https://sports.yahoo.com/happened-sean-york-county-boy-180500463.html
https://original.newsbreak.com/@nik...really-happened-to-12-year-old-sean-daugherty
Sean’s sister Maria tried running into the house but the door was locked, she knocked and rang the doorbell. No answer. She called and texted Sean, who was supposed to be inside babysitting, but no response. She called her mother to ask where Sean was and her mom told her he was likely just playing video games and couldn’t hear her at the door.
Maria decided she’d try the backdoor to see if it was unlocked, but as soon she entered the backyard she froze in her tracks.
She found him hanging from the swing set. He had his arms and hands bound down by his side with a belt. He was barefoot and hanging so low that his feet dragged on the ground. He had a motorcycle helmet bag over his head, which was tied around his head with a string. His glasses were on the ground nearby, shattered.
It is also noted that he was wearing his stepfather’s clothes and was barefoot. No note was found.
In the parents’ bedroom, Sean’s underwear was on the floor. The dresser doors were open.
Before his death, Sean was babysitting his 2-year-old brother at the house while Ramona Rivas took her mother to a doctor’s appointment. Sean was excited to watch his little brother, Ramona said. Jared Rivas, meanwhile, was in Williamsburg with their second-youngest son for an appointment.
During Sean’s last moments, he completed his homework, started taking out the trash, made a snack and even had a quick phone call with his mother — about an hour before his body was discovered.
In the medical examiner’s report, it is noted that no “known history of depression or suicidality” was found. It does note that the police investigation “raised the possibility of bullying at school,” but his family said that except for one incident in December, they’re unaware of any other bullying and said Sean didn’t seem to be overly upset by it.
His family questions how the examiner and police were drawn to the conclusion of suicide
Sean's mother Ramona was arriving back from her appointment with her mother, only to find a large police presence, ambulance and fire truck parked in front of her home. She saw her daughter Maria completely distraught and the medics working on Sean, but they would not let her go near him. She ran to Maria to get the story of what had happened and then they both ran into the house to look for the 2-year-old.
Inside, Ramona found the toddler hiding beneath a pile of laundry on a chair. She would say he appeared to be limp, out of it and not really himself.
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Unfortunately, none of the neighbors had any helpful information to offer. None of them had seen or heard anything coming from Sean’s home. One neighbor had several security cameras that pointed near or towards the backyard, but unfortunately, none of them worked and they hadn’t in years.
The investigators went through the family home and took pictures of the house as well as the backyard. They took pictures of the backswing set and began to look around and document their surroundings. The family has reported that none of these photos or findings have been shared with them.
As of midnight that same evening, the home was cleared and the family was able to return. Right away, the family noticed some strange things — things that seemed out of the ordinary and like they would be important to investigators. There were also two trash bags tied up on the floor with Sean’s crocs sitting upside down beside the bags, as if Sean had begun to take the trash out, but left them there on the floor instead.
Ramona also noted two additional empty garbage bags lying on the floor all ripped up — and she said they appeared to be different than the ones she kept in the home. These garbage bags had blue handles while the bags they owned had red handles. The heat in the home was set to 85 degrees Fahrenheit/or 29 degrees Celsius, definitely higher than what the family usually kept the heat at.
Sean’s jacket and flannel he was wearing earlier that day were found hanging in the closet, but the T-shirt and shorts he had been wearing were never found. So where the hell did his clothing go?
Sean’s little brother, the one that he had been babysitting who was discovered hiding in the pile of clothes — was now telling a strange story. He said that Sean’s friend had been at the house that day and was punching him.
But there was more. They discovered what looked like blood drops, and a large handprint on the window of the backdoor…it looked as if the handprint had some sort of film or residue on it which really made it stand out. The family says that all of this information was shared with the police the following day, and they even came back to try to lift the fingerprints off the handprint to send them out for testing.
A few weeks later the lead investigator would tell them they got a good print from the lift of the hand, but that there weren’t any matches in the system. A month later, when they came back for more prints, he said there weren’t any good prints lifted, and therefore nothing to test.
The family have been critical of their local police, and in turn — the police have pushed back, releasing a video on Facebook that I can only describe as cold-hearted. In the video, they state that the family has not taken the opportunity to meet with them and the medical examiner’s office to go through their findings.
They clarify a few things — like that the yard was not muddy that day, which would explain Sean’s clean feet. That they tested the rope for DNA and only found Sean’s DNA on the part of the knot. They talk about a blood mark found in the house and say that it was found in the home later, but was not present on the day of the investigation. They say they placed bags over Sean’s hands to preserve evidence. They also say there was no evidence of an intruder or any sign that Sean was sexually assaulted.
There were also conflicting statements made by Sean’s sister Maria, and the police — she said his feet were touching the ground when she found him, while the police say there was a chair that had been moved from the deck to be under sean when he hung himself. They say they moved it out of the way to perform life-saving measures.