Teen’s autopsy report records head injuries
An autopsy report released by Oklahoma’s medical examiner Wednesday detailed head trauma suffered by Nex Benedict, the nonbinary youth whose death last month after a school fight sparked national anger, even as it ruled the death a suicide.
The report says the sophomore’s cause of death was a lethal combination of antidepressant and antihistamine, and notes “no lethal trauma” was seen despite listing several head injuries Nex suffered, including contusions, lacerations, abrasions and hemorrhages. A one-page summary listing the cause of death but not the head injuries was released March 13.
According to the report, Nex “was reported to have headaches and seizure-like activity before being found unresponsive.”
The 11-page autopsy report notes Nex, 16, who used they/ them pronouns, suffered “bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, self-harm (cutting), chronic tobacco abuse and chronic marijuana abuse.”
“Handwritten notes that are suggestive of self-harm were found in the decedent’s room by family and provided to law enforcement, ”the report said.
Nex collapsed at home Feb. 8, the day after a fight with students in a bathroom at their high school in Owasso, a Tulsa suburb. Last week, prosecutors said they would not file criminal charges in Nex’s death or the preceding fight, citing police findings and the medical examiner’s report.
Tulsa County District Attorney Stephen Kunzweiler, a Republican, said that while Nex’s family reported that they had been bullied at school, “from all of the evidence gathered, this fight was an instance of mutual combat.”
Nex’s family has said the teen was bullied for being nonbinary and, after the summary was released, disputed authorities’ findings that the death was a suicide. They hired Tulsa lawyer Jacob Biby, who is conducting an investigation into Nex’s death. Biby released a statement from the family citing passages from the 11-page autopsy report, saying they “contradict allegations of the assault on Nex being insignificant.”
“The Medical Examiner found numerous areas of physical trauma over Nex’s body that evidence the severity of the assault,” the statement said, insisting those injuries should not be “overshadowed” by the medical examiner’s classification of Nex’s death as a suicide.
Biby declined to comment Wednesday, as did Jordan Korphage, a spokesman for Owasso Public Schools.
LGBTQ advocacy groups such as Freedom Oklahoma have called for outside investigation into Nex’s death.
“There is no report that absolves those in leadership from their failures,” said Nicole McAfee, the group’s executive director. “Nex Benedict should still be alive, and the least we can do in Nex’s memory is to take urgent action to address the continued hostile school environments.”
The Human Rights Campaign, a national group, filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, which now is investigating alleged sex-based harassment and discrimination at Owasso schools. It has also called for the department to investigate Ryan Walters, state superintendent of schools and a national opponent of LGBTQ rights, as well as his department.
“The full report does little to fill in the gaps in information about that day or the more than a year of bullying and harassment that led up to it. It does not answer the questions of so many in Oklahoma and across the country,” said Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, noting that the autopsy report “does not change the fact that LGTBQ+ students in Oklahoma are not safe at school.”