9 Mass. Teens Charged in Bullied Girl's Suicide

Nine teenagers have been charged in connection with the death of a Massachusetts teen who committed suicide in January after being bullied and abused in school and on Facebook. The charges include statutory rape, harassment, and violation of civil rights. Phoebe Prince, 15, who had recently moved to the US from Ireland, was a freshman at South Hadley High School. She was found hanged in her home.

Police named six suspects, aged 16 to 18, and withheld the names of three juvenile females. "Their conduct far exceeded the limits of normal teenage relationship-related quarrels," the DA said today in announcing the charges after a 2½-month investigation. At least one bullying incident, the day before Price's suicide, "appears to have been conducted in the presence of a faculty member and several students, but went unreported to school administrators until after Phoebe's death," the prosecutor said.
(More Phoebe Prince stories.)