Bronx girl, 11, hangs herself in room after friends ignore suicidal texts

An 11-year-old Bronx girl took her life by hanging herself from a bedroom door — after sending suicidal texts to friends.

It was unclear what prompted Wilnery Polanco-Uben to kill herself after skipping school on Monday. Suicide by someone so young is rare.

Landlord Bobby Singh said he heard screaming in the Croes Ave. apartment about 7 p.m., ran downstairs and found the girl’s mother in hysterics.

“She said her daughter was missing. Everyone in the building began searching for her,” he said.

“We opened the door in the apartment, but no one saw her. We looked outside. We looked everywhere.

“After about 20 minutes, my cousin looked at their apartment again and that’s when he saw her. She was hanging behind the door, but no one noticed because the door was opened and she was behind it.”

Another neighbor said the mother then ran out of the building screaming, “My daughter is choking. Help! Help.”

The mother was so distraught, she had to be taken away by ambulance and was being treated at Bronx Lebanon Hospital.

Police sources said Wilnery sent friends suicidal text messages hours before she killed herself.

She “wasn’t happy with her life and talked about hating the way things were going in her life,” one source said.

Singh said students from Intermediate School 98 stopped by the house late Monday and told him Wilnery had threatened to kill herself that day.

“I don’t know why no one stopped her,” he said. “She was such a beautiful, happy little girl. I just don’t understand how something could happen to someone so young.”

A source at IS 98 said administrators were not told about the texts and that Wilnery was not in school Monday because she claimed to have an appointment.

The source said there were no indications the girl had been bullied and she was “a wonderful student . . . laughing all the time.”

Police said there is no evidence of bullying, but nothing has been ruled out.

Centers for Disease Control statistics show fewer than one in 100,000 children ages 10-14 commit suicide, although the number sharply rises among older teens and young adults.

Hanging is the most common method of suicide in New York City, accounting for 28% of self-inflicted deaths in 2007 and 2008, according to the latest city data.

Jumping from a building is next at 18%, followed by intentional poisoning (16%), firearm (16%) and subway-related (7%).

No one under the age of 15 committed suicide in the city in 2007 or 2008.

By Rocco Parascandola, Matthew Lysiak AND Tracy Connor / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS