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Pressley calls for investigation into Hopkinton teen's death
By adamg on Wed, 05/05/2021 - 9:03am
Pressley yesterday called for an independent probe into the death of Mikayla Miller last month:
Mikayla Miller deserved to grow old. She had so many basketball games, road trips and HBCU homecomings ahead of her. She deserved childhood -- uninterrupted.
There needs to be a full, transparent, independent investigation into her death.— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) May 5, 2021
WGBH interviewed Middlesex County DA Marian Ryan and Violence in Boston leader Monica Cannon-Grant about the case.
The Globe has background.
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Comments
I saw some of this yesterday.
I've seen about 25 or so hangings in my life and additional 250 or so dead bodies with some of those being murdered bodies. I'm not an expert in death investigations, but I'm pretty sure a Medical Examiner is going to be able to tell if someone died by a hanging, or if someone was lynched (which would show some sign of struggle or other injuries and even a specific set of injuries in the neck area different than a hanging suicide).
I mean, the State police are going to show up to any crime scene in Hopkinton, before the local police are allowed to move the body (unless they tried CPR). The chances of local police covering up or doing something else seems pretty tough to do in a case like this.
Lots of questions
But one I keep thinking about is- where did the rope come from?
It was a belt.
And I guess the outfit she was wearing did not require a belt (wasn't something she was wearing at the time)
(this is according to Monica Cannon Grant so take that for what it's worth)
State Police vs Local
What's the policy when the State police get involved? Why would the Hopkinton PD need to wait for the state?
Boston and other Cities with their own lab or homicide unit...
Have the capacities to investigate their own deaths. Pretty much everywhere else, the State Police (who work out of the DA's office) investigate ANY death, not just homicides.
Whatever happened with the
Whatever happened with the investigation into Pressley's missing panic buttons? It's been four months.
Thank You Adam
Thank you Adam.. seems like MSM kinda dropped this story for reasons unknown.
Thank you for keeping this alive in public view.
(this is horrific. Poor girl, she didnt deserve this)
Boston Globe
It's been prominently on the Boston Globe's site for days now. (I'd consider the Globe MSM.)
Yeah, the Globe, the Herald,
Yeah, the Globe, the Herald, I believe each of the local TV news stations all have stories on this published in the past couple of days. Perhaps it hasn't made it to national interest coverage level at this point.
they should
The woman was lynched.
This isn't Alabama 1955. It's Boston 2021. This should not be happening.
Was she?
I haven't been following this extremely closely, but I thought the leading theory was suicide.
asterisk
the leading theory provided by the police is suicide.
you don't know that. the
you don't know that. the details in the Globe point to the possibility that she went through a breakup and then killed herself. Whether it's 1955 alabama, 2021 boston, or 1595 london, kids are capable of harming themselves over a broken heart.
Let's wait for the police to release their findings and conclusion before calling it one way or another.
Police findings
LOL LOL LOL
Always love how police automatically become good guys and "do their job" when its not about them.
Considering how much racism is covered up by local PDs lately... I have little faith in "police work".
I think MSP are part of the problem.
Im not waiting to pass judgement. I call'em as I see'em
Stealing overtime and racial profiling...
Is a little bit different than having 4-5 agencies cover up a murder and stage a suicide. Just my thinking....
Doesn't require that strong of intention
If the people investigating have bias that leads them to believe no one would ever hang a Black child in our glorious white suburbs, they could easily interpret evidence incorrectly so as to fit with their bias. It doesn't have to have been people intentionally staging and covering up.
Teenagers or adults lynching anyone is very rare.
Regardless of race, but I see your point. But that is why a homicide investigation unit is going to process an unattended death (especially a hanging) the same as if they would an apparent homicide crime scene.
and yes I see the racial connotation for a lynching in this case, but that should make cops more apt to treat it as a homicide instead of a suicide no?
sure, I mean, I've never
sure, I mean, I've never heard anything about police in Massachusetts conspiring to cover up anything...
Ya ok.
We can still use our brains though. Try yours and tell us what you think?
if the police tell me it's a
if the police tell me it's a suicide, I'm going to believe otherwise until proof is offered, especially in an instance when many people including those closest to the victim are providing a reasonable alternative theory. the accuracy rate of police statements over my lifetime is so low that they are not afforded the benefit of the doubt.
So, if the police say there was a murder
You just assume it was a suicide, or an accident?
stop playing stupid.
there's plenty of space between "take the police 100% at their word" and "assume the exact opposite of what the police say".
Stupid is as stupid does
Assuming that someone's death by hanging is a homicide just because the police, after initial investigation, say it is a suicide doesn't sound like the most logical move. Kind of sounds like one is assuming the opposite of what the police says, no?
Then again, that's why we have medical examiners. Once they finish their work, you can feel free to say that the opposite of what their conclusions say is what happened.
Well
On coverage: I think if/when there is evidence that she was lynched, this will become a big national story.
On faith in the police: I don't have much, but in the absence of some motivation to stage a cover-up, why should we assume not just negligence, but a criminal conspiracy?
It does seem wrong that it took the family running to the media saying "there was a lynching" to get any information about the investigation. Ryan needs to work on transparency, that's clear.
Or
you call them as you imagine them. It’s not the same thing.
It's not Boston...
...it's Hopkinton, and it may not be a literal lynching and instead a case of being harassed to death. Hopefully we'll learn the truth.
If you know a young LGBTQ person, please let them know about the Trevor Project, even if you think they're doing just fine. Please do this regardless of your own intentions, your judgement about your own competence to advise them, or how supportive you think their family and school environment is. It will give them a resource that they will hopefully never need - but it might have saved this young life.
