“Humiliated” New Jersey teenager Adriana Kuch killed herself after being taunted with texts by bullies who beat her in the school halls, her father has told .
Adriana, 14, took her own life on February 3 in her bedroom at her family’s home in Berkeley Township, New Jersey.
Hours earlier, she had received a taunting text message from one of the girls who filmed the attack, poking fun at her for “dripping” blood on the floor and being “howled at”.
Four teenage girls have now been charged in the attack, which left Adriana with a split lip and badly injured legs. does not name the girls, all of whom are minors.
Michael Kuch, Adriana’s father, says the beatings were instigated by one of the girls who was jealous of Adriana’s friendship with another girl.
What drove her to kill herself, he says, was the fact that she was “embarrassed” by the rapidly circulating videos of the attack on TikTok and Snapchat.
Adriana Kuch, 14, killed herself on February 3, two days after being beaten in the school halls
“She was so embarrassed that they jumped on her. She would say, “I don’t want to be mocked.”
“It was as if she had been attacked twice.
“You used to go to school, get bullied and then leave.
“But now you come home and you keep getting bullied – they still pick on you at home.”
He has also criticized the school — Central Regional High School — for failing to expel the thugs or call the police after the attack.
‘The [school] did nothing. They should not be responsible for the safety of our children
An investigation was only launched by authorities after he took Adriana to a police station with her face bloodied and bruised.
“I can’t tell you how angry I am at the school and the police…if these videos hadn’t been posted these girls would have ended up with a one day suspension or no problems at all.”
‘The [school] did nothing. They shouldn’t be responsible for the safety of our children.’
Mr Kuch is also “disgusted” by the fact that while he and his wife prepare to bury Adriana, school principal Triantafillos Parlapanides has taken to social media to defend himself, and in a post only yesterday – almost a week after Adriana’s suicide wrote: “There are two sides to every story”.
Mr. Kuch, who served in the US Army for 22 years, is calling for the dismissal of all school staff.
“You trust these people to protect your children, but they fail.
“You have to go.
“As I prepare for my daughter’s funeral, he posts online and says, ‘There are two sides to every story?’
‘It makes me sick. There is a page. She was attacked.’
Adriana with her boyfriend Jason who was trying to pull the other girls away from him and protect them
One of the girls involved in the attack posted these heartless messages on Snapchat. Adriana’s father said: “You used to go to school, you were bullied and then you left. But now you come home and you keep getting bullied – they still pick on you at home.
The principal’s office did not immediately respond to inquiries about the position.
The attack happened on February 1st. Adriana was walking down the hall with her boyfriend when she was jumped on.
Two of the girls filmed the attack – including the one Mr Kuch says was the “instigator” while two others carried out the beatings.
Adriana was once hit in the face with a filled 20-centre water bottle, her father says.
It pains me how easily this could have been resolved
Some teachers eventually rushed over to stop the beating, but Adriana “passed out” by that point, her father says.
She later called him in tears and told him she had been attacked.
He rushed to the school and was horrified when staff said they had neither called the police nor thought to take Adriana to a doctor.
“They just took her to see the school nurse,” he said.
He asked why the girls were not immediately expelled from the school and says he was told by school staff that it was not their “policy”.
Mr Kuch says he got the same answer when he asked teachers why no one had called the police.
“If they had just called the police and the girls had been rounded up on the spot, everyone would have seen it was wrong.
Adriana’s injured legs after the attack. Her father said she was mostly “humiliated” by the video, which made her feel like she was attacked “twice”.
According to her father, Kuch was “hit in the face three times with a water bottle” and “fainted.” He then had to take his daughter, who was covered in blood, to the police station to file a complaint because the school refused
Adriana’s father said she was “embarrassed” by the videos going viral
“It pains me how easily this could all have been resolved,” he said.
Outraged by the school’s lackluster reaction, Michael, Kuch’s father, speaks up
Instead, he took Adriana to the police station to file a complaint. But he says that they, too, dragged their feet.
He had to provide them with videos of the incident that had circulated on social media.
“I feel like I had to do the whole investigation. I’m doing everyone’s work while I’m grieving,” he said.
The day after the beating, Adriana stayed home from school.
She lived with her father, stepmother, 16-year-old brother and two stepsisters.
Her mother tragically died when she was seven years old.
“Her father says the school staff told her that because they didn’t want bullies to make fun of her swelling or bruising.
“We spent time together…she decided she wanted to go back to school the next day.
“She went to her boyfriend’s house during the day. I got home around 5 o’clock.
“We had McDonald’s and I got her her favorite – the crispy chicken sandwich.
“We’d have dinner, we’d talk about friends and make life decisions … I kind of liked lecturing her.
“We had a great conversation [my wife and I] said we wanted her to hang out with good people and tried to explain to her how that would help in life.
“She was in a good mood,” he said.
The family said good night and went to their separate bedrooms.
Cameras inside the home showed Adriana walking from her bedroom in the converted basement to the kitchen for snacks around 10pm.
In a Facebook post yesterday, school principal Trian Parlapanides made the remark that “there are two sides to every story”. He was responding to a post from a mother and alumni who said she would never send her daughters to school after learning of Adriana’s suicide
The principal shared this letter with parents and on the school website
Now her father knows from her cell phone logs that she was online texting with her boyfriend.
He also knows that she received a direct message from one of the girls involved mocking her about the video and the beating.
He says it made fun of her for “dripping” blood and that she got her “a** whoops.”
The last text Adriana sent to her boyfriend at 10.46pm was.
At 5 a.m., her stepmother went down to her room to wake her up. Mr. Kuch remembers hearing them “scream”.
“I was in the kitchen, the woman went downstairs [to wake Adriana] And I just heard her scream no
“I ran downstairs and immediately see that her bed is empty. At first I thought, “Did she sneak off to her boyfriend?”
Headmaster Trian Parlapanides
‘So I turned left and saw them in the closet.
“She was wearing the same clothes she wore the day before. I had just bought her a brown jacket.
“She loved that jacket.”
The family is preparing for a private visit today. Adriana’s funeral is tomorrow.
The four girls have now been charged; three with fourth-degree assault and one with disorderly conduct.
It is unclear whether they will be prosecuted as adults or minors.
Mr Kuch says he has a meeting with the local prosecutor next week to consult him on the case.
In an interview with News 12 New Jersey, the superintendent also defended not calling the police, saying, “Usually we just suspend.
“If a parent wants to report it, they can go to the police.
“But we’re not going to double-beat a child when they’re suspended and then press police charges as well.”