Erie County District Attorney John Flynn announced on Thursday that the 19-year-old college student who disappeared from Buffalo State College last month committed suicide after getting into a fight with her boyfriend that ended in a breakup.
Saniyya Dennis was last seen on April 24 leaving her dorm room.
According to Flynn, after the fight, Dennis told her boyfriend and another male friend that she was planning to commit suicide.
The parents of the teen, Latisha Dennis and Calvin Byrd, former Dipset rapper 40 Cal, learned of the news on Wednesday after spending days searching for their missing daughter and offering a $10,000 award for information leading to her discovery.
Family of Saniyya Dennis
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn provided an update Thursday in the disappearance of SUNY Buffalo State student Saniyya Dennis.
Editors Note: This news may be difficult for some readers. Resources are available to anyone in need of emotional support. You can text Hello to741741 to begin a conversation with the Crisis Text Line.
Canadian citizens can text Hello to 686868. More information is included at the end of this article.
According to Flynn, evidence from April 24 and 25 suggests Dennis “took her own life during the early morning hours of Sunday.” Dennis has not yet been found, but Flynn notified her family Wednesday with law enforcement’s findings.
Student, 19, fell to her death from Niagara Falls after breakup, police say
Saniyya Dennis, 19, sent her boyfriend who had just broke up with her a series of worrying texts before she called a friend and expressed suicidal thoughts during a four-hour long conversation
Dennis told a friend she had boarded a bus back to Buffalo before her phone went dead (Image: Saniyya Dennis/Facebook)
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Missing Buffalo State College student appears to have died by suicide, DA says
Updated May 07, 2021;
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Missing Buffalo State College student Saniyya Dennis appears to have died by suicide, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said Thursday.
Dennis, 19, was last seen leaving her dorm on April 24. Officials said a video showed her in the elevator of her dorm building around 11 p.m., and hours later her cell phone pinged near Goat Island in Niagara Falls; she was reported missing two days later after family members couldn’t reach her.
According to WIVB, Flynn said an “exhaustive” investigation showed Dennis’ boyfriend broke up with her after an argument earlier in the day on April 24. She continued attempting to contact him and threatened to kill herself, according to at least two people.
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A 19-year-old Buffalo State College student who had been missing for nearly two weeks is presumed to have died by suicide at Niagara Falls, according to the Erie County district attorney.
At a news conference Thursday, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn took reporters through a minute-by-minute account of Saniyya Dennis last known whereabouts, noting her boyfriend had broken up with her earlier in the day and that she had told him and another male friend that she was considering suicide.
Dennis, a Bronx native, was last seen leaving her dorm building around 11 p.m. on April 24 before throwing out some personal items and boarding a bus to Niagara Falls, where Park Police cameras last spotted her after midnight, according to investigators.