Throughout the coverage of what happened to Hailey Buzbee, this website has worked hard to report only the information her family has chosen to release. A Facebook post from Hailey’s father makes clear that others have not taken that approach — and that is a very sad thing for a family already living through the worst kind of loss.
Beau Buzbee, who signed his post “Hailey’s Proud Dad,” wrote that the family has not endorsed, supported, authorized or partnered with any media outlet, influencer, content creator or other individual or group planning to tell his daughter’s story.
“We have experienced and continue to live through the worst kind of pain a parent can endure on this earth,” Buzbee wrote. “While our family is still grieving and have a long road ahead, the vultures are circling and have already started to work to capitalize on this tragedy.”
He directed particular criticism at those who frame that work as a public service.
“I have a serious problem with people who hide behind words like ‘education’ or ‘awareness’ while exploiting a child’s tragedy and doing further harm to a family for attention, content, clicks, money, and personal gain,” he wrote.
Buzbee closed by describing his daughter in plain terms.
“Hailey was a child. She was our daughter. She was deeply loved. Her life and her story are not someone else’s opportunity,” he wrote. “Hailey had everything taken from her, and as her dad, I will continue to fight for her.”
Hailey Buzbee, 17, of Fishers, disappeared from her home Jan. 5. Police said she left willingly and had been in contact for more than a year with Tyler Thomas, 39, of Columbus, Ohio, a man she met through an online gaming platform. Her remains were found in early February in Wayne National Forest in southern Ohio after Thomas led investigators to the site. Authorities have said they believe she died within days of leaving home.
Thomas was initially charged in Ohio with pandering obscenity and tampering with evidence and held on $1.5 million bond. Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Ohio then charged him with sexually exploiting a minor and traveling interstate with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, each carrying up to 30 years in prison, and the local charges were dismissed so the case could proceed in federal court. The investigation remains open.
The standard here does not change. This website will continue to report what the Buzbee family and public officials choose to make public, in a responsible, journalistic manner .