Mustang High School Mother Advocates For Change Following Death Of Son

Editor's Note: A reminder, typically, News 9 does not report on suicides. However, the community has been affected by this event, and Mistie Turner wanted to share her story with us. We also want to show you the steps the Mustang school district and lawmakers are taking to strengthen laws against cyberbullying.

A mother fights for change and she now has state lawmakers on her side. Mistie Turner’s son, Jot Turner, died by suicide last month.

She says while she can’t bring her son back, she does hope his death can bring change. “Jot was happy go lucky always smiling, always quick to help others, he absorbed everything around him,” said Mistie Turner, Jot Turner’s mother. 

Looking through the photo books of her son’s life, she says these are the happy moments. The Mustang high school student was a natural scholar, had good grades, and loved being in the marching band. “He was self-taught pretty much, he never had formal lessons, he could play drums, guitar, bass guitar,” Turner said. 

Now, dealing with the loss of her 17-year-old son, she says it's not a chapter she ever saw coming. “We have felt the community since the minute we found out we lost Jot,” she said. “We're getting stronger each day.”

Turner is using that strength to tell her son’s story and advocate for change in his name. She said Jot never showed signs of distress. “Everybody has sad days but even recently he hadn't been sad, the Sunday before he had gone up to Edmond and jammed with some new guys he had met at a local show,” Turner said. “He was just so happy we went and got Dunkin Donuts in the afternoon and then the next day when he got home from school, we played Jeopardy, no, no signs.”

After his death, Mustang Schools Superintendent Charles Bradley said more needs to be done to support students and stop cyberbullying. In Jot’s case, Turner believes online bullying contributed to her son’s death. “We're aware of some social media posts that were made, the kids that have reported those posts to the school have not shared those posts with me,” she said. 

The school district has been in contact with the Attorney General’s Office and lawmakers about what happened. “When you lose a child, it changes your entire life and your entire world,” said Sen. Paul Rosino. “I think young people especially, do not realize that when they do these kinds of things it really can affect people forever.”

This is why there’s a new push to strengthen laws surrounding cyberbullying. “We do have some cyberbullying statutes, but we don't know how strong they can be or whether we can work it so with the Attorney General's office help and our attorney's, we're looking into everything, so this never happens again,” said Sen. Rosino. “I want some sort of cyberbullying laws, some kind of restrictions on young people using social media, and just more awareness for parents,” Turner added. “I'm not trying to take away anybody's privacy, but I just think we as parents need to be more aware of what's out there and what our kids are being exposed to.”

Turner hopes these changes will help other families from having to say goodbye too soon. “I'm sorry that I didn't see it and that he has a whole community standing behind his family and that we love him,” she said about her son.

Turner said a police investigation into Jot's death is ongoing. “Justice is not going to bring him back but if we can bring this out, let people know about it, let people know it's happening, and just bring awareness to it maybe we can keep it from happening to somebody else,” she said.

Related: Mustang Schools Superintendent Addresses Suicide, Cyberbullying