Mother Rejects Suicide As Cause Of Hopkinton Teen's Death

HOPKINTON, MA — The mother of a Hopkinton 16-year-old found dead last month is rejecting a state medical examiner's ruling that the teen died by suicide. Calvina Strothers appeared at a press event along with activists and civil rights attorney Ben Crump on Wednesday to call for a continued investigation into Mikayla Miller's death.

During the Wednesday event, Strothers and Crump reiterated that there are pieces of the case they still find questionable. Chief among them: the fight Miller had with a group of teenagers the night before she died, and the way her body was found.

"My stance is: Suicide is not an option, I do not believe my daughter committed suicide," Strothers said. "That's not something I'm entertaining at all."

A state medical examiner on Tuesday ruled that Miller's cause of death was suicide and the manner was asphyxia by hanging. Strothers said her daughter was not found hanging, but standing with a belt around her neck tied to a branch.

A passerby found Miller early on the morning of April 18. The night before, the teen fought with four teenagers who visited her at the West Main Street apartment complex where she lived.

According to Strothers, police visited her the morning of April 18 and told her Miller had died by suicide — a ruling that came before any real investigation had occurred.

About two hours before the press conference, Hopkinton police released a trove of records related to the police and fire response on the day Miller was found. The death was first reported to 911 by a runner who told a dispatcher he discovered a person hanging from a tree in the forest. Otherwise, the records contained few new details about the teen's death.

Activists called the release a good step, but said it came too late — and appeared to be timed ahead of Wednesday's press conference.

"It's not by mistake this information was released just before this call," former Boston Councilor Tito Jackson said during the call. "It should not have had to take [Calvina Strothers] to wait over a month and a half to get this transparency and accountability."

During the press call, Cannon-Grant said she had paid for an independent autopsy of Miller, but the family's attorney said they were not ready to release the results as of early Wednesday afternoon.

Cannon-Grant said there is precedent for criminal charges in the event Miller was bullied into suicide, citing South Hadley teen Phoebe Prince. After Prince died by suicide in 2010, six teenagers were charged with violating the teen's civil rights, and the case also led to an anti-bullying law in Massachusetts.

Crump, who has represented the families of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery, said Miller's death deserves to be scrutinized so her family can get to the truth.

"Mikayla's life matters," Crump said. "It matters to her family, it matters to her community, and it should matter to all of us."