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The death of Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old nonbinary student who died last month after a fight at school, has been ruled a suicide by the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office.
The Owasso High School student had “combined toxicity” from two drugs in his system, according to the preliminary autopsy report released Wednesday. The Owasso Police Department had previously indicated that Nex’s death was not the result of trauma from the altercation at school.
The teen, who was transgender and used he and they pronouns, died on Feb. 8, one day after being badly injured in a fight at school. According to video released by Owasso police, Nex told the officers that he was attacked by three girls in the restroom after he squirted water on them for mocking him and his friends. Sue Benedict, Nex’s grandmother and guardian, told The Independent that he was frequently bullied at school because of his gender identity.
“From the beginning of this investigation, Owasso Police observed many indications that this death was the result of suicide,” police said in a statement. “However, investigators did not wish to confirm that information without the final results being presented by the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office.”
Owasso Police Department Lt. Nick Boatman declined to say if police found a note from Nex.
The autopsy report did little to quell anger over the teen’s death. Several people were escorted out of an Owasso Public Schools Board meeting this week — the first since Nex’s death — after protesting the board’s failure to address bullying and discrimination in schools.
The Justice Department is investigating whether the school district failed to respond appropriately to sex-based harassment, after the Human Rights Campaign filed a complaint with the department.
LGBTQ rights advocates have pointed to the state’s increasingly hostile laws against gay and trans people, including students. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has a long record of greenlighting anti-trans laws, and in the 2024 legislative session, lawmakers introduced more than 50 anti-LGBTQ bills — including several targeting schools and gender affirming youth health care — though most of them did not make it out of committee.
Their rhetoric is no less disturbing. While addressing Nex’s death at a public forum in late February, Republican state Sen. Tom Woods referred to trans people as “filth.” And Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters — who appointed “Libs of TikTok” creator Chaya Raichik to the state’s Library Media Advisory Committee despite questions about her qualifications — doubled down on his anti-LGBTQ policies after Nex’s death, telling The New York Times that he did not believe that transgender people exist.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
If you are an LGBTQ young person in crisis, feeling suicidal or in need of a safe and judgment-free place to talk, call the TrevorLifeline now at 1-866-488-7386 or the Rainbow Youth Project at 1-317-643-4888.