The grieving mother of a teenage girl who was found dead just two months after returning from a mysterious abduction, has hit out at the online trolls at targeting her family.
Heaven Ray Cox, 15, was rescued from a Louisiana residence on December 1, five days after going missing from her home in from Mauriceville, Texas. Yet, just a couple of months later, on February 3, her mother Tammy announced that Heaven had died.
Authorities have not yet confirmed her cause of death, her family said that she had been suffering from depression and bipolar disorder.
Now Tammy, a teacher from Orange, Texas, has hit out at the ‘hateful, ignorant people’ who have been posting on her social media pages about her daughter.
Heaven Ray Cox, 15, (pictured with dark hair, with Santa and members of her family after returning home in December) was rescued from a Louisiana residence on December 1, five days after going missing from her home in from Mauriceville, Texas
A couple of months later, on February 3, her mother Tammy (left) announced that Heaven (right) had died
She urged her family and friends not to engage with trolls, and incredibly, says she even has sympathy for those attacking her family in their time of grief.
The vast majority of messages left on the Cox’s social media pages were of support and tributes to their lost daughter.
However, a few people had chosen the Facebook page of a grieving mother to debate wild theories about how and why they thought Heaven, who had dyed her hair since arriving home in December, had died.
One young woman even suggesting that Tammy could be in some way responsible for her daughter’s death, or that she could have come from an abusive home.
‘I feel so very sorry for them, as they’re dealing with a loss themselves,’ Tammy wrote on Tuesday. ‘A loss of tolerance, a loss of kindness, a loss of compassion and a loss of their own dignity. Without these things, no one can truly be the person that God intends us to be.’
Now Tammy, a teacher from Orange, Texas, has hit out at the ‘hateful, ignorant people’ who have been posting on her social media pages about her daughter
Tammy also revealed her daughter had been battling with depression, sharing the heartbreaking moment the 15-year-old revealed she’d been suffering.
‘She once told me, that though she was smiling on the outside, she wasn’t smiling on the inside,’ her mom wrote. ‘She was struggling. She was trying to overcome things that most people couldn’t fathom.’
The family paid tribute to their ‘beautiful, smart, loving compassionate’ young daughter in a moving Facebook post.
‘She was a little sparkplug……who could light up a room by walking into it,’ they said in a post.
They described her as as a christian animal lover who dreamed of becoming a marine biologist when she grew up.
‘She was a hard worker, she was artistic, she could sing, she loved the water and animals of all kinds,’ her mother wrote. ‘She loved the outdoors, she could shoot a gun and fish better than most boys. She loved to ride her horse Kit, and ice skate.
Tammy also revealed her daughter (pictured) had been battling with depression
Heaven is seen with her mother left and alone right. It has initially been thought she was heading to California when she disappeared last year
‘She was a wonderful daughter, granddaughter, niece, cousin and friend. In short, she was absolutely amazing!
Tammy continued: ‘loved to hear Her say “Hi Momma!” When she got off the bus in the afternoon. Her hugs were the best. So, you see, people who say ugly things about her, without knowing her……simply don’t matter.
‘The world was never meant for one as beautiful as you baby. I’ll love you forever and a day. Mom.’
Heaven had initially disappeared from home on November 26, sparking a huge manhunt, after talking to a man on Snapchat.
She took her passport but not the medication needed to treat the bi-polar condition she suffered from, according to Tammy.
Police initially said that a note indicated Heaven might have been heading to California.
‘I am asking everyone to share this to their wall, and particularly those who live in California and every state between there and Texas,’ wrote Tammy after discovering her daughter was missing.
‘This man told her that he would be in San Antonio for Thanksgiving and that he would pick her up.’
Her mother made the announcement that ‘sweet Heaven’ had died on Facebook on February 3
The multi-state search for Heaven was called off after she was rescued unharmed in December
Tammy said that she didn’t find out her daughter was missing until Saturday afternoon because it was usual for her to sleep in late on weekends.
But when she and the girl’s father took a look in her room, they found that she was missing and had not taken her medication.
‘She left a goodbye note to me and her Dad, and said that she wouldn’t have a phone, so I’m sure he has taken it from her, as it isn’t here, and I have torn her room apart.’
‘The man she has been talking to is a predator, who has apparently been manipulating her for some time, and in her current state of mind, she believes that he is her friend.’
The teen was the subject of a nationwide search before she was found unharmed with a ‘relative’ of one of her friends. No charges were ever brought over her disappearance and the police did not comment on her family’s claims about the ‘online predator’.
Heaven’s family described her as as a christian animal lover, who loved to hunt and fish, and who dreamed of becoming a marine biologist when she grew up
When she turned up, her elated mother wrote on Facebook: ‘She had been found and is safe!!!’
‘Thanks to everybody for all you have done for one little girl, please don’t forget that there are others out there still missing.’
Tragically, just two months later, her mother posted another Facebook message. This time, it confirmed Heaven had died.
‘Our sweet Heaven left us to be with Jesus this afternoon around 4:00. Some bright lights are not meant for this dark and cruel world,’ she wrote on Facebook.
‘I know that Dusty and Gracie were there to welcome her. Sing with the angels sweet girl. I love you.’
Responding to the many messages of condolence left for her, Tammy wrote: ‘Thank you all. My heart is broken, she was the light and life in my home. I’m going to miss her terribly.’
Earlier she had said: ‘I need everyone to stop and pray right now for Heaven!! It’s and emergency.’