Catherine Daisy Coleman (March 30, 1997August 4, 2020) was an American sexual assault victim advocate who was the subject of the 2016 documentary film ''

Audrie & Daisy ''Audrie & Daisy'' is an American 2016 documentary film about two cases of rape of teenage American girls, in 2011 and 2012. Summary The documentary includes the stories of two American high school students, Audrie Pott of Saratoga, California, a ...

'', for which she received a Cinema Eye Honor. Coleman co-founded the non-profit organization SafeBAE, which was aimed at preventing sexual assault in schools. She died by

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

at the age of 23.

Early life

Coleman was born to Melinda, a veterinarian and Michael Coleman, a physician. She had three brothers. In 2009, Michael, Daisy and one of her brothers were travelling in the car to watch another one of her brothers in a wrestling competition when the car hit black ice and went into a ravine, killing her father. After his death, Coleman and the rest of the family moved to

Maryville, Missouri Maryville is a city and county seat of Nodaway County, Missouri, United States. Located in the "Missouri Point" region, As of the 2020 census, the city population was 10,633. Maryville is home to Northwest Missouri State University and Northwes ...

2012 sexual assault and investigation

In January 2012, a 17-year-old Maryville, Missouri boy named Matthew Barnett was arrested for the

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

and

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

of Coleman, then 14. A 15-year-old boy was accused of doing the same to Coleman's 13-year-old friend, and a third boy admitted to recording the assault on a cellphone. A significant controversy arose in 2013 when the county prosecutor dropped

felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...

and misdemeanor charges against the first boy, who was related to an influential former state representative, and the

Nodaway County Nodaway County is a county located in the northwest part of Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the population was 23,370. Its county seat is Maryville. The county was organized February 14, 1845 and is named for the Nodaway River. It is the larg ...

prosecutor dropped the felony sexual exploitation charge against the third boy. Outrage in online communities, including

Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

, soon followed when the story surrounding this case was revisited in October 2013.

David Von Drehle David James Von Drehle (born February 6, 1961) is an American author and journalist. Early life and education Von Drehle was born in Denver, Colorado, and raised in Aurora, Colorado. He earned his B.A. in 1983 from the University of Denver, where ...

Hackers Target Town After Dropped Sexual-Assault Case
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'', October 14, 2013 Michael Schaffer, reporting on the incident for ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...

'', described

as a "lawless hellhole". In 2014, a

special prosecutor In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exis ...

was put in charge to reinvestigate the case. The first boy pleaded guilty to

misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than adm ...

second-degree endangerment of the welfare of a child for leaving her outside her house, and was sentenced by

Missouri Circuit Court The Missouri Circuit Courts are the state trial courts of original jurisdiction and general jurisdiction of the state of Missouri. Jurisdiction The Missouri Constitution provides for the Circuit Courts in Article V, Judicial Department. List ...

Judge Glen Dietrich to four months in jail that were suspended in favor of two years of

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...

. He was sentenced in juvenile court for the assault.

Career and activism

Coleman and her older brother Charlie advocated nationwide for sexual assault survivors. ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'' named Coleman as one of the "13 most Fearless Teens of 2013". Coleman's story was featured in the 2016 Netflix documentary ''

''. Coleman and Audrie Pott were recipients of a 2016 Cinema Eye Honor as "unforgettable" memorable non-fiction film subjects. She attended

Missouri Valley College Missouri Valley College is a private college that is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Marshall, Missouri. The college was founded in 1889 and supports 40 academic majors and an enrollment close to 1,500 students. Misso ...

. She co-founded SafeBAE (Before Anyone Else), a non-profit organization aimed at ending sexual assaults in schools. In June 2018, Coleman relocated to

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

and was working as a

tattoo artist A tattoo artist (also tattooer or tattooist) is an individual who applies permanent decorative tattoos, often in an established business called a "tattoo shop", "tattoo studio" or "tattoo parlour". Tattoo artists usually learn their craft via an ...

. She worked on a second film project titled ''Saving Daisy'', focusing on her recovery process,

post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

, and the use of CBD and

EMDR Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a form of psychotherapy developed by Francine Shapiro in the 1980s that was originally designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories such as post-traumatic stress ...

therapy.

Personal life and death

After the sexual assault, Coleman attempted suicide on multiple occasions. She became the target of daily

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an imba ...

, prompting the family to move from Maryville to

Albany, Missouri Albany is a city and county seat of Gentry County, Missouri, United States. With an annual growth rate of -0.30%. The population was 1,679 at the 2020 census. History Albany was originally called Athens, and under the latter name was platted in ...

. Her homes had suspicious fire damage in Nodaway and

Gentry Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies ''Gentry'', in its widest ...

counties. In June 2018, her younger brother Tristan died in a car accident at 19 years old. Coleman died by suicide on August 4, 2020, at the age of 23. On December 6, 2020, her mother Melinda also died by suicide.

Documentary

References

External links

*
Daisy Coleman's Story: "I Refuse To Be Silenced"
in ''Seventeen'' magazine: her 2013 narrative of the sexual assault {{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, Daisy 1997 births 2020 deaths 2020 suicides Suicides in the United States 21st-century American women artists Place of death missing Place of birth missing People with post-traumatic stress disorder Missouri Valley College alumni American women's rights activists Artists from Missouri Activists from Missouri People from Maryville, Missouri Sexual abuse victim advocates People from Albany, Missouri Female suicides American activists with disabilities