Officials close investigation in trans teen’s suicide, refer to her as ‘Mr. Alcorn’ in final report / LGBTQ Nation

Ohio

Officials close investigation in trans teen’s suicide, refer to her as ‘Mr. Alcorn’ in final report

By KANTELE FRANKO | Associated Press ·

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Leelah Alcorn KANTELE FRANKO [ap]

Leelah Alcorn

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The death of a troubled transgender teenager who begged people to fix society before she stepped in front of a tractor-trailer on a highway has been deemed a suicide, and the investigation into it has been closed, the State Highway Patrol said.

Leelah Alcorn, who was 17, walked into the path of the tractor-trailer in the wee hours of Dec. 28. She had left a handwritten note on her bed – “I’ve had enough” – and had done an online search about runaway assistance and a Tumblr search for the word “suicide” before walking onto Interstate 71 in suburban Cincinnati, according to a patrol report released Wednesday.

The driver of the truck is not being charged, patrol spokesman Lt. Craig Cvetan said. The driver wasn’t speeding, and he and Leelah tested negative for alcohol and drugs, the report says.

The patrol report notes that a coroner ruled the manner of Leelah’s death as suicide. It also said that while no suicide notes were found on the computer there were “allusions to suicide and depression.”

An iChat conversation with a friend from Nov. 24 was found on Leelah’s computer, the patrol report said.

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“My suicide note was queued on Tumblr, and I was ready to jump off the bridge next to my house that goes over I-71, but I decided to call a transgender suicide hotline and I basically cried my eyes out for a couple hours talking to a lady on there,” Leelah wrote.

A note later posted on Leelah’s Tumblr blog pleaded, “My death needs to mean something. … Fix society. Please.”