Boy, 11, Kills Himself After Girl’s E-Mail

An 11-year-old boy, apparently distraught over being rejected by his girlfriend through a computer message, hanged himself in the bathroom of his family’s Encino home after telling the girl that she would not hear from him again, police said Tuesday.

The boy’s father found him hanging by a bathrobe belt suspended from a shower rail at 11:45 p.m. Saturday after an exchange on the Internet with the 12-year-old girl, authorities said.

“As a result of an e-mail rejection of a relationship, the young man told her via the Internet, ‘You won’t hear from me again,’ ” said Officer Stinson Brown, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman. “Her reply [was], ‘What do you mean, you’re going to commit suicide or something?’ ” The boy did not reply. He also did not leave a suicide note, police said, declining to elaborate.

Police said the boy and girl met at a summer camp.

The father, paramedics and doctors at Tarzana Medical Center attempted to resuscitate the boy, who died of strangulation. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office conducted an autopsy Tuesday to rule out any foul play but final results will not be available for two to three weeks.

Police did not disclose the identities of the boy, girl or their families to protect their privacy, Brown said.