A grieving New Jersey mom, whose 11-year-old daughter is said to have taken her own life in a school bathroom, is demanding to see security footage to prove the pre-teen was alone at the time.
Elaina LoAlbo is still waiting to see critical evidence related to her 11-year-old daughter, Felicia LoAlbo-Melendez’s unexpected February death, which investigators have ruled a suicide.
“Over the last eight weeks they have refused to show me any video tape footage, and several emails in reference to the school about the bullying,” LoAlbo said.
“I have asked to see the scarf [found in the bathroom], the security tapes and I’ve been locked out of her school [online] account since before she had even passed.”
LoAlbo said she fears someone else could have been in some way involved in her daughter’s death.
“And until I see footage proving otherwise, that will remain in the forefront of my mind,” she added.
“Show me the tapes and prove it to me … If I saw the tapes, 100% it would help me get some kind of closure.”
LoAlbo admitted the pre-teen’s death came after rounds of vicious bullying from her peers, which had prompted her to write a number of emails requesting help from the school and its counselor, whom Felicia was visting regularly with.
LoAlbo said her daughter, who only turned 11 in December, had been bullied “for many years,” and she has had to personally call another students’ parent to ask them to help the bullying stop.
“They were telling her to ‘unalive’ herself, they called her all kinds of derogatory names, put gum in her hair, stole from her,” she recalled.
Felicia punched one student who told her to “unalive” herself, LoAlbo said.
“But even then, there was never any repercussion from the school, no follow up. Nobody called me, nobody talked to me about that incident,” she went on.
LoAlbo said Felicia was set to be switched to a new class after winter recess to get her away from the bullies, but it never happened.
LoAlbo charged the school had “tried to cover up” her daughter’s bullying in the past, and then tried “to cover everything else up when it comes to the details of her passing.”
She added her husband, Felicia’s father, died in late January just weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Felicia had been undergoing therapy before and after her father’s death, LoAlbo said.
But LoAlbo said “there were no signs” her daughter was experiencing suicidal thoughts.
“There was no Google searches or anything referencing self-harm,” she said. “You’re not going to learn to tie a noose without some kind of Google search.”
She said her daughter had never harmed herself in the past.
“A kid doesn’t just doesn’t hang themselves in the bathroom without ever contemplating suicide. That’s just not how these things happen,” she told The Post.
A student at F.W. Holbein School in Mount Holly, New Jersey, discovered Felicia’s unresponsive body around 1 p.m. February 6, the prosecutor’s office previously said.
The office described how she had been discovered “after hanging herself in a closed” bathroom stall. She was ultimately rushed to a Philadelphia hospital, but could not be saved.
Felicia died two days later. That Friday, investigators told her mother “they thought it was suicide and she had a scarf around her neck on the floor,” LoAlbo recounted to The Post.
The Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office determined Felicia had committed suicide and died of “complications from hanging.”
Last week, the prosecutor’s office cited surveillance footage in reporting Felicia “was alone in the restroom when this tragic action occurred.”
Several school and school district officials did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment throughout the day Monday.
But a spokesperson for the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office told The Post the video would soon be released LoAlbo.
“It was previously communicated that we would accommodate her request to view the school surveillance recording at the appropriate time, but not while the criminal investigation was ongoing,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement.
“The investigation has concluded, and arrangements will be made in the near future for Ms. LoAlbo to be shown the footage.”
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.