Share and Follow
Inset: Jocelynn Rojo Carranza (GoFundMe). Background: Gainesville Intermediate School (Google Maps).
New details have emerged about the life and death of an 11-year-old Texas girl who is said to have killed herself after prolonged bullying about her family’s immigration status.
On Feb. 3, Jocelynn Rojo Carranza fatally injured herself at her home in Gainesville, a small city located just a few miles south of the Texas-Oklahoma border. She finally succumbed to her injuries on Feb. 8.
The girl’s death allegedly came after months of relentless taunting by her sixth-grade classmates at Gainesville Intermediate School, a fifth- and sixth-grade school located some 70 miles north of Dallas, according to comments made by her mother, Marbella Carranza.
Now, the school is offering a significantly different understanding of the final months of the young girl’s short life.
In a summary of findings released Tuesday and provided to Law&Crime by the Gainesville Independent School District (GISD), the superintendent variously confirms parts of the family’s story, disputes others, and provides altogether new and shocking allegations.
In the three-page document, the school district refers to Jocelynn as “JRC” and backs up her family’s story that she was, in fact, bullied by at least one other student.
“Gainesville ISD has concluded that student JRC was impacted by a bullying incident involving another student on campus,” the report reads. “At the request of JRC’s family, GISD refrained from making public statements while she was hospitalized and in the immediate days following her passing, honoring their wishes. During this time, false statements circulated on social media regarding the district’s silence. Now that the district investigation is complete, GISD is sharing the findings.”
The report does not directly dispute the claim that Jocelynn was bullied over her family’s immigration status — or that the bullying included threats of deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). But the accounts are somewhat murky.
The report says “[t]his matter first came to the administration’s attention during a classroom visit.” On Jan. 30, according to GISD, the “whole class was speaking about ICE and that JRC had something she wanted to tell the principal.” Jocelynn then told the principal about “a student on the bus was making remarks regarding ICE and deportation to a group of Hispanic students,” according to the report.
On Jan. 31, that student was disciplined, according to GISD. But, the school district went on to say, the student made comments “directed at a group of Hispanic students and not JRC who was not seated with the group but was close enough to hear the remarks.” The district also confirmed that the student’s comments about ICE and deportation on the bus were “not a one-time occurrence.”
The day after Jocelynn hurt herself, students began to discuss the girl and her brother being bullied, the school district said. The internal investigation began the day after that, on Feb. 6. In the end, the school district found the girl had been bullied — though no details about the form of this bullying are relayed in the report. The report also does not clarify whether the bullying came from the student on the bus.
The upshot of the document is of a girl severely troubled by issues at both school and — perhaps especially — at home.
“During student interviews, additional concerns surfaced,” the document reads. “It was reported by multiple students that JRC told them that she had been inappropriately touched by a family member and wished to keep this a secret to avoid getting them in trouble. Given the presence of four other school-aged children in the home, GISD was legally required to report this to CPS. The CPS investigation is ongoing.”
The document does not elaborate on this allegation.
At the same time, GISD suggests there were some issues bubbling under the surface for quite awhile prior to the girl’s suicide.
The investigation determined that Jocelynn “had previously expressed thoughts of self-harm to a cousin,” who allegedly shared this news with her mother. School officials say the mother never shared that information with them.
In her own comments to Univision, Jocelynn’s mother appeared to level some blame on school officials, saying that she was led to believe “the school was aware of” the bullying but that they never shared that information with her.
The school district, for their part, insists school employees never received information about bullying until after the girl took her own life.
“In a one-on-one meeting with the school Counselor on October 16, 2024, requested by the student, JRC shared concerns about getting in trouble at home and mentioned that her siblings called her names,” the report reads. “However, she did not report any bullying. Prior to JRC’s hospitalization, no official bullying report had been filed with the school that would have triggered the district’s bullying investigation protocols, which include student interviews, parent contact, and disciplinary action.”
Still, GISD says, the girl clearly dealt with emotional problems — and the school tried to help her deal with those problems to some degree.
“JRC was also a participant in a social-emotional learning (SEL) group led by the GISD SEL Counselor,” the report continues. “While her mother initially stated she was unaware of her daughter’s participation, the district has a signed permission slip authorizing her involvement. JRC was selected for the group based on the ‘Youth Needs Screener’ an evidence-based self-reporting assessment used to evaluate students’ social-emotional needs.”
During seven separate, all-female sessions spanning October 2024 through late January of this year, the group “focused on coping strategies for managing distressing emotions,” the report says.
In the document, GISD does not say one way or another how the girl was bullied before she killed herself, leaving that an open question.
“The bullying investigation was concluded on February 12, 2025,” the report reads. “The following day Jocelynn’s mother was notified that bullying of JRC by another student was confirmed. The student was disciplined in accordance with the GISD Student Code of Conduct.”
The school district also said the family and school employees are working cooperatively.
“GISD has remained fully supportive of the family throughout this difficult time,” the report goes on. “The district’s schools, PTO groups, and staff donations have contributed thousands of dollars, as well as gift cards and food to support the family’s needs.”
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.