life.

On the 30th of December, 2016, Davis hanged herself in her garden.

The tormented and struggling young girl live streamed the heart-breaking event, and nothing could stop the the video from becoming viral.

In the first half of the 42-minute video, Davis was shown speaking to her viewers about the pains she suffered. She was seen in her backyard, standing new a tree, before tying a rope around one of its branches.

"I’m sorry that I’m not pretty enough. I’m sorry for everything, I’m really, truly sorry. But I can’t do this," she said, with sadness and depression shown from her face.

After saying goodbye to her friends and family, Davis kicked a bucket out from underneath her feet.

Katelyn Nicole Davis

The last 20 minutes of the livestream clip was showing her lifeless body hanging from a tree outside her family's home in Cedartown, Georgia, as the sun sets at the background.

The silence broke when a family member can be heard in the background calling her name and looking for her before the footage ends.

The resulting publicity brought by the footage that went viral, was outpouring of online support and attention to the issues of suicide causes and prevention, child abuse, bullying, and appropriate use of social media.

The allegations of abuse caused the Polk County Police to open an investigation.