Nex Benedict was a Survivor of Child Abuse, It Should Not Be Ignored (Part 1, excerpt)
3-21-24 draft excerpt
988 on your phone in the US reaches the national suicide hotline
“Silence hides violence” - adage among domestic violence survivors.
Note: Pronouns are not edited to change what a person has said in this piece, as all pronouns appear to be used by the departed at one time or another in this story’s timeframe.
Nex Benedict was a Survivor of Child Abuse
It Should Not Be Ignored
by Jeremy Lee Quinn
* The following is a draft excerpt for review, not final publication.
…the attendance of the local ‘Bikers Against Child Abuse’ chapter was not incidental, but deeply significant to those who knew the 16 year old- and of the teen’s struggles before arriving at the Benedict household in Oklahoma.
At the time of the funeral, it was not widely known that the Owasso teenager had taken a fatal dose of antihistamine and antidepressants, or that a story of transphobic bullying- tied to tales of a “murder on campus,” would begin going viral the very next day.
It was not then known that “brief notes” had been left by Nex, not pertaining to bullying or the school fight from the day before— but referencing a “personal matter” in the family. The Tulsa District Attorney would reveal this on March 21st, while announcing there would be no charges for the juveniles who fought with Nex at Owasso High.
At the funeral, Motorcycles escorted the procession from the service to the gravesite. The obituary from that day still reads, “Dagny was raised and educated in Owasso-” which is true, however, only of the teen’s last 5 years. There were other misdirects. Nex’s birth mother, who left during infancy, is listed as a ‘sister’ in the obituary, as Nex had been adopted by maternal Grandmother Sue Benedict.
On the paternal side, Nex’s Aunt Ashley, visiting Owasso from Arkansas, had been openly grieving on social media. She commemorated the Owasso sophomore as “my sweet niece Dagny, who was handed the most difficult hand in life and didn’t deserve any of it.”
‘Bikers Against Child Abuse’ was originally named by local media as a beneficiary for donations. A representative in Tulsa confirmed that Nex was “a BACA kid.” Young participants in the BACA program support other abuse survivors, who are all given a road vest and a road name, while their mentors pledge to be there 24 / 7 when called upon to keep the monsters away.
“I wish she had called us,” a representative at the BACA hotline said.
What did Nex escape in Arkansas? Aunt Ashley candidly disclosed the unthinkable on social media: that her brother (Nex’s dad), is a criminal sex offender– her niece’s “monster of a father who’s already in prison.” The assault was committed in the summer of 2017. Nex was nine.
James Hughes was re-incarcerated as of January 25th of this year, his criminal record reading “fail to comply” per Arkansas State Police. Ashley told me that Hughes did not reoffend this year, but failed to comply with restrictions of his supervised release. Hughes was out of jail for the initial crime within 5 years, taking a plea deal for child sex assault in 2019. Nex did not have to testify.
On the day of the funeral, local media in Tulsa referred to Nex as Dagny, as did many family members and friends at the service- unaware that others would soon take issue.
PRONOUNS
The existence of an anonymous TikTok profile listing he/ him pronouns was unknown to many attending the funeral.
The conflicting reports of Nex’s gender identity are best resolved perhaps by the stepmom who raised Nex while in Arkansas. In 2020, a year after arriving in Oklahoma, Nex wrote a letter in which “Nex came out as trans, said they were a boy,” stepmother Loretta said.
The obituary referred to Nex as Dagny and by she / her pronouns. It still does, as does a temporary marker at the gravesite. Less than a week after the funeral, media publications would begin removing all references to “Dagny” and “She,” uttered by those grieving that day.
Local affiliate, KJRH revised online coverage to read… “[They were a] tough, but a great kid,” mother Sue Benedict said at the funeral service. “I loved [Nex] so much.”
That passage was scrapped altogether after a group of gender non conforming students announced a he/ him identification preference for Nex at the Owasso vigil in late February.
Some family members- and some high school friends- continue to speak of Nex using she/ her, as well as using the name Dagny. “She went by both names. For some reason people are assuming that she only went by Nex, like she completely changed her name,” Nex’s friend Monica explained (whose name is changed here). The police tape shows the officer, who is previously known to Nex, and Sue Benedict- addressing the teen exclusively as Dagny and by she /her.
Others say Nex was committed to a he/ him identity, as indicated on the anonymous tiktok profile named “Roach.” Loretta says Nex had plans to take off with a boyfriend (also trans-identifying) and get away from Owasso, and that previous attempts of self harm had been made.
Nex was hospitalized in 2019 for self-harm two years after the 2017 sexual assault. At that point, authorities became involved in Arkansas...
MORE TO BE PUBLISHED
VIDEO SEGMENT
Survivors of domestic abuse on Hawaii Island prepare for a sign wave, held by the advocacy group ‘Going Home Hawaii,’ working to shine a light on the need to talk openly about abuse.
I have been following up with this info on the case has anyone found any official records connecting James Everrette Hughes as the biological father of Dagny/Nex Benedict?