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"Unless you're me, well you're listening to this from the future," Felicia LoAlbo-Melendez can be heard saying in the 2021 voice note, shared by her mom Elaina LoAlbo, to Facebook.
"Say hello to future mom, future dad... future everyone. Never, never never be bad, never give up on your friends, never, ever... be a bully."
Since her daughter's death, LoAlbo has been vocal in spreading awareness toward the bullying that she says her daughter suffered.
LoAlbo says multiple emails to administrators placed by both Felicia and her mother detailing ongoing bullying were "willfully ignored."
Daily Voice placed inquiries to officials at F.W. Holbein School Sunday morning, April 2.
"The school administration didn’t listen the first 50 times. Maybe they are ready to hear us now," LoAlbo said. "This bullying needs to stop. There need to be consequences for their actions."
In response to Daily Voice's inquiry into the incident, the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office said that an 11-year-old girl was found by another student, unresponsive in a bathroom stall of Holbein School on Levis Drive in Mount Holly around 1 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 6. That girl was identified by her mom and various news reports as Felicia.
School officials responded immediately and performed lifesaving measures before EMTs arrived. The girl was rushed by ambulance to a local hospital and subsequently transferred to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she was pronounced dead on Wednesday, Feb. 8.
An autopsy performed by the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office found the manner of death was suicide, and the cause of death was determined to be complications of her attempted suicide.
Felicia's death came days after her father's, Alexis Melendez — an NJ Transit detective who died after a bout with pancreatic cancer on Jan. 25.
At a board of education meeting, a lifelong Mount Holly resident and father of one of Felicia's best friends said her daughter had told him Felicia was being bullied.
"I failed to convey this information to the teachers or staff in time for anything to be done," he said. "I had a moral to act and I failed to act, and unfortunately I don’t believe I am alone in this failure."
People who saw Felicia every day shared that ignorance, he said, noting the community's response to Felicia's death has been "pathetic."
With no explanation having been released, parents were given no assurance to believe that what happened to Felicia would not happen again. And so, the father pulled his daughter from Holbein.
The board declined comment due to the nature of the ongoing investigation.
A Change.org petition calling for the release of surveillance videos near the bathroom where Felicia was found unresponsive on Feb. 6 had garnered more than 360 signatures as of Sunday, April 2.
"This tragic end makes no sense and could have been prevented," LoAlbo said. "It is now my life’s mission to make sure her legacy lives on and these tragic stories are given a voice. No parent should have to get that call."
If you or someone you know is battling thoughts of suicide, the Suicide Awareness Hotline is available 24/7 by dialing 988.
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