Izabel Laxamana jumped off Tacoma overpass over picture she sent to boy

A teenager who took her own life after video of her father cutting her hair wound up on YouTube may have done so over her own shame about what she did to receive her haircut punishment according to authorities.

Izabel Laxamana, 13, jumped off an overpass in Tacoma, Washington on May 29 because she was reportedly embarrassed over the actions that led her father to be angry with her at the time.

Police believe that the young girl sent suggestive photos to a boy on social media, and was worried her decision would haunt her forever.

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Tragedy: Izabel Laxamana (above), 13, jumped off an overpass and killed herself on May 29 in Tacoma, Washington after feeling ashamed of photos she sent

According to Fox 13, the girl wrote multiple notes before her death, and in one told her father how much she loved him and that he was not to blame for her death.

She was also apparently being bullied at school.

'I think it just pushed her too far to where she wanted to do what she did,' said one of Izabel’s friends.

'She just felt like she couldn’t take it anymore,' said another friend. 

'There were a lot of things going on in her life.' 

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Police say Laxamana was riding in a car on 48th Street that afternoon when she suddenly bolted out of the vehicle and jumped off an overpass onto I-5 - striking Frutos' car with such force that both the front and back windows shattered.

Just days before her death, a video of Laxamana was posted online, showing her dad shaming her for 'getting messed up' by cutting off her long hair. 

Laxamana's father did not upload the video however (which has since been taken down) and never meant for it to be published.

Instead, it was apparently uploaded by a third party who had been sent the video and 'thought they were being of help' sharing it more widely.

Punishment:  Laxamana is pictured above in a video showing her (left) after a haircut she was given as punishment. The footage included a glimpse of a pile of her hair, right, which had been cut off by her father

The tragic incident happened Friday afternoon, around 3pm, as Chelci Frutos was trying to get to her job as a waitress on time.

While Frutos didn't see the moment the girl jumped, she says she was back far enough that she saw the entire fall - an image that will haunt her for the rest of her life. 

'Once I saw her falling I completely froze,' Frutos said. 'I was in shock. I didn’t think it was a real person. I mean, I knew it was. I think I did let off the gas but I didn’t brake. I just held onto the steering wheel and was in shock and watched this girl fall.' 

'As I got closer I could tell that she was a young person,' Frutos said. 'I saw her skin color. And I saw a pony tail.'

The image of the ponytail was especially confusing for Frutos in the aftermath of Lazamana's suicide, when she heard about the punishment video. 

However, Frutos said she learned that the girl's father had allowed her to keep a small bit of her hair long, and that was the ponytail she saw that day. 

The force of Lazamana's landing was so severe that had the teen jumped closer to the driver's side, she too could have died.

'The roof caved in half an inch from my head,' Frutos said. 'I could have lost my life, too, if she had fallen onto me.'

As the teen came to a crash, Frutos said she focused on keeping the steering wheel straight and then drifted to a stop. 

Death: Izabel died after leaping from this bridge over the freeway. She was taken to hospital alive, but did not survive the next day. Police have said the video didn't cause her death

But once stopped on the side of the road, Frutos said she became hysterical as she tried to call her husband and police for help. 

'I put my car in park and just sat there and screamed like bloody murder. I didn’t open the door. I didn’t move I just screamed inside. I reached over because somehow my phone flung to other side of the car. I called my husband and when he answered the phone all he heard was my screaming. I finally got out that somebody jumped off the bridge. He said, "Where are you?" I couldn’t even tell him where I was because I was so shaken up, but eventually I said "I’m on the way to work. You’re not going to miss me!"'

Thankfully, an older man came to Frutos' aide and stayed with her until emergency responders showed up at the scene.  

Later that night, Frutos attended a candlelight vigil for Lazamana at Giaudrone Middle School, where the girl had been a student. 

'I’m never going to forget about this little girl,' Frutos said. 'But I need to move on with my family and not be stuck on it.'

While Frutos feels a strange connection to Lazamana, she does have mixed emotions about the way the teen's actions threatened her own life and totaled her family's only car.

'I’m kind of angry about it,' Frutos said. 'My family is, too.'  

• For confidential help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or click here

• For confidential support on suicide matters in the UK, call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here

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