Jackson Jambalaya

So the question remains, WHAT was going on in that home environment, resulting in the decision that suicide was the only way out for that young woman?

The family surely knows. The rest of us probably never will know.

I hope Miss Bonner finds the peace in her eternal life that sadly, was not there for her in her earthly life.

From the CL article:

"No evidence was presented about why the 17-year-old daughter of Rachel and Lance Bonner would take her own life, Guest said. “There was nothing that came up in the testimony regarding any motive,” he said."

Notice he said testimony. There's a world of difference between the testimony of one person (in the entire grand jury meeting) and any evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, found during the investigation.

Has any law enforcement agency released reports related to the investigation? There were subpoenas issued. Why? What came of them? What did the neighbors have to say? What about those in the community who came into contact with all of the Bonners say to investigators?

At the end of the day, that one witness that was called at the grand jury said exactly what Michael Guest wanted him/her to say. Too bad the community at large will never know why she committed suicide. All we can do now is watch the parents and the kids. Closely.

Very sad.

So, about that "shielding your children from the outside world world for their own protection" thing ... doesn't always work out so hot.

May she rest in peace. Unfortunately, many young folks commit suicide. Its just a tragic situation for all involved. Prayers for her and the family.

but they looked so SAD when they did those TV interviews saying she RAN AWAY...then changed their story 2 weeks later saying she may have committed suicide. So why were they never looking for her around the neighborhood if she committed suicide? She didn't have a car so couldn't have gone to far. Putting up signs and posters for someone that you think committed suicide isn't very productive.

If we make this negative national and Mary will get to the bottom of it....Remember the peacocks....otherwise Calling all Murders We the police in The City of Madison can't solve a crime if you do it in front of us soo come here if you want to get away with murder, Oh yea and bank robbery!!!

Sources tell JJ the cause of death was a massive dose of hydrocodone pills.


And to be that sheltered How did she get those pills? How did they not know they were missing?? I am not a parent like them by any means, actually nothing like them. But i know how teenagers are no narcotic pills in the house can be taken without my having to unlock a safe...I am not worried much that my children would take them, but you never know and you don't know what their friends would do... Just saying that still stands out in my mind. The pills should have been noticed they were missing long before we were all looking in New York!

No explanation, NOTHING, about this young lady's unfortunate and sad passing will quench the bloodthrist of a few of the pathetic harpy losers that post here.

10:58--she took the pills from her grandfather who had just had surgery (I believe it was back surgery.)

Sad to see comments attacking the family. Bad things happen. Prayers for them all in their loss.

She was so sheltered and saw almost no one except her family, so why not blame them? They did not let her live a real life. She was watched constantly. I don't know how she stood it for 17 years.

The other children will have a very hard time and hard life dealing with all this, and having to keep their mouths shut from telling what really goes on in that house.

its obvious 9:48 has no experience inside a grand jury. the issue was whether this young girl was the victim of a homicide or not. they said not. end of proceeding.

Guest was not obligated to take this to the Grand Jury. Gene Waldrop knew early on it was a suicide. check the local TV coverage. THIS case is closed. the horse is dead, don't beat it anymore.

January 16, 2014 at 11:34 AM = your fangs are showing

Don't mean to digress, but how can evidence be "anecdotal?"

There is no telling what goes on in anyone's house. Just because they dress different and chose to raise their kids differently doesn't make them bad parents. The child could've have a mental illness from all we know. I'm happy the truth is out there so all of the armchair detectives can sit back and find something else to criticize Madison about.

So, to recap....the child finds a bottle of some sort of pills (speculation says hydrocodone), swallows them all, walks a mile and a half, climbs through a fence line, goes deeper into the woods, takes a seat against a pine tree and passes away.

Ten days later while we're assuming she's in New York and her momma tells the press "We'd like to fellowship with her", a policeman during a random stroll smells something funny. Where is Columbo when we need him?

Teenagers do this all the time is a bullshit suggestion.

It will never be known if one of these Godly kooks suggested she drink the Kool-Aid in order to please The Lord.

There is no hard and fast rule as to how children should be raised. All scenarios are different with varying goals and perspectives.
This family's way may seem odd to many folks, but to them other families seem strange to them.
We each act according to our beliefs and in many cases it is a hit and miss approach.
What seems odd to most who don't see life as they do, we choose to criticize, and sometimes rightly so. In this day and time there is little room for behavior others see as strange and tragic.
I doubt public opinion enters their realm of thought. It seems they are set in their ways and see it as the only way to live their lives fully. This has led to a tragic outcome. RIP, Abigail.

Lets not jump on the family. . .indicating it was their fault. As another post put it...bad things happen.

If the family is somehow at fault for pushing what I understand was a wonderful and caring young lady to take her own life, the family's guilt will be far more punishment than the state of Mississippi could ever heap on them.

By the way, I don't know the family or any friends of the family (that I know of).

Prayers for this family. I hope young Abigail found peace.

What a tragedy. A young girl supposedly takes her own life. Forensic evidence had to be sketchy. Considering that this child had been exposed to the elements for ten, very hot days.

Clearly, Abigail lived under constant scrutiny. Her parents were obsessed with preventing access to her by any non-family members.

No one will ever know what prompted Abigail to do what she did.

Nor will anyone ever know why Abigail's parents thought they had the right to house her under maximum security conditions.

Rest in peace Abigail. You deserved a better life than you lived.

Jut heard today they found a pill bottle next to her body...this is how it was concluded that she took the pills...Okay so here is the other thing...How many hydrocodone do you have to take to die??? More than what she had I am sure... hey Madison Police Guess what someone could have put that bottle beside her.. I am just saying... This is not the answer.. Guest likes his Job, so let's pretend we are doing something...Butler and snow can't risk a bad name... Ad heaven forbid a parent be suspected of harming their child in Madison, How would Mary ever get to claim the title of one of the top ten places to raise a child then.. And the end of the world would be coming if Madison ever had something bad happen... I am just saying they might have gotten away with it this but it is going to be hard to fellowship again with their daughter when they will be in two different places... May who ever have hurt her die a long slow and miserable death... Bless you Abigail and may you rest in peace!! To me your life was worth more than a job, a place and a name!!

Her parents made a comment it is something we will just have to accept...Didn't they accept it at the funeral!!

Clearly, Abigail lived under constant scrutiny. Her parents were obsessed with preventing access to her by any non-family members.

.....

Nor will anyone ever know why Abigail's parents thought they had the right to house her under maximum security conditions.

Prove it.

The sun is up and the anonymous hyenas are ready to feed on the Bonner family again. Hasn't it gone far enough Kingfish?

"The sun is up and the anonymous hyenas are ready to feed on the Bonner family again. Hasn't it gone far enough Kingfish?"

Says an anonymous jackal who probably feasted at the remains of the Irby family (on this site) for months.

I was thinking about something today. What if this were a black family of little means. A black family that never let their children out of the house or out of their sight for any reason at any time.

And one of them mysteriously dies and someone suggests the deceased youth somehow got ahold of medicine prescribed to a relative who lived in another location. And she died and it was all blamed on meds and the family acted very strangely through the whole ordeal.

But, the family had no money or prominence in the community.

I realized that the Department of Welfare (or whatever it's called this year) would descend on this home and scoop up the remaining children and conduct a full blown investigation. And the department would not return the children until it was satisfied it was safe to do that. If at all.

But then I realized this family has all the resources (money and contacts and connections) it needs to make sure nothing like that happens.

"A pill body was found next to the body"....

Which raises the question of why the grandfather's pills were at her disposal to begin with and whether there was also a water bottle found there. Or was she encouraged to take them at home? But I'm sure Mr. Guest thought of all possibilities.

Just wondering . . . Was there ever anyone (that is, other than a family member) who ever said they actually SAW Abigail walking (either in her neighborhood and/or on Madison Avenue) on that Saturday (August 3rd) when she supposedly went missing? If not, how can we know that she ever actually walked away from the house?

Kingfish, do YOU know if there was ever anyone (that is, anyone outside of the family) who ever said they actually saw Abigail walking anywhere outside on the day her family reported her missing?

If no one ever actually saw her walking outside that day, how do we know she walked away of her own free will?

Of course, if someone suddenly pops up only now and starts to claim they saw Abigail walking that day, how can we really know if that person is telling the truth and isn't being pressured (or paid) to say that now?

Can we expect the police to release any more of the details of their investigation?

There's a whole lot of "self-righteousness" going on in this comment section. Perhaps we should find a way to broadcast everyone else's "mishaps" throughout life so that we could properly judge them in an equivalent manner.

I am NOT convinced yet that this young woman committed suicide. Obviously the police had serious suspicions of foul play to have kept investigating the case as long as they did. For the district attorney to call only one witness before the grand jury was ridiculous. More than one person I have talked to (one of whom goes to the same church that this family went to) say that this father was a very controlling person. And BOTH of the parents acted INCREDIBLY strange in the initial interviews they gave. Even IF it could be proven beyond a shadow of doubt that this young woman did commit suicide, there is still something TERRIBLY wrong going on in this family. I am worried for the other children in this family.

To 12:31 p.m. from Jan. 22nd: You seem to be calling this girl's DEATH--and/or the way she was parented--as nothing more than "mishaps." When you are accusing people of being self-righteous for raising legitimate questions about this case it makes me wonder who you are.

