Family Seeks New Cyberbullying Law In Wake Of Daughter's Suicide

TEXAS CITY, TX -- The family of a Texas City teenager who committed suicide after being relentlessly bullied with fake online profiles on Facebook and dating websites, is looking for answers and hoping for changes in the wake of their personal tragedy.
On Nov. 29, 18-year old Brandy Vela decided enough was enough, put a gun to her chest and pulled the trigger.
She was weeping upstairs in her room, when her older sister, Jacqueline, heard her crying and went up to see what was wrong.
Brandy stood with her back to the bedroom wall with the gun at her chest.
Jacqueline pleaded with her to put the gun down, and as she did other family members rushed up to Brandy's room, pleading with her to drop the gun.
"I was almost certain that I could persuade her to put that gun down, it didn't work," Brandy's father Raul Vela told KPRC. "She pulled the trigger."
In the days that followed friends came by the home to pay their respects, a candle-light vigil was held in Brandy's memory, and the police continued their investigation into the untraceable footprint of the cyberbullies.
Raul Vela said he has taken comfort in the show of love and support from friends and the community, and if there is anything that can come from the loss of his daughter, it would be changes to the laws and finding ways to combat this dangerous and destructive practice of cyberbullying.
"This is something new, something we need to figure out and work through and find how to stop what people are doing through social media," Vela said.
While many states in the U.S. have laws against cyberbullying, Texas is not among them, according to the Cyberbullying Research Center.
However, Texas does have anti-bullying laws that require school districts to enact a written policy against verbal and physical bullying, but that is only enforceable on school campuses.
Dr. Harvey Rosenstock, an adult psychiatrist, said he believes greater awareness and education about the dangers of cyberbullying are key to making a difference, in what's become a more common occurrence.
"When kids themselves understand that they may be an agent for the destruction of someone's soul, I think they would take this a lot more seriously," Rosenstock said.

Image: Shutterstock