Melinda Coleman, Mother Of Rape Survivor Daisy, Takes Own Life

Just a few months ago, Melinda Coleman was a mother of three mourning the loss of her daughter, Daisy, who had been the subject of a 2016 Netflix documentary on the rape of teenage girls. On Sunday night, the organization Daisy Coleman founded to help the survivors of sexual assault announced the shock of learning that, like her daughter, Melinda Colman had also died by taking her own life.

In an Instagram post, representatives from SafeBAE (Before Anything Else) wrote Melinda Coleman was lost to suicide and that “the bottomless grief of losing her husband, Tristan, and Daisy was more than she could face most days.”

Daisy Coleman, who was the subject of “Audrie and Daisy,” died in August at the age of 23. She was discovered by Denver police after Melinda Coleman requested that officers check on her daughter’s well-being.

In a social media post at the time of her Daisy's death, Melinda Coleman called her daughter her best friend and an amazing daughter. In the same post, Coleman acknowledged that Daisy had never recovered from “what those boys did to her” and that “it’s just not fair.”

“I think she had to make it seem like I could live without her. I can't. I wish I could have taken the pain from her!” Coleman wrote in August, continuing, “My baby girl is gone.”

In the post Sunday on SafeBAE’s social media channels, Melinda Coleman was remembered by the organization as a gifted veterinarian, devoted mother and wife and a talented body builder.

“More than anything,” the post reads, “she loved and believed in her children. It is no accident that she created some of the most gifted, passionate and resilient children.”

Daisy Coleman was 14 in 2012 when she sneaked out of her mother’s house with a friend to attend a house party in Marysville, Missouri. The party was held at the home of Matthew Barnett, who was 17 at the time. According to a 2013 Kansas City Star story, Daisy was given alcohol and raped by Barnett while a 15-year-old boy did the same to the 13-year-old friend Daisy sneaked out with. Both rapes were captured on video by another boy at the party, according to media reports.

Melinda Coleman told the paper she found her daughter the next morning. Both boys were charged with felonies before the charges were later dropped. Barnett was the grandson of a prominent Missouri politician and state trooper. According to reports, prosecutors said the felony charges were dropped because the Colemans stopped cooperating with investigators.

Barnett pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child endangerment charges and was sentenced to two years of probation. A four-month jail sentence was suspended. Barnett acknowledged having sex with Daisy but maintained it was consensual.

Daisy Coleman, who later went on to establish SafeBAE — a peer-to-peer survivor-led national organization aimed at ending sexual assault among middle school and high school students — was then featured in the 2016 Netflix documentary, which told the story of the two girls and which was released four years before Daisy died by suicide.

According to reports published Monday, Melinda Coleman — who lost her husband in a car accident in 2018 — posted another tribute to Daisy on her Facebook page Sunday night just hours before taking her own life.

“There aren’t enough I love yous I could have said when I was holding your cold, broken, dead body,” Melinda wrote in the post. “I held you like a baby anyway, my baby. The baby I held when you first came into this world. It has always been my greatest honor and joy to be your mother and best friend. Mama bear!”

Melinda Coleman is survived by two children, sons Logan and Charlie.

If you are having thoughts of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-TALK). You are not alone. Confidential help is available for free, 24 hours every day.