Nonbinary 16-Year-Old Who Died After Beating in School Bathroom Sent Devastating Texts

The 16-year-old was involved in a physical fight with several other students in the school bathroom, according to Fox 23. The next day, the teen died.

Before things took a turn for the worse, Nex Benedict described the beating to their grandmother via text message. “I got jumped at school, 3 on 1, had to go to ER,” the teen wrote on February 7. From the messages, the damage from the fight seemed minimal.

“All good, just scrapes and bruises,” Nex Benedict responded when asked if they were OK, according to Fox 23. “Got a shot in the butt for my pain but I’m still dizzy and nauseous in the morning. I might have a concussion.”

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The next evening, Nex Benedict had a sore head and fell asleep listening to music, Sue Benedict told The Independent. By that afternoon, she and the teen were headed to an appointment when Nex Benedict collapsed on the living room floor.

Sue Benedict called 911. When paramedics arrived, Nex Benedict had stopped breathing. The teen was taken to the Francis Pediatric emergency room and later pronounced dead.

The bullying Nex Benedict experienced began at the beginning of the 2023 school year, just months after Oklahoma Gov. Keith Stitt signed a bill forcing public school students to use restrooms that corresponded to the genders listed on their birth certificates.

The harassment, which the teen's family attributes to their gender identity, came to a head on February 7 when the fight occurred. A mother of one of Nex Benedict’s friends, who was also involved in the fight, claimed the other students were “beating [their] head across the floor,” the New York Post reported.

As news of the fight and Nex Bendict’s subsequent death spread across the nation, Owasso High School administrators released a statement saying that the fight lasted two minutes and was broken up by a teacher and another student, according to the Post. The district says parents and guardians of the students involved were “notified and informed of the option to file a police report.”

The relatives believe the school could have done more to take responsibility. Sue Benedict said she was furious that the school failed to call the ambulance or the police. The school did call Sue to inform her that Nex Benedict, who threw water on the girls that were harassing them, would be suspended for two weeks, Fox 23 reported.

Now, the Owasso Police Department is “conducting a very active and thorough investigation of the time and events that led up to the death of the student," according to The Independent. A police spokesperson said once a cause of death was determined, all charges would be on the table.

Later the police issued another statement, claiming that the autopsy indicated that Nex Benedict did not die as a result of trauma. Nex Benedict's family released a statement of their own saying they would conduct an independent investigation into the cause of the teen's death.

Sue Benedict said she and her husband, Walter, are old school. Still, she was learning from the teen. “Nex did not see themselves as male or female,” Sue Benedict explained, per The Independent. “Nex saw themselves right down the middle. I was still learning about it, Nex was teaching me that."

"It would be very boring if we were all the same," Walter Benedict said, according to The Independent. "It’s on the inside that matters the most.”