The Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, performed an autopsy on the individual whose body was found Thursday afternoon in Middlebury.
The autopsy confirmed the person’s identity as Lia Smith, 21, of Woodside, California, who was reported missing Sunday from the Middlebury College campus. The medical examiner determined the manner of Lia’s death was a suicide.
The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a national network of local crisis centers providing free and confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals in the United States.
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Categories: Police Reports
Such a tragedy, young bright person, my thoughts and prayers to her family.
I’m so sorry to the family and friends left behind.
We must have more compassion and less fear of one another. This poor child. May Jesus soothe his fractured soul. Amen
Your smug and sarcastic attitude is not very Christ-like. It was likely thinking and comments like that that caused Lia to commit suicide. You are the worse kind of hypocrite, cloaking yourself in religion. Despicable.
Deb Halliday…who are you directing your anger towards?
Could someone explain the his and her thing on the last two posts. Comment from Richard Day.
To keep it simple we will say it has an Adam’s apple which is absent in individuals with XX chromosomes. Unfortunately that is what those hormones do. Suicide is extremely high in these poor confused individuals.
Jhottenstein,
In keeping it simple you are simply incorrect. All people, including those with XX chromosomes, have the thyroid cartilage that forms an Adam’s apple. It’s simply more noticeable in males once they’ve hit puberty.
Additionally, per the editor of this site please use your full name when commenting. Thanks
Jhottenstein,
And since we’re talking suicide within the transgender community, let’s acknowledge that several factors are known to increase the risk of suicide among transgender people.
Lack of family support: Transgender young people with accepting families have significantly lower rates of attempting suicide.
Discrimination and violence: Discrimination based on gender identity, as well as bullying and physical harm, drastically increases the risk of suicide attempts.
Anti-transgender laws: Legislation targeting transgender people can lead to increased minority stress and higher rates of suicide attempts.
Stigma and rejection: Experiences of social stigma, rejection, and isolation from friends, family, and society contribute to poor mental health outcomes. {You know, like when a complete stranger refers to you as a “poor confused individual.”}
Restricted access to care: Difficulty accessing gender-affirming medical and mental health care, as well as financial barriers, can increase suicide risk.
Conversely, factors that promote acceptance and well-being can significantly reduce the rate of suicide.
As Melania has suggested to us all, Be Best.
The censorship on VDC nearly rivals that of leftist Yahoo! That’s Vermont, I suppose…..unless one is posting seriously misogynistic comments (racial ones are never permitted) or are members of the minority contingent who adore trapping for “sport”.
The statistical fact remains that “transgender” youths are at a much greater risk of committing suicide is one of the reasons why encouraging the thought process that one can become the opposite sex is unhealthy, dangerous, & totally disingenuous.
The fact that God will undoubtably have mercy on the souls of those who are embroiled in this societal delusion perpetuated by fanatical & godless adults on the left does NOT alter the reality of this remaining a serious mental health condition.
And being fearful of posting “thumbs up” on comments that are critical of VDC in terms of censorship merely further prove the point of this first paragraph.
Others’ criticism of one’s comments is not censorship. As long as they are not personally mocking, or using profanity or explicitly bigoted language, commenters may have their say – even if critical of the CONTENT of other comments. Kathleen, how you can compare VDC to truly censoring media is beyond me. I guess it’s all a matter of perspective.
I believe that this was a copy of a police report that Guy reposted. Nothing wrong here.
Until society stops going along with pretending that men can be women I think more cases like this will happen and end the way this did. If a person isn’t happy in the body God gave them, why would they or anyone else think another person’s body will make them happy? Sad for the family.
Newsweek even identified this young person as “transgender”. If they identified as such, why is it “offensive” for VDC to identify as such?
Get this young people the counseling and spiritual help they require BEFORE they end their own lives or commit other acts of violence! Stop the P.C. nonsense.
May God rest his soul.
Effective talk therapy is available outside of Vermont for folks with gender dysphoria. But the Left and mainstream media doesn’t want anyone to know about that. They would rather folks explore what could be a psychologically and physically dangerous path than seek therapy that would help folks accept their DNA.
Could we have more information on how this person died, as many people would not like their lifestyle and I look at every death as a murder until proven otherwise. How did he kill himself?????? Comment from Richard Day. No, I do not trust our government officials.
My bumper sticker says: Think you can trust the government? Just ask the Native Americans
This is so weird for me. Part of the reason I don’t like my name out there b/c I am an old-school transexual who transitioned in 2001. We had a Republican President (GW Bush) and in NJ where I come from and lived at the time, a Republican Governor (Donald DiFrancesco – right after Christine Todd Whitman). I had zero issues getting everything taken care of, from psychiatry (which was mandatory for 2 years) and “living as the sex you are transitioning to” (mandatory for minimum 1 year). I had zero problems retaining a lawyer to change all my credentials, from birth certificate, social security name (same number), licenses of all kinds, school records, etc.
Let me tell you all what the Left’s problem with all this stuff is, very, very simply:
A procedure like this costs several thousand dollars. You REALLY had to want to do this and go out of your way to find the right doctors. You can’t be a dummy to do that. The legal stuff also costs money, and a good business lawyer is able to handle it but takes time.
When you want to indoctrinate whole societies (such as young people before they can legally and financially do these things) a group of complainers have to get to work making a lot of noise about it… particularly to make it seem UNFAIR to go thru so many hoops and to spend their own money.
It all connects with the “free healthcare for all” thing and with the fact that the medical and Rx industries can make a killing. No pun intended.