April 29, 2015
A 23-year-old from Wall Township, New Jersey, took her own life by jumping off the George Washington Bridge late Thursday afternoon, NJ.com reports.
“Guess I am dead. Killed myself. Sorry,” Rachel Bryk wrote in a scheduled Twitter message to followers at midnight Thursday.
Bryk, who was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis six years ago, was also struggling with the issues of being transgender and had become the subject of online bullying.
Leading up to her suicide, Bryk had complained of “constant transphobia” on the Internet. In online chat rooms anonymous trolls encouraged her to kill herself. One heckler wrote, “DO IT, if you’re such a weak willed thin skinned dips— then f— do it."
In a post to Facebook, Bryk's mother Lisa wrote, "Next time you think it's funny to make fun of someone transgender think about who you're hurting."
Her mother also noted that while Bryk was struggling with bullying, the pain from her two neurological diseases was also a factor in her decision.
Port Authority police have not officially identified Rachel Bryk as the person who jumped off the bridge around 6:10 p.m. on Thursday because her body has not been recovered. However, Lisa Bryk and her husband Roger Bryk said Port Authority police have told them they have video of their daughter on the bridge and they have her purse that contained a suicide note.
Bryk worked as a game developer for Dolphin emulator software.
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