Huron High School Student Takes Own Life

A mother is grieving for her 14-year-old daughter. The teen came forward saying she was raped by an upperclassman and then bullied in school after the attack. Her pain became too much for her to endure. Sadly, Samantha Kelly took her own life.

11/10 Update: Charges Dismissed Against Tarnpolski, click here for story and video reaction.

Her family is devastated. Adding to their pain, the case against her alleged attacker has been dismissed.

"All of (those) peers really need to think now more than ever. Was it worth it? ... I won't be able to take my daughter to the prom. I won't be able to walk her down the aisle. I can't see my first grandbaby born from my daughter," said June Justice.

The pain is too much for this mother to bear. Her daughter, 14-year-old Samantha Kelly, took her own life, no longer able to cope with the constant bullying and harassment.

"All the seniors, they're making fun of me. You know, 'It's Joe's mistake,'" Kelly told FOX 2 News back in October. "I have girls that want to beat me up because of him."

That's why Kelly first came to FOX 2. She said this all started after she told police she was raped by 18-year-old Joe Tarnopolski.

"I told him, 'You're hurting me. Stop. You're hurting me,' and 'I want to leave,'" said Kelly. "If you wanted to have sex, usually the person would let you leave, and on top of that, there was a point where I squirmed and he pulled me back down by my legs, and I cried and he wiped my tears and told me everything would be okay."

After Tarnopolski was charged with third-degree CSC statutory rape, Kelly claimed students at Huron High School turned on her. At the same time, police and prosecutors didn't believe her. She said Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Keisha Glen tried to talk her out of it.

"They're treating her like she's the defendant and not the victim, and they were breaking my daughter down," Justice said.

Tarnopolski, her alleged attacker, then took to Twitter, calling Kelly a liar and saying that she ruined his life.

One of Kelly's friends told FOX 2's Taryn Asher that from there the teasing only got worse.

"At lunch time, people would throw stuff at her. The seniors would throw stuff at her and call her a liar," said Sheila Little.

Kelly couldn't take it and tried to commit suicide. That time she failed. She spent four days in a psychiatric hospital.

Her mother tried to switch her school, but could not. Kelly convinced her she was strong enough to go back. That was Monday.

Monday evening, Kelly went into her room, wrote a message on the wall and the date of her alleged rape and then hung herself.

"My daughter's dead because nobody wanted to listen to her, and the people who should have stood up for her didn't," said Justice.

However, it gets worse for the family. The abuse and harassment Kelly put up with that eventually forced her to take her own life was for nothing. Late Tuesday, FOX 2 learned the Wayne County prosecutor plan to drop the case against her alleged rapist, claiming it can't go forward without a victim.  ( UPDATE, CHARGES DISMISSED ON 11/10 )

"It's ridiculous. I mean, there's no reason why the charges should be dropped. The incident obviously happened," said Jeff Curry, Kelly's stepfather. "The outcome doesn't change the fact of what the guy did."

"I just hope people will now know that what they did was wrong and what they did drove her to this, so it's all their fault," Little said.

"I want to know how they're sleeping. I want to know because I was up all night with all three of my boys, and I couldn't sleep a wink. I probably won't sleep for a long time," said Justice.

When FOX 2 first reported on this, Kelly told Taryn Asher that she wanted to come forward and tell her story so this wouldn't happen to anyone else.

Police would not comment. However, the school did issue a statement and told FOX 2 they did try to do whatever they could to help Kelly. Even toward the end, they said if she felt threatened, she could come to the principal's office, and on Monday, the principal even shadowed her to make sure that she was okay.

As for the prosecutor's office, it issued a statement basically saying they did all they could to support the victim in this case.

The family says they are going to fight to move the criminal case forward.

----------

June Justice told FOX 2's Alexis Wiley she is struggling to find a way to pay for her daughter's funeral. She asks that anyone who wants to help make a donation in Samantha Kelly's name to the Michigan Memorial Cemetery. Their phone number is (734) 782-2473. They are located at 30895 West Huron River Drive in Flat Rock.