Medical examiner regulations in Massachusetts Mikayla Miller took her own life.
Mikayla Miller, a 16-year-old Black girl who died by suicide last month in a Boston suburb, the state’s chief medical examiner concluded.
Miller’s body was discovered hanging from a tree in the woods near Hopkinton, Massachusetts, on April 18. Her death sparked community outrage, and her mother has demanded an independent investigation, alleging that local authorities rushed the initial investigation.
According to local CBS affiliate WBZ, the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined Tuesday that Miller died of asphyxia by hanging.
According to local ABC affiliate WCVB, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said the investigation into Miller’s death is ongoing.
Miller was involved in a “physical altercation” with two other teenagers the night before she was found dead, according to the district attorney’s office. Three additional teenagers were present. According to police, they investigated all five and determined that none of them entered the woods where Miller’s body was later discovered.
Miller’s mother, Calvina Strothers, has been outspoken in her criticism of Hopkinton police and Ryan’s district attorney’s office.
“Instead of providing answers, the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, State Police, and Hopkinton Police have responded with contempt, slammed doors, misdirection, glaring inconsistencies, extreme confusion, and ultimately, silence,” Strothers wrote on a GoFundMe page on May 6.
Strothers stated that when officers informed her of Mikayla’s death, they “prematurely concluded that Mikayla committed suicide without conducting a thorough investigation and obtaining a report from the Medical Examiner.”
No one has been arrested in connection with the alleged assault on April 17.
