During an appearance on "Fox and Friends," the sheriff in charge of investigating the suicide of 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick said the recently arrested suspects demonstrated a 'total disregard for life," Fox News reported.
"We knew that there was total disregard for life, and if she would say those things after she bullied Rebecca and after the parents knew that, we had to act more quickly," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said of the two girls, one of which posted a comment online following Sedwick's suicide.
On Tuesday, two girls aged 12 and 14 were arrested in connection to bullying Sedwick, ultimately leading to her death. While speaking on the morning show, Grady said he was referring to the 14-year-old girl publishing an online post the morning she learned about the suicide.
According to the girl's family, her computer was hacked when the post was uploaded -- a claim Judd vehemently denies.
"You tell me that there's not parents, who instead of taking that device and smashing it into a 1,000 pieces in front of her child, says, 'Oh, her account was hacked?' We see where the problem is."
Tricia Norman, Sedwick's mother, also spoke to Fox and said while the arrests have brought back painful memories, she has found comfort in the attention brought to bullying.
"It kind of opened up the wounds and made it fresh again," Norman said. "But at the same time it brings some kind of relief because they're finally listening. But I hate, I really hate that it took this happening before people really started listening."
Sedwick was discovered by police on Sept. 9 at an abandoned cement plant after school officials noticed she didn't show up for class.
The bullying reportedly began over a boy last year, according to Judd.
"We can see from what we've investigated so far that Rebecca wasn't attacking back," Judd said at a press conference in September. "She appeared to be beat down. She appeared to have a defeatist attitude. And quite frankly, the entire investigation is exceptionally disturbing to the entire investigative team."
