Parents of bullied girl, 10, who took own life to sue “negligent” school
The parents of a bullied ten-year-old girl who took her own life are planning to sue her school for alleged “negligence.”
Autumn Brooke Bushman, 10, of Roanoke, Virginia, died on March 21, devastating her parents, Mark and Summer Bushman, and two older siblings.
And following a memorial over the weekend, the parents have accused Mountain View Elementary School of failing to act upon their daughter’s bullying complaints.
The Bushman’s revealed they have since discovered Autumn kept a newspaper clipping about Aubreigh Wyatt – a 13-year-old girl from Mississippi who took her own life in 2023 – in her desk at home.
They say Autumn was initially bullied over her teeth, but this escalated this school year to physical threats.
And they claim nothing was done by the school when they complained – and they were never informed about visits Autumn made to the school counselor.
“We can’t stop voicing our concerns,” Mark, 36, a senior logistics analyst, said of parents raising bullied children.
“We have to come together and figure out a plan. We can’t keep fighting the same battle. The school must take accountability.”
At around 9:30 p.m. on March 21, Autumn told her mother goodnight before going to her room.
“I went to my bedroom and went to sleep,” Summer, 36, a payables specialist, recalled.
The next morning, she discovered the unimaginable.
“Her bedroom light was on, which was odd because she never slept with it on,” she explained. “The door was locked, and I couldn’t get in.
“My 17-year-old son came out of his bedroom, and I told him she wasn’t responding. I broke down the door, and that’s when we saw her.”
Summer, who hasn’t publicly discussed the cause of Autumn’s death, would only say that her daughter kept a newspaper clipping about Aubreigh Wyatt in her desk — something discovered after the fact.
Aubreigh Wyatt — the 13-year-old girl from Mississippi who made headlines in 2023 after committing suicide — was, like Autumn, a victim of bullying.
“I don’t want many details released,” Summer said. “I don’t want any girls to repeat this.”
Paramedics arrived, but it was too late.
“They came right back down and said she was deceased. There was nothing they could do.
“I was in complete shock and denial. All I could do was scream. It was the most horrific thing I have ever seen.”
Mark recalls changes in Autumn’s demeanor before her death.
“She wore bright, vibrant colors growing up, but then shifted to earthy tones, blue and black. In hindsight, maybe she wanted to fly under the radar.”
Her energy levels also declined.
“She wasn’t as excited about things she used to love. In the last two or three days, she took naps, which was really unusual for her.”
Still, Autumn maintained connections with friends.
“She still had a close friend next door, a girl around her age,” Mark said. “They were playing together and laughing a lot and doing the normal things.
“She did have moments where she was happy and bubbly.”
But those moments contrasted sharply with what she endured at school. Autumn, a fourth grader at Mountain View Elementary School, was frequently teased.
She had enamel hypoplasia – a developmental defect causing thin, weak, or missing enamel – and Mark said she was “made fun of for her teeth.”
“She came home crying to me,” he said.
During this school year, however, the bullying cast a darker shadow over her life, escalating beyond cruel words to threats of physical confrontation.
“One girl told her on the bus, ‘Meet me in the bathroom when we get to school.’
“When we addressed it, all we got was, ‘We’ve handled it.’ That’s why it continued. There were no real consequences.”
He added: “It got very cruel. It wasn’t just about her appearance but anything that was low-hanging fruit.”
Autumn frequently complained about bullying — even visiting the school counselor — but her parents say they never received a call.
“Nobody ever called us,” Mark said. “When we suggested contacting the school, Autumn didn’t like that idea.
“It came from previous times when she went to the counselor. It only made things worse. The aggressors found out and faced no repercussions.”
Now, the Bushmans are determined to fight for change.
“We do plan on taking legal action against the school,” Summer said. “Those are conversations we’re having.”
Along with their 17-year-old son, Summer has a 12-year-old daughter who she describes as “Autumn’s best friend.”
The family is left mourning their beloved daughter and sister but remains committed to making a difference.
“We want something good to come of this,” Mark said. “I know our daughter would want that. She passed the torch to us, and we want to run with it.”
Summer remembers her daughter’s vibrant personality.
“Autumn was a very, very special little girl. She loved so hard and wanted to be loved by so many. She just lit up a room. She smiled with her eyes.”
