Nex Benedict, a high school student from Oklahoma whose death last month has brought national attention to the struggles of transgender teenagers, did not suffer any fatal injuries and left notes that hinted at self-harm, according to a comprehensive autopsy report released on Wednesday.
The complete report was made public after a brief summary on March 13, in which the state medical examiner concluded that the 16-year-old's death on February 8 was likely a suicide resulting from the combined effects of two medications: the antihistamine diphenhydramine and the antidepressant fluoxetine. However, the detailed report provides the most comprehensive explanation of the medical examiner's decision.
According to NBC News, the full report mentioned that Benedict, who was known by friends as transgender and used he/him pronouns pronouns, sustained non-lethal injuries to various parts of his body during a physical altercation. As widely reported, Benedict was involved in a fight with three other students in a bathroom at Owasso High School in Owasso, Oklahoma, the day before his death. Benedict told his mother, Sue Benedict, that he had been bullied due to his gender identity. He informed a school resource officer that the three other students attacked him after he threw water on them, and during the fight, they beat him until he lost consciousness. According to Advocate, the full autopsy report showed no injuries to the brain.
The report also indicated that the levels of diphenhydramine, commonly used as a sleep aid, and fluoxetine found in Benedict’s system were significantly higher than therapeutic levels, according to Advocate. Dr. Joshua King, the medical director of the Maryland Poison Center, stated that while the fluoxetine levels weren’t “dramatically elevated,” the diphenhydramine levels were “in a range consistent with other cases of patients dying from diphenhydramine overdose.”
King mentioned that someone experiencing a fatal overdose would likely have seizures, cardiac arrhythmias, or both. In audio from her February 8 911 call, Sue Benedict can be heard telling a dispatcher that Nex’s hands were “posturing,” that his breathing was shallow, and his eyes were “kind of rolling back.”
The complete autopsy report also revealed that Benedict’s medical history included bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, self-harm, and chronic tobacco and marijuana use. Handwritten notes attributed to Benedict and found by first responders were also “suggestive of self-harm,” according to the complete report.
In a recent statement, Tulsa County DA Stephen Kunzweiler stated that Owasso Police had found “brief notes, written by Benedict, which seemed to be connected to the suicide.”
“Although the notes do not mention the previous fight or problems at school, the parents indicated that Benedict had reported being targeted for various reasons while at school,” Kunzweiler wrote.
Kunzweiler explained that based on an extensive investigation into Benedict’s death and what he described as “an instance of mutual combat” with the three other students, his office would not file any charges connected to Benedict’s death.
LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, many of which have criticized Owasso High School officials and the Owasso Police Department for their handling of the fight and for the culture of anti-LGBTQ+ bullying students have described, responded to the release of the full report Wednesday.
“This report cannot be seen as a conclusion of the investigation into the death of a teenager who should still be here today,” said GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis, who previously pointed to the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s 2009 loss of its accreditation with the National Association of Medical Examiners. “Oklahoma’s supposed leaders must still provide answers to the public about the state-sponsored bullying by legislation, the inadequate response to violence in a school bathroom, and all the failures to keep Nex safe that continue to endanger LGBTQ and 2STGNC+ people in Oklahoma.”
Human Rights Campaign (HRC) president Kelley Robinson said in a statement that the 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.” HRC, she said, continues to support Benedict’s family’s calls for an independent investigation.
Robinson previously called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to launch a Department of Justice investigation into Benedict’s death. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it would initiate an investigation into the Owasso Public School District.
“The release of today’s report does not change the fact that LGTBQ+ students in Oklahoma are not safe at school,” Robinson said on Wednesday. “And it does not change our continued calls for justice and accountability. We reiterate our call for a full and complete investigation into the district, state superintendent Ryan Walters, the Oklahoma State Department of Education, and into their response after Nex was attacked.
