{"id":459214,"date":"2026-02-07T06:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T06:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/459214\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T06:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T06:43:10","slug":"fly-high-my-angel-12-year-old-girl-dies-by-suicide-amid-bullying-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/459214\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Fly high my angel\u2019: 12-year-old girl dies by suicide amid bullying allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"

A nine-year-old\u2019s goodbye echoed through a memorial service in January as she told her older sister she loved her. \u201cFly high my angel,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lexi Blackwood was 12 years old when she took her own life.<\/p>\n

Her father, Ryan Marshall, says Lexi was once confident and outgoing, but that began to change when she entered middle school.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was so confident until she started facing harassment and bullying on a daily basis,\u201d Marshall said. \u201cIt basically chipped away her confidence until it was very well zero, and here we are today.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to her family, Lexi confided in her parents last October about ongoing verbal harassment, including comments targeting her appearance. Marshall says the bullying often came from students Lexi didn\u2019t even know.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNo one she knew in her classroom,\u201d he said. \u201cShe didn\u2019t even know these people constantly putting her down, calling her names.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The family said they contacted the school for help but were instead referred to a youth counselling centre. They question why the focus was placed on Lexi\u2019s mental health rather than addressing the alleged bullying.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Central Okanagan Public Schools extended its sympathy to the family as they cope with what it called an \u201cunimaginable loss.\u201d The district said it cannot comment on the specifics of the case and that it follows a provincial safety education framework.<\/p>\n

Marshall says the family felt Lexi\u2019s experience was not taken seriously enough.<\/p>\n

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Her grandfather, Dwight Blackwood, says some steps were taken, but they didn\u2019t address the root of the problem.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey had a monitor in the hall for a few days,\u201d he said. \u201cBut our little Lexi wasn\u2019t even in the hallway anyway, they let her out five minutes early so she could avoid the crowds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marshall says the situation became so severe that Lexi missed two weeks of school. When she returned, he says communication from the school was minimal.<\/p>\n

Now, the family is calling for systemic change, including more proactive mental health resources and regular wellness checks, rather than relying on students to reach out on their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hoping for change in the school board,\u201d Marshall said. \u201cMore direct resources. Not just two or three options that are completely reliant on the student to reach out themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For the family, sharing Lexi\u2019s story is about preventing another loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can stop one other family from going through this,\u201d Marshall said, \u201cthat\u2019s our goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A nine-year-old\u2019s goodbye echoed through a memorial service in January as she told her older sister she loved…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44,44512],"class_list":{"0":"post-459214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-west-kelowna"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}