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Family asks bullies to repent in obituary for Pa. girl, 15

Sadie Riggs committed suicide on Monday.

Sadie L. Riggs, 15, of Bedford, Pa. took her own life.
Sadie L. Riggs, 15, of Bedford, Pa. took her own life.Read morehandout

The obituary for 15-year-old Sadie L. Riggs got right to the point.

"Yes, Sadie took her own life, she hung herself," the memorial notice on the Louis Geisel Funeral Home website said.

Riggs, who died Monday, was from  Bedford, about 100 miles west of Harrisburg.

A student at Bedford Senior High School, she was known as a sweet and loving girl who played softball, loved music and enjoyed drawing and reading, the death notice said. Riggs was a member of the Solid Rock Christian Fellowship Church in Bedford.  She worked as a cook at Pizza Hut and thought about being a firefighter or a veterinarian, according to the obituary, her Facebook page and news reports.

Life wasn't all that easy for the teen, who was in counseling and taking medication, the obituary said.

"For a young lady so excited about going to the High School things sure went terribly wrong for her," the obituary stated.

Riggs was bullied by classmates, the family contends.

"They called her everything in the book," Sarah Smith, the teen's aunt, with whom she resided, told WPXI-TV.

"On her cellphone, SnapChat, Kik and Instagram were her big things getting bullied on," Smith told the station.

The obituary addressed the actions of the bullies.

" … please know you were effective in making her feel worthless. That is all between you and God now, but please know that it is not too late to change your ways," it says.

"To all the bullies out there, I just want you to know that as much as we despise your actions never, ever do we wish for you to feel the paralyzing pain that engulfs our bodies, a pain so severe that it makes the simple act of breathing difficult or the guilt that leaves us wondering what we could have done differently — or that struggle to remember the last words we spoke .., " the obituary continues.

"Sadie's death has taken us to dark places, we will stick together and protect one another as we try to make sense of this tragic loss," the obituary states. "Our hearts are beyond broken."

In addition to Smith, Sadie Riggs is survived by her father, Eric; stepmother, Alicia Smith; biological mother, Beverly Riggs; five brothers, and three sisters.

"In lieu of flowers, the family of Sadie ask that you be kind to one another," the obituary ends.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255 is staffed round the clock.