Minors’ names revealed by both sides in South MS lawsuit over Aubreigh Wyatt’s suicide
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The death of Aubreigh Wyatt
The death by suicide of 13-year-old Aubreigh Wyatt has focused national attention on South Mississippi, with widespread calls for justice and anti-bullying enforcement.
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A lawsuit filed against the Ocean Springs School District over the suicide of 13-year-old Aubreigh Wyatt should be sealed from public view to protect minors named in attached exhibits, an attorney for the school district argues.
However, the attorney inadvertently included the exhibits in her court filing with the minors’ names listed.
In the state Circuit Court lawsuit filed Feb. 7, Aubreigh’s mother Heather Wyatt accuses four girls of bullying her daughter to death and a male student of sexually assaulting her daughter. The students were attending Ocean Springs Middle School when Aubreigh Wyatt died by suicide September 4, 2023.
The school district’s attorney says Wyatt’s lawyer violated state court rules by failing to redact the minors’ names. They were identified by initials in the Circuit Court lawsuit and at least two of the students were named in the exhibits.
However, the school district’s lawyer inadvertently left those same names visible when she re-filed the lawsuit and exhibits Monday in U.S. District Court. Federal court rules also call for minors’ names to be blacked out, or otherwise redacted, in legal filings.
Students accused of bullying also threatened
Both state and federal court cases can be filed electronically and are available for public viewing. The Sun Herald has not named the minors in its coverage.
Heather Wyatt’s lawsuit contends Aubreigh was bullied for four years before her suicide.
Aubreigh’s story had gone viral on social media by mid-2024. Heather Wyatt shares her grief and messages about suicide prevention on TikTok, where she now has 2.8 million followers.
People around the world have spread Aubreigh’s story, with some accounts sharing photos and videos of the accused bullies. The girls have been threatened and harassed as a result, their parents say.
Social media accounts defending the girls, who had been friends with Aubreigh, have also been created.
Ongoing lawsuit moves to federal court
The school district’s lawyer, Allison Fry of Jackson, said she should could not comment on ongoing litigation. Wyatt’s attorney, Kimberly Papania of Gulfport, did not return a telephone call Friday morning from the Sun Herald.
Fry wants the lawsuit heard in federal court because it alleges a violation of Title IX, a federal law designed to protect students from sexual harassment and discrimination. U.S. District Judge Taylor B. McNeel is presiding over the case. Wyatt’s attorney could file a motion to send the case back to state court, leaving McNeel to decide where it should be heard.
When she moved the case to federal court Monday, Fry filed the lawsuit and exhibits without redactions. She filed a motion on Tuesday asking that the lawsuit and exhibits be sealed from public view. The judge has not yet ruled on her request.
This story was originally published April 4, 2025 at 12:39 PM.
