The Live Streamed Death of Katelyn Nicole Davis

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14th October 2021  •  3 min read

On the 30th of December, 2016, 12-year-old Katelyn Nicole Davis from Cedartown, Georgia, hanged herself in her garden. The tormented young girl live streamed the heart-breaking event. After the footage went viral, police were powerless to take it down.


The Live Streamed Death of Katelyn Nicole Davis

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On the 30th of December, 2016, 12-year-old Katelyn Nicole Davis from Cedartown, Georgia, hanged herself in her garden. The tormented young girl live streamed the heart-breaking event. After the footage went viral, police were powerless to take it down.

In the first half of the 42-minute video, Katelyn reveals to her viewers that she had been sexually abused by a family member. She can be seen in her front yard, tying a rope around a tree branch. The sadness on her face is evident as she states: “I’m sorry that I’m not pretty enough. I’m sorry for everything, I’m really, truly sorry. But I can’t do this.” Katelyn then ties the rope around her neck, says goodbye to her friends and family and then kicks a bucket out from underneath her feet.

The footage doesn’t end when her life ends, however. It continues for another 20 minutes and at the end, a woman shouts her name off camera. By the time police finally arrived, it was much too late. Katelyn was pronounced dead at Polk Medical Center’s emergency unit.

Before Katelyn had even been buried, the video depicting her suicide had been shared all across the internet. There were calls from the public for the video to be removed but Polk County Police Chief Kenny Dodd would state: “We want it down as much as anyone for the family and it ay be for other kids.” He said that they had contacted various websites that had uploaded the video and requested they remove it but when informed that they didn’t need to remove the video by law, they simply denied the request. “But it’s just the common decent thing to do in my opinion,” he said.1

Charities would also call for the video to be removed. A spokesperson for the NSPCC said: “These videos must be taken down immediately and we are pressing social media sites to get this soon as soon as possible. In this instance, warnings of graphic content do not go far enough.” There was a collective fear that impressionable and depressed children and teenagers could stumble across the video which would be very triggering.2

Just days before ending her life, Katelyn detailed the abuse she had suffered on her YouTube where she went by the name “ITZ DOLLY!!!” She told her viewers that she had been beaten with a studded belt and that she had been sexually abused. In one video, she reports that she was neglected by her father and was physically and sexually abused by her stepfather.

In one video, Katelyn gets into an argument with her mother, who just shrugs everything she says off. Her mother would verbally abuse her daughter on camera and threaten to “whip her ass.” In another video, Katelyn mentioned that her stepfather even encouraged her to commit suicide: “He told me I should go hang myself because I was worthless.” She often spoke about being bullied at school and was a victim of catfishing. 

To say that Katelyn lived a hard life is an understatement. Investigators would state that they were going to be investigating Katelyn’s claims of abuse. Nothing ever came of the investigation, however.

Katelyn did, however, post other videos. She was an active YouTuber and would offer an insight into her life. She sometimes sang on the camera and cracked jokes. She appeared to be the main carer for her siblings; in one video she warns them not to “wake up” their mother. In some videos, she tries to reach out to other kids with depression who may have been feeling like she felt. In a way, it seemed as though she was looking for somebody to relate to, somebody that could understand how she felt. She posted videos urging people not to make fun of others and showed that she had a deep compassion for others.

Her videos show that she had cried out for help but nobody listened. They show a compassionate and intelligent young girl that would have excelled in life if just given the chance.

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Footnotes:

  1. Agence France-Presse, 12 January, 2017 – “Live Video of 12-Year-Old US Girl’s Suicide Goes Viral”
  2. The Independent, 12 January, 2017 – “Girl Kills Herself in Live Online Video and Police Cannot Stop Footage Being Viewed”

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Dauud
Dauud
1 year ago

About 13 minutes into the hanging, you can hear her poo herself. So sad.

Elizabeth Grieshaber
Elizabeth Grieshaber
1 year ago
Reply to  Dauud

I’m so sorry for the pain or frustration you’re trying to express.

ftfyhu
ftfyhu
1 year ago
Reply to  Dauud

jump off a bridge please

Alicia Strong
Alicia Strong
1 year ago
Reply to  ftfyhu

Please be kinder than that in the presence of a 12 year olds suicide. Telling him to kill himself just perpetuates more hate and stigma. Just stop please. Just dont feed the troll.

Savannah
Savannah
1 year ago
Reply to  Dauud

That’s just sick 😒

Dee
Dee
1 year ago
Reply to  Dauud

You’re an awful human being!!

Alicia Strong
Alicia Strong
1 year ago
Reply to  Dauud

Thats not true though? She didnt die up there. She was taken down and died in hospital an hour later. You only release excrement and urine once youre dead. This was a really weird thing for you to think of, Ive prowled all along the 13 minute mark and I have no sweet clue wtf youre even talking about. This was just a really lame attempt at trolling, and its really really sick for you to be trying to troll the suicide of a really really awesome 12 year old. i work on investigating her suicide and I work on… Read more »

M. Combs
M. Combs
1 year ago
Reply to  Alicia Strong

She was pronounced dead at the hospital. She died there. It was the same with my big brother that hung himself. They didn’t pronounce him until the hospital. But he was long gone at the tree.