This begs the question
Was Jeffrey Epstein lynched?
Wow
Really, dude? You had to?
Well, yes
Both of these are cases where the authorities made the assumption that the deceased killed themselves, but a sizable number of people who knew about the event think otherwise.
I think this woman killed herself, but the question should be asked as to why. It this a case of someone being bullied to the point that they can’t take it anymore? Starting as the family has with the idea she was killed changes the whole conversation. If an independent autopsy shows that the deceased acted alone, the community would have been ignoring the key question all along.
If the assumption now is that no one hangs themselves, the conspiracy theory centered on a New York federal detention center somehow becomes more valid, but again, I do think it’s a way people end their own lives.
@Waquiot
So a 16 year old is a woman in your book? You and Matt Gaetz must hang out together. Mikayla was a child sir. A friggin' child. She's dead and no one knows how or why even after a month.
Some’s mind is in the gutter
If I called her a girl, which was my first choice, I would have been called out as being sexist, but I didn’t, so you decided to troll me.
And yes, we do know how she died. It was by hanging. The medical examiner has been working on a fuller picture, and yes, if you follow local news, you’d know that that level of delay has been sadly par for the course in recent years.
Well, if his death was an
Well, if his death was an extrajudicial murder rather than suicide, then by definition, yes? Murder is wrong. The abhorrent acts he is accused of committing before his death, also wrong. Where are you going with this?
"for days now"
"for days now" when the death was weeks ago, but ok.
They're pretty busy
Not covering Rep. Coppinger getting accused of financial skullduggery.
I just learned about this and I LIVE in Hopkinton
I have no idea what happened to this story. We just learned about it when I was looking at a local news site just two days ago (Monday). My wife and I were shocked, it had been two weeks since her death and we had just heard about it. We don't exactly have our fingers on the pulse of Hopkinton, but ....
Anyways, there is fur flying all over the place with people making all sorts of accusations, and it's hard to get any real facts. There has been so little info released.
An important but sad thing to note
Suicides are rarely publicized. One finds references to “died unexpectedly “ or “died suddenly” in death notices all the time. While most decent people are saddened by such a death, there unfortunately is a stigma around it.
I think that was the issue here.
Unfortunately, I’ve been around a lot of incidents like this and different groups handle it differently. Often times word spreads quick and communities come together and grieve together. That does not appear to be the case here and that’s a little upsetting. In my experience the school leads the community in healing and learning and processing. I’m not sure why that didn’t happen here? Did the school reach out to the family? Did coaches? Did friends?
The police tell the family and that’s it. All juvenile and domestic incidents aren’t public, and death investigations are never released. The DA would never call the family if the investigation involved what appears to be a suicide as well.
But still....something doesn’t add up here.
One thing needs to be agreed upon
We're not getting the whole story.
And to be honest, I don't think that I personally deserve the whole story, but there's probably a lot to this story. I see this as being like the Phoebe Prince story, with some key demographic differences. But again, I have nothing concrete to go on with my theory.
Not even close
Not even close. We're not getting any story. The mother is screaming all sorts of accusations at the police and the DA, and police/DA have been quiet, perhaps understandably. It's kinda messy.
Nothing in the Hop police log
Oddly, unless I missed something, there is nothing in the Hopkinton police log.
Reality is we just don’t know yet
Have to be careful jumping the gun on something like this, especially given the racial undertones. Sadly, suicide is a lot more common than people think, and certainly more common then lynching. If this young lady was killed, hopefully the responsible parties are held accountable.
If this young woman committed suicide...
...then there are some responsible parties too.
LGBTQ teens have a very high suicide rate. You don't have to look far to understand why. No, you don't have to look very far at all.
.
.
Died by suicide is the phrase used now.
Instead of committed suicide.
You are making a huge jump
There are circumstances where a person is driver to suicide (see Phoebe Prince) and cases where the choice was the deceased’s own. If it was suicide and the reason solely was a rough breakup, would you feel comfortable saying to the ex-girlfriend that she was responsible for the death because they broke up.
No, I'm really not
This is reductionist and absurd. You, on the other hand, are making a huge jump in speaking of matters where it doesn't seem that you're knowledgeable. Your understanding of the situation of LGBTQ teens seems lacking, and so maybe it would be best if you didn't opine about what might cause them to choose to end their lives.
Shall I remind you what you wrote?
I do believe that your statement that
could definitely be made while looking into a mirror. That said, I know as much as you do, but my statements are a lot more open. I'm not ready to declare the ex-girlfriend responsible if that is the reason for the suicide (and to be clear, assuming it was a suicide and the breakup was the reason for it, which again, is pure speculation to make the point that such things do happen.)
I hope no one close to you has killed themself, and if this is the case, first, sorry for your loss, and second, you are not responsible for it. Sometimes people kill themselves, which is very sad and very true.
Yeah, you're confused
Come back when you have learned what the word "if" means.
About being a LGBTQ teen? Guessing not.
Yes, I know you mean about this case, but your "lot more open" statements are heading into areas where you might want to reconsider your simplistic view of what could possibly lead someone to suicide, particularly someone whose experiences in the world are very different from yours.
I know what "if" means
And I know what "responsible" means.
That someone, anyone, kills themself does not necessarily mean that some other person or persons are responsible for the death. Again, if she was distraught about the breakup and decided that dying was better than living without them (a very disturbing but all too frequent reason for teen suicide), I would not blame the other woman for it. You, on the other hand, appear to be adamant that if that were the case, the other woman is very much responsible for that. And that's how you go to sleep at night.