A Texas teenager has been charged with helping his 17-year-old high school sweetheart take her own life.
College student Zander Tashman, 18, was charged Sunday with aiding suicide, a felony, in connection with the death of Ellyse Suarez, whose body was recovered in Frisco Commons Park in November, WFAA reported.
Police said the teen had been “found in the pond” after officers responded to “suspicious activity.”
“After an exhaustive investigation, evidence collected in the case indicated that 18-year-old Zander Tashman of Frisco aided the deceased, his 17-year-old girlfriend, in committing suicide,” police said.
The teen faces up to two years behind bars and a fine of up to $10,000 if convicted. His bond has been set at $10,000.
His attorney, Reynie Tinajero, insisted that the teen “is innocent.”
“Zander and his family wish this horrible tragedy had never taken place either,” he told NBC 5 of the “exemplary college student with no prior history of criminal behavior.”
“I’m sorry authorities made a poor and probably emotional choice to blame Zander and to do so in a public way. We’ll be making our case in a court of law,” he said.
Suarez’s mother, Azucena Massey, said her daughter had been in an on-again, off-again relationship with Tashman for about two years after they started dating in high school.
The relationship “was something that was very meaningful to her,” the mom told NBC 5.
“Something that she wanted to work out so dearly that maybe she made decisions that she wouldn’t have made on a regular day.”
Frisco Police Department
The mom said she struggled to see her daughter’s struggles with depression given that the girl was otherwise witty, charismatic and involved in school activities.
“I don’t think I understood it at all,” Massey told the outlet. “I didn’t understand her reasoning for sadness. I didn’t understand her reasoning for being depressed.”
The grieving mom told WFAA that her daughter, who was a senior at Centennial High School, “was not the kind of person who wanted to be a burden on anyone.”
About six weeks before her death, Suarez told her mom that she was depressed and needed help.
“And I minimized it,” Massey told the outlet, adding that she did get the girl into counseling but that she told her mom it was not working.
Massey said she thought spending more time with her daughter and taking long talks with her also would help, but those efforts apparently also were unsuccessful.
She now realizes she didn’t understand what her daughter was going through and that no one helped the family realize the impact of acute depression.
Massey told WFAA that she hopes that sharing the tragic story will help others facing similar situations. And she urges parents to tell their kids that if a friend is struggling, to speak up.
“It is the right thing to do. It might feel like a betrayal at that time, but you have tomorrow with them. I cannot say the same thing,” she said.
“She does not have tomorrow with her best friend. She does not have tomorrow with us, because she depended on someone she could not count on,” Massey added.
“My main message is, if your child has the courage to ask you for help, please help them. Please help your child because it takes so much for them to admit how they feel,” she told WFAA tearfully.
“You can’t make excuses. You can’t say ‘We’ll talk it out, we’ll spend more time.’ Get them help, please,” she added.
Police have not disclosed what led them to arrest Tashman and in what way he allegedly aided in the suicide.
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.