Neighbors Remember Victim of Accidental Hanging
By: Melissa Foy
Updated: January 27, 2012
Five-year-old Rebekah Catano is remembered as vibrant and playful.
Friends say you could almost always find the little girl playing on the playground outside her home at the Highpoint Village Apartments.
Damiona McGee, a neighbor, says, "She would dress up as a little princess. She was so sweet. She always said, 'Oh, can you push me on this? Can you push me on that?'"
Around three o'clock Thursday, police received a call from a resident at the apartment complex.
The caller stated a young girl had been found hanging by her neck from a jump rope on the equipment.
A man and woman who had been at the playground earlier with the girl assisted in getting the child down.
"When I got home from school we came out here and there was the caution sign, like the yellow, and you couldn't go in there. We didn't think anything of it, like someone got in a fight or something, Damiona McGee says.
Sherry Gourley, also a resident at Highpoint Village, says, "We walked out and the little girl was laying there and they were trying to bring her back before the cops and the ambulance and everyone got here, but they couldn't bring her back."
First responders performed CPR and rushed the girl to the hospital, but resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful.
"We couldn't stop ourselves from crying because we just played with her the day before that happened. It was just hard to believe. She was five, and you don't know what to do after that. She was so little," Damiona McGee says.
Friends and neighbors put together a memorial in memory of Rebekah at the place they say the five-year-old loved so much.
Damion McGee, a neighbor, says, "We got her some teddy bears and flowers and we placed there where they did CPR on her."
Police say no foul play is suspected, but there will be an autopsy performed, as is standard procedure.
Friends say you could almost always find the little girl playing on the playground outside her home at the Highpoint Village Apartments.
Damiona McGee, a neighbor, says, "She would dress up as a little princess. She was so sweet. She always said, 'Oh, can you push me on this? Can you push me on that?'"
Around three o'clock Thursday, police received a call from a resident at the apartment complex.
The caller stated a young girl had been found hanging by her neck from a jump rope on the equipment.
A man and woman who had been at the playground earlier with the girl assisted in getting the child down.
"When I got home from school we came out here and there was the caution sign, like the yellow, and you couldn't go in there. We didn't think anything of it, like someone got in a fight or something, Damiona McGee says.
Sherry Gourley, also a resident at Highpoint Village, says, "We walked out and the little girl was laying there and they were trying to bring her back before the cops and the ambulance and everyone got here, but they couldn't bring her back."
First responders performed CPR and rushed the girl to the hospital, but resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful.
"We couldn't stop ourselves from crying because we just played with her the day before that happened. It was just hard to believe. She was five, and you don't know what to do after that. She was so little," Damiona McGee says.
Friends and neighbors put together a memorial in memory of Rebekah at the place they say the five-year-old loved so much.
Damion McGee, a neighbor, says, "We got her some teddy bears and flowers and we placed there where they did CPR on her."
Police say no foul play is suspected, but there will be an autopsy performed, as is standard procedure.
