Toddlers & Tiaras star Kailia Posey, who took her life last week just days after her 16th birthday and prom, died by strangulation, according to police.
The Whatcom County Medical Examiner concluded on Wednesday that the child TV star died from asphyxia due to ligature strangulation in her car at Birch Bay State Park on May 2, Page Six reported.
Ligature strangulation is when a constricting band is tightened around the neck by force other than body weight. Hanging is when the band is tightened by the gravitational weight of the body.
The Whatcom County Sherriff’s Office said the autopsy and toxicology reports would not be disclosed to the public in order to preserve the victim’s privacy as the details would be ‘highly offensive’ to her family.
In a recent statement over her suicide, Posey’s family said: ‘Although she was an accomplished teenager with a bright future ahead of her, unfortunately in one impetuous moment, she made the rash decision to end her earthly life.’
Posey starred on Toddlers and Tiaras, a TLC series that ran for seven seasons from 2009 to 2013 following the families of kids who competed in beauty pageants.
She became widely known after a clip of her grinning ear to ear on the show went viral and became a popular meme.
Posey had just celebrated her 16th birthday on April 19 and attended her high school prom over the weekend, shocking family and friends when she decided to end her life.
‘I don’t have words or any thoughts. A beautiful baby girl is gone,’ Posey’s mother, Marcy Posey Gatterman, posted to Facebook, confirming her daughter’s death.
Police found her body inside a car on May 2 at Birch Bay State Park, a 194-acre state park located along the Strait of Georgia shoreline, about nine miles from the Canadian border, and features a scenic rocky beach and large camping ground.
One of Poey’s friends said the child star, who was a role model for many in the pageant circuit, had shared she was struggling with her mental health but they were unaware how badly it had gotten.
‘We knew she was struggling with a few things, and we all did everything we could to encourage her and help,’ the friend told Page Six, speaking on the basis on anonymity. ‘We didn’t know what was going on.’
Posey’s family has set up Kailia Posey Teen Crisis Intervention Fund with the goal of getting ‘much needed resources to students in crisis.’
Posey kept up with the pageant circuit throughout childhood and adolescence, having most recently competed for the Miss Washington Teen USA title in February.
Although she was not crowned winner of February’s competition, Posey earned the title of Miss Lynden Teen USA last year.
Posey performed contortion with Cirque du Soleil and was seemingly passionate about the art form, having launched a specific Instagram account dedicated to it.
She also played the role of Agnes in the 2018 Netflix film Eli.
Posey was a freshmen student at Lynden High School in Washington, the district confirmed to DailyMail.com.
According to her Miss Washington Teen biography, she was named to the Dean’s List during the 2020-21 school year.
Her mother announced last week that Posey had earned a spot on the high school’s football cheerleading team for the upcoming season.
After high school, the teen planned to study aviation in college and become a commercial pilot.