Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, responding Monday to strong accusations from family and friends of deceased Hopkinton teenager Mikayla Miller, defended her office’s investigation and insisted, “We want to get the right answer for Mikayla.”
Miller’s body reportedly was found April 18 hanging from a tree on a trail in the woods off West Main Street, not far from the apartment where the Hopkinton High School sophomore lived.
The DA’s office told the Independent last week, “This is not a suspicious death investigation and there is no foul play,” with an obvious implication that it was suicide.
Miller’s family and friends announced over the weekend that they are planning a vigil and rally for Thursday at 4:30 at the Boston Marathon starting line on East Main Street to “demand answers” and “justice.” Monica Cannon-Grant, who heads the group Violence in Boston, tweeted a poster that claimed Miller was “murdered,” while other accusations claimed Miller was targeted because she was Black and gay. Cannon-Grant wrote that investigators are “ignoring that 5 White Teens beat her the same day” Miller died and have refused to interview those individuals.
In a series of interviews with Boston television stations Monday, Ryan acknowledged there was a confrontation precipitated by a relationship breakup.
“We know it was an altercation among people who were known to each other,” she told WBZ-TV.
Ryan, however, insisted that her office has done due diligence.
“The idea that we would be not investigating bullying or a murder as the allegation [states] is just not true,” Ryan told WBZ.
Added Ryan in an interview with Boston 25: “We fully understand that people are looking for answers. And we are working on those answers. And we are awaiting things, like a ruling from the medical examiner as to the cause and manner of death. We are waiting on forensics. We are continuing to interview and follow up on interviews with people. So, all of that is happening.”
Ryan also said she has been in touch with the family and its representatives to provide updates, and she understands their frustration that the case has not been resolved.
“To lose a child and then to think that everything is not being done to find out what happened is a terrible thing,” she told WBZ.
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