MOUNT HOLLY, NJ — A grieving South Jersey mother, whose daughter died after she went unconscious in her school bathroom, said she still feels unsatisfied after law enforcement only showed her edited surveillance footage of the circumstances leading to her daughter's death.
Elaina LoAlbo — the mother of Felicia LoAlbo-Melendez — continues to question the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office's conclusion that the 11-year-old Mount Holly student died by suicide. LoAlbo-Melendez, a sixth-grader at the Holbein School, was found unresponsive Feb. 6 inside a bathroom stall. She was pronounced dead at the hospital two days later. Read more: NJ Student's Death, Lack Of Answers Prompt Hunger Strike
Meanwhile, a nonprofit says it secured funding to help LoAlbo with potential litigation. The Uvalde Foundation For Kids, which has advocated for LoAlbo in the wake of her child's death, will help the woman secure attorneys to determine legal action against the school. LoAlbo says that other students bullied Felicia, and her requests for help from school officials went unheeded.
The Mount Holly superintendent didn't respond to Patch's requests for comment on this development.
"Her death did not have to happen!" LoAlbo said via the Uvalde Foundation, a nonprofit fighting against school violence in the wake of last May's mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. "There will be accountability & there will be justice for Felicia. And, for years to come, her 'fingerprints' will remain for others to learn from. Her death will not be in vain."
A spokesperson for the prosecutor's office previously told Patch that the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office performed an autopsy and ruled LoAlbo-Melendez's death a suicide by hanging. The agency stood by that conclusion Tuesday.
"The investigation has been closed," Joel Bewley, the prosecutor's office's spokesperson, told Patch. "The report is being finalized. There was no foul play involved, and there is no evidence whatsoever to support or suggest that this tragedy was anything other than a suicide."
Bewley told Patch last week that the prosecutor's office would accommodate LoAblo's request to view the school surveillance footage shortly after the investigation concluded. Officials showed LoAlbo footage since then, but the mother says the 12-minute video casts doubt on the suicide claim.
The footage showed LoAlbo-Melendez skipping happily into the bathroom minutes before she was found unresponsive, the Uvalde Foundation says.
New Jersey schools have faced heightened attention in recent months, with critics claiming that anti-bullying efforts have failed to prevent harm. The issue gained renewed attention after a 14-year-old student at Central Regional High School in Bayville died Feb. 3 by suicide. Read more: New Anti-Bullying Policies Raise Concerns At Central Regional
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