RaNiya Wright, the fifth-grade South Carolina student whose death sparked questions of bullying, died of natural causes and not any classroom fight, officials said Friday.
Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone said as a result, no criminal charges would be filed in the girl’s death.
Stone, Colleton County Sheriff R.A. Strickland and Coroner Richard Harvey announced the new findings at a joint press conference.
“There was no evidence of trauma on or inside the body of RaNiya Wright that would indicate any fight, in any magnitude, contributed to her death,” Stone said, specifically noting that RaNiya did not have any bruises, cuts or scrapes on her body and testing showed that there was no internal trauma.
Pathologists found that her death was caused by an arteriovenous vascular malformation (AVM), an abnormality in which arteries and veins can rupture, prompting bleeding in the brain or spinal cord.
Stone added that Wright had visited the doctor seven times in the last two years after complaining of headaches, a symptom of AVM.
RaNiya died on March 27, two days after a brief altercation with another student at Forest Hills Elementary School in South Carolina in Walterboro.
Strickland described the incident as a five- to 10-second “slap fight” in which the students were pulled apart from each other within seconds.
“This did not appear to be a case of bullying,” Strickland said.
Since RaNiya’s death, her mother has maintained that her daughter was a victim of bullying.
“I’ve been having problems with her since fourth grade,” Ashley Wright said, referring to the other student involved in the fight, in an interview with “Good Morning America.” She also said she had complained to the school officials “numerous times” about the student.
Following the press conference Friday, Wright said she is still looking for answers as to what happened. “I want to know the truth. That’s all I want to know,” she told reporters.
When asked how Strickland thought the public would react to the developments, he acknowledged it may be “hard to accept.”
“But the science and technology there clearly shows what really occurred.”