Hydrocodone is very difficult to overdose on. In order to take a dose that will kill you, you need to take 25 500 mg capsules at once. If you are having trouble, you can contact the suicide hotline.

So Did she have that much to take? Just saying.....

Ok, so there is a lot of wild speculation on this thread, and a lot of erroneous assumptions. I happen to know the family, and know them to be very reasonable, law-abiding people, who are heart-broken by the loss of their daughter, and were shocked by these events.

Since I do know a good bit of the story, let me try to clear up a few incorrect assumptions some may have.

First, as to the initial "missing persons" report, then the possible runaway, then the conclusion of suicide: initially, the family only knew that when they awoke on the Saturday morning, Abigail was not there. A thorough search was made in the house and around the neighborhood, and then to all surrounding neighborhoods. It was assumed that she may have gone out to run and perhaps stumbled and was hurt sonewhere not obvious. Then, later on Saturday and in Sunday it was discovered that some things had been thrown away, and things deleted from the computer. The only interviews given by the family were on that Sunday (the day after). The family was still in shock, but hopeful that Abigail was somewhere that she might see the report and return home, or that someone who had seen her would report it. After the deleted computer files were restored, there were searches and included things in New York City - hence the possibility of her trying to go there. At tat point, the police changed the case to a Runaway, with the agreement of the parents.

Then, it was discovered that a pull bottle was missing from her grandparents house in Baton Rouge. There was also found a search on the grandparents computer regarding the pills from about 4 weeks prior when Abigail had stayed with the grandparents for a week. So, the family became very concerned about that. This was a week or so after her disappearance. The pills belonged to the grandfather for back pain he had suffered a year or more before. He had not used them for many months, and had really not thought about them being there. It is believed that there were 18-20 pills there, but could have been slightly more. Abigail had never taken anything like them, so would likely have been very sensitive to the effect. The coroner's report showed clearly that hydrocodone toxicity was the cause of death, and that there were excessively high levels of acetaminophen in her system. These are the two components of Lortab, which is what had been missing. That pull bottle was, indeed, found next to the body, and no evidence that anyone else had been at the scene. To the coroner ad the police, it was clearly a suicide once they had all the facts - which took a while.

As to Abigail being kept from loving her life and being watched - that is ridiculous. She was a joyful young lady, who was not kept don anything she really wanted. I happen to know that her father had a college savings account funded for her. She took piano lessons and had been offered voice lessons. She had many interests, but did not want to go to college at this time. She volunteered at the library in prior years, vilunteered at The Home Place, made unique hand- made greeting cards which she sold, sang in the church student choir and went on trips with them to Sing in other places. In short, she had chosen the life he was living. When she went to Courthouse to exercise, she generally went with her sisters. Sometimes the father went, sometimes not. Occasionally, she and other siblings went during the day, and the mother would go and do schoolwork during that hour with the youngest daughter. However, she was not "watched". Whoever posted that does not know what they are taking.

I will follow this with another post.

Ok - part 2 from prior post just above: The family does not know what caused Abigail to do this. There was no note, nor had she given any indication to any immediate family, extended family, or friends. It was a shock. Only Abigail knew what was happening within her. Obviously, she was struggling with something within herself, but it was not wanting to throw off restrictive parenting. From what I understand, it is much more likely that she desires to put off sinful thoughts and desires within her and was diacouraged that she could not do so as she hoped and desired. But, the family will never know for certain.

Did the parents make mistakes? Is there anyone on here that has not? Are only homeschooled children the ones that commt suicide?

This has been devastating to the parents. And, there are other children there. As much as I can tell, they are thriving and moving ahead - perplexed and saddened by the loss of their sister, but looking ahead and happy - or so it would appear.

It is clear that the Madison PD and the DA were very concerned about the media attention and the speculation. They did not want to be blamed for potentially covering anything up or being less than thorough. So, the continued their investigation well past the time when they had all of the evidence. Nothing else turned up. I am told that the children ds talk to child services as a routine part of the case. The parents spoke to the police many times and turned over everything remotely relevant - including 2 computers which the FBI combed through starting during the week that Abigail was missing. Nothing turned up there.

Someone mentioned a question about a search warrant. I am told that the only one issues was to Google for an email account which Abigail had discontinued about 3 weeks prior. The father pushed to get those in hopes that it would give some clue. It did not.

So, this is a heart-breaking case. The parents are very grieved. But, those that know them see nothing that points to them having caused this. Some things are unexplainable. We know them to be people who love and trust Jesus Christ, love their children, are good neighbors, and were devastated by this.

Hopefully, none of you experience a tragedy and then have others accusing you of having caused it.