Alabama teacher commits suicide only 2 days after being charged with raping students

(The AEGIS Alliance) – A high school teacher in Alabama was discovered dead only a couple of days after she had been charged with sexual criminal offenses against 2 students who were minors, according to authorities.

Officials strongly believe Leslie Gillespie, age 44, that had been implicated in the sexual assault of 2 boys while in a classroom committed suicide and killed herself between Friday night and Saturday morning at her house in Hillsboro about 90 miles north of Birmingham, according to state news media AL.com.

“It appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Scott Norwood, the county’s coroner, informed AL.com.

The specific cause of her death is expected to be found out after a medical examiner’s autopsy.

Gillespie had been arrested on Thursday for charges of second-degree rape, second-degree sodomy, and taking part in a sexual act with a student below 19 years of age. The students were 15 and 16 during the time that the alleged incidents happened, WAAYTV reported.

One of the boys said to detectives that the abuse took place in September of 2020 during the course of after-school hours, court records acquired by WAFF reveal. It was reported that the student stated Gillespie sexually attacked him and one more boy in her classroom at North Courtland city’s R.A. Hubbard High School.

Jon Bret Smith, Superintendent of Lawrence County Schools, pointed out in a statement this past week that district leaders have been looking into the situation and have been working together with police.

Gillespie had been named the high school’s Teacher of the Year in 2019. She was released from jail after paying her bond the very same day she was arrested.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, you can call the National Suicide Prevention lifeline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 800-273-8255.

Kyle James Lee – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.