Family asks bullies to repent in obituary for 15-year-old

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.

Sadie, who died on Monday, was from the small town of 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. Sadie was a member of the Solid Rock Christian Fellowship Church in Bedford. Sadie 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 counselling 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.

Sadie 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 to late to change your ways,” it said.

“... 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 stated. “Our hearts are beyond broken.”