Izabela
Izabela
1 year ago
Reply to  Dauud

I didnt hear poo.Can you give a exact time when she pooped her self ?

dong
dong
1 year ago
Reply to  Dauud

It runs down her leg
It runs through my mind
I cry every time

Jay
Jay
11 months ago
Reply to  Dauud

Dumbass

Last edited 11 months ago by Jay
NaturesDarling
NaturesDarling
4 months ago
Reply to  Dauud

Where can we find the video ?

Denise Lanza
Denise Lanza
1 year ago

I listened to the whole thing. I tried so hard to stop her by commenting. I cried so hard. This was the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. I think about it often….

Kellie
Kellie
1 year ago
Reply to  Denise Lanza

Where do you go to hear/see the video?

Chris
Chris
1 year ago
Reply to  Kellie

How can u watch the video

M. Combs
M. Combs
1 year ago
Reply to  Denise Lanza

I’m sorry you experienced this. My big brother hung himself. His best friend was on the phone & heard everything.

Floyd county Resident
Floyd county Resident
1 year ago

yall are sick individuals THIS IS SOMEONES family PIGS

msdos
msdos
1 year ago

Pigs are smart and kind sentient beings…

Rick
Rick
5 months ago

I can’t stand how her family focused on trying to get the video deleted. They or effectively trying to posthumously shut the little girl up despite her trying to get her message out to the world. They had no business erasing her blog and her videos from existence. Those videos and blogs and her suicide are all evidence that she was speaking the truth of her stepfather being a rapist.

Ice Poseidon
Ice Poseidon
4 months ago

Clearly her family doesn’t care about her

Amanda Collins
Amanda Collins
2 months ago
Reply to  Ice Poseidon

They really didn’t care, all she needed was to be made feel tht she mattered an she was loved, thts it, her sorry mother couldn’t put the dope down long enough

Day
Day
11 months ago

This is the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever watched.

Moments into it, it appears just was struggling to break the rope which means she changed her mind but it was too late.

Very sad and I wish didn’t watch it.

Rick
Rick
5 months ago
Reply to  Day

I’ve rewatched the video and looked closely into the darkness of the footage. Her hands never go any higher than just above her stomach after she kicks the bucket away.

star
star
5 months ago
Reply to  Rick

Can you send me the link ?

Jessica Rositas
Jessica Rositas
10 months ago

Hello I’m sorry but I didn’t see the video

Richell
Richell
9 months ago

Reading this hurts. After my father was murdered in 1975 my Aunt’s only 2 son’s and my father’s nephews hung themselves 5 yrs apart on my father’s death. My Aunt found each one hanging from the rafters in their garage. The youngest was 16 and the older one was 20. It’s hard and extremely difficult when you go through it. I can relate to her pain being an abused child from 10 to 15 by my mothers longtime boyfriend. My life was not easy but I got help with the pain and suicidal attempts. Now 61 yrs old and am… Read more »

Joanne Demeri
Joanne Demeri
9 months ago
Reply to  Richell

I am sorry for all of your loss and what you went through with your moms boyfriend. I remember when this suicide happened, my daughter saw it on fb, I did not. It is an incredibly sad story. I wish I could watch the video to see the young girls demeanor and hear her story. I’m very good at reading people. I feel for her, this is so sad. God Bless you

Vernell Duxworth
Vernell Duxworth
7 months ago

Rip Katie we love u💙💯

sylvia
sylvia
7 months ago

Look on her FB accounts someone update in september 2022 her profile, who is that sick person?

sylvia
sylvia
7 months ago

Ik heb deze livestream pas gister gezien, ja zoiets moet niet op internet rond zweven maar ze heeft zich wel vereeuwigd, onbegrijpelijk dat niemand heeft ingegrepen, mag ik wel even vermelden erbij dat ik ook animal abuse in alle vormen ook graag verwijderd zie en een ban hebben op internet.

sylvia
sylvia
7 months ago

How can somebody update her profile on FB now 2022 and she is dead? A littlebit sick person right!

Rick
Rick
5 months ago

It angers me that the primary focus after her death was trying to get her video deleted off the internet as well as her blogs and other videos.

That to me is the grown ups trying to posthumously shut the poor girl up. Posthumously trying to cut her tongue off. And when you try to cut someone’s tongue out, you’re not proving to everyone that she’s lying. You are instead proving to everyone that you’re afraid of what she is trying to say.

Jessiekay32
Jessiekay32
4 months ago

I saw this live. Me and my friend where going to community college at the time and we were sitting on our commons waiting for our next class! I was scrolling and came across it. I was like wtf is going on. To me 100 percent honest this is right when live was becoming a thing. I thought someone was trying to make a movie! We watched for alittle then had practice then After coming home from practice I see that the live is still going. I was like wtf! I click on it and all you can hear is… Read more »

Gibbiue
Gibbiue
1 month ago

I feel really bad that she felt the need to do that no one should have to go through things like that its really sad and she shouldnt have to take her life to prove to others and her family that she was hurt and has went through way to much

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