Tia Murray

Tia Murray, a 15-year-old Godfrey Stewart student from Barracks Road in Westmoreland, allegedly committed suicide shortly after 10 Wednesday night.

The entire community was shocked at the gruesome discovery of her body suspended by a length of telephone wire from a low limb of a mango tree which is said to be the sweetest tree in the community, which is also called Gully Bank.

She is from a family of 11 children and one of her bigger sisters believed that her house was the last one she was at before she took her life. "She came to my house with a knife in her hand and asked for garlic but I thought she was cooking but I never had any to give her," relates her sister Nelice Murray.

"She then went to the back of my yard and cut down a piece of wire and left and the next thing I hear is that she kill herself." Nelice also said.

no sign of problems

She explained that her sister never showed any sign of anything being wrong and that she was even having a good time playing with a friend earlier that evening. "If I had the slightest idea I would have sat her down and talk it over with her but I never knew she had a problem," she said.

Her father Kingsley Murray never saw it coming either. "I never suspect say something like this would happen," he said. "I never saw it coming or I would sit her down and talk to her."

Tia was a good athlete and won for her school one gold, one silver and a bronze medal at the recently concluded Western Girls Championship in Montego Bay, St James. She was scheduled to represent her school at the national level but opted not to go with the team.

Residents of Gully Bank who were saddened by her passing said that she was a big eater who loved television and enjoyed giving jokes.

Residents of Gully Bank in Westmoreland look at the mango tree where Tia allegedly hanged herself. - Dalton Laing photos