Mark added: “In just 10 years, it feels like she fit an entire lifetime of joy, laughter, and love.”
Mountain View Elementary School did not immediately respond to request for comment.
www.gofundme.com/f/vgeysg-help-a-family-heal-after-tragic-loss
British gran finds US father after 37 years thanks to 23andMe DNA test
A gran found her birth dad after a 37-year search thanks to a 23andMe DNA test.
Anna Sharp, now 52, learned aged 14 she had a different biological dad to her seven older siblings – but she had no idea who her birth dad was.
All she had was an old photo she found in her mum’s belongings and a love note signed ‘Carlos’.
Her children gave her a 23andMe kit for her birthday in February 2024 – a saliva-based DNA service which provides family history and can connect people with relatives.
In July she got a message from fellow user Jasmin Andrews from L.A – a DNA match.
It turned out the pair were second cousins which allowed Anna to track down her birth dad, Charles W Sharp Junior, now 79, an ex-soldier who lives in Dallas, Texas, in October last year.
Now Anna and Charles speak every day and she’s jetting out to see him in April.
Anna, a student nurse from Milton Keynes, said: “Finding him has been amazing!
“It’s easily the best experience in my life.
“I’m so excited to be going to meet him.
“We’re going to revel and live in the moment to make up lost time.
“We’re very similar – we both love to talk, and we have the same sense of humour.
“We even hold our hands up by our faces in the same way.
“I felt so lost not knowing who my biological dad was, like I didn’t really know who I was.
“I felt a real void when I looked in the mirror and didn’t know about the person looking back.
“It’s lovely to feel whole now.”
Anna said she had different skin tone and hair texture from the siblings she grew up with in Wolverhampton, and aunts and uncles made odd comments, so she always had an inkling she had a different dad.
Her mum, Shirley Johnson, a dancer who died in 2021 aged 76, told her she had a different dad but wouldn’t give any more information.
Anna said: “It was a real shock but a lot of things started to make sense.”
Anna asked for information when she was 18, and again aged 25, but relatives just said she needed to speak to her mum.
She said: “My mum just wouldn’t tell me anything.
“I guess she was protecting the life she had built up.”
Since speaking to Charles she has discovered the pair met in Germany, in 1971, where Shirley was working for a year, and Charles, a US soldier, was recovering from a bullet to the head he sustained while fighting in Vietnam.
Charles later visited Shirley in the UK – and while both were married, they had a short affair before he was posted back to the US before Anna was born in February 1973.
Shirley never told him about their child, and separated from her husband before Anna was one.
Anna chanced upon a picture with a love letter from ‘Carlos’ on the back in one of her mum’s albums when she, Anna, was 36.
She learned he was a soldier and the note said how he always loved her mum, but despite online searches, Anna was no closer to tracking him down.
Anna found she had two DNA matches in April 2024 – and reached out to two cousins but got no reply.
Later she connected with Jasmin who revealed she had an “uncle Charles” – her grandad’s sisters son – and they compared photos, to discover he was Anna’s dad.
“I started crying’, Anna said, “I’d found my dad.”
Anna reached out to Charles via Facebook Messenger, and they exchanged photos before a phone call on October 3 last year.
She said: “I was shaking like a leaf.
“When he answered we both just kept saying ‘hello’.”
Gran-of-four Anna discovered her dad has been awarded two purple hearts for being hit in action.
He’s worked as a policeman, an accountant, and an engineer.
Anna changed her surname to match her dad’s, in January – from Johnson, her mum’s ex-husband’s name.
She’s the third-born of Charles’s six children, but he knew nothing about her until she contacted him.
Anna and her son Thierry will meet her half sisters Martina and Kei and half-brother Richard: they fly out on April 22.
She said: “It’s amazing and we have so much still to do together.
“We’re still at the beginning, which is very exciting, but I do wish we had both been spared the pain of separation and not knowing.
“We have to make up for lost time and lost memories. My mum had her reasons and I love her.
“But I think it’s really important to know the two people who have given you life.
“I have a new sense of belonging now and it’s a huge relief.”
Charles said: “It was a shock but a lovely one, and a lovely early 79th birthday present.
“I wish I had known earlier because I would have wanted to be involved all her life.
“I’m so glad Anna didn’t give up on her search.
“I can’t wait to give her a big hug.”
