"To This Day, No One Has Ever Been Held Accountable For Her Death." People Are Sharing Emotional Stories About What Happened To Their Childhood Best Friend

There's nothing like an amazing best friend or friend group to navigate life with. Some of my besties I've been best friends with since sixth grade, and some, only within the last six years. Regardless, time will never change the impact a great friend can and will have on your entire life.

group of three smiling friends walking hand in hand and happy on the beach during a vacation trip
Alberto Menendez / Getty Images

So, when I shared stories of what happened to people's childhood best friend, I was shocked to receive so many additional stories from the BuzzFeed Community, I had to do it all over again. Now, I'm doing it for a third time because even more people than ever before want to share their stories. Here's what they had to say:

1."My best friend has been my best friend since forever! I'm a year and a half older than her (and six days younger than her big brother). Our moms were best friends in high school and beyond. Her grandma lived with her parents and ran an in-home daycare in the basement. Grandma gave my (single) mom a discount on childcare, so I spent every weekday at her house for about 10 years."

two little girls jumping on the bed

2."She spent half of junior year and most of senior year using me to convince everyone in school she wasn't hooking up with a teacher. She stopped talking to me right around graduation and went 'Facebook official' with her teacher boyfriend within four months of graduation. They've been married for, like, eight years now, so I guess that's good for them? It still doesn't change the fact that he actively pursued a minor and student while engaged to (an age-appropriate) woman."

anonymous093

3."My best friend from junior high school and I remained close through life. I fell into the dope hole, but after I got clean, he became my brother-in-law when I married his little sister; therefore, we see each other all the time. He was at my first wedding and my wedding to his sister. Can you believe that shit?"

a groom and his best man fixing his suit
Alexanderford / Getty Images

4."My best friend through elementary school (her mom also watched me after school during the week) moved away when we were 10. We found each other 32 years later through social media. I invited her to Thanksgiving dinner the day before I was going to get married."

"That’s when I found out that my soon-to-be husband was actually her ex-husband. He still lived in a town that was 80 miles from where we grew up. Somehow, we grew up and married the same man. I always loved his ex-wife more than I loved him. That’s probably why I am now his other ex-wife. She no longer lives in the area, but we still keep in touch."

wendikurtz

5."We met in high school, and I thought we were best friends. We remained friends for 20 years. She was the one who told me about my ex and one of our friends sleeping together. Twenty years later, I had a massive mental breakdown and was put in the hospital. While there, she fed my husband full of lies, created false emails and texts, and basically did so much damage that it nearly ended our marriage. It turns out it wasn't the first time."

woman speaking to man while they sit on the couch

6."I had an amazing best friend whom I met on the first day of seventh grade, and we were joined at the hip! In high school, she kind of ditched me for a popular girl, yet I was still the one she called when she was in a jam. That behavior continued until our 30s, when one day I decided I was fed up and ghosted her."

"Cut to three years ago: I’m 52ish and received a letter in the mail from her! We picked up right where we left off; she lives 45 minutes from me, and I have forgiven all past transgressions as life is too short to hold grudges; instead, I just focus on the person she is today, which is warm, caring, and present."

smokeylaponepone

7."One of my best friends I’ve known since preschool, and we became best friends in fifth grade. My other two best friends and I became friends in sixth grade. Since graduating high school, the four of us have consistently remained the closest of friends."

a group of women at a backyard party

8."I met my best friend in sixth grade, and we were inseparable through high school. My sophomore year, my family moved from California to Massachusetts, and we wrote reams of letters until my parents moved back to California. We drifted apart when we left for college — me to Chicago, her to the northeast. Her parents were wealthy, and when she got her inheritance at 25, she got her pilot’s license and became a pilot instructor. She died at 35 in a mid-air collision doing what she loved. I miss you, Jolene."

judithf46009c74f

9."I moved to a new town in fifth grade and immediately bonded with this other boy. We were inseparable through middle school; we were all in the honors classes together. Then, the week before ninth grade started, his dad took us hiking. He slipped on a wet rock and broke his arm. This made him ineligible for PE and got him put in shop class instead."

Mature man and his son walking in beautiful nature on sunny day, with backpacks

10."I had the same best friend from the time we were around 12 until around 25/26. Our birthdays were six days apart, and we were each there when each other's children were born. We talked literally every single day; there were no secrets between us. In our early 20s, we were both a bit self-destructive with some addictions that were super unhealthy. She had a partner who was emotionally abusive, cheated on her, and was addicted to even worse things."

"I was in a similar relationship and made the choice to leave. I got with an amazing man (who I’m still married to) and got help for my addictions and the emotional abuse I suffered from my ex. She refused to get help and was upset that I had changed so much. We stopped talking, and about five years later, I got a phone call that she was in a coma and had brain damage from many different factors. I visited her in the hospital, and I knew she was going to die. Her other friends, family, and partner had hope she would make it, but despite the years spent apart, I knew when I visited her that she was exhausted and wanted/needed to be free. She died on Mother’s Day a few years ago. Even though it was about five years before she died that we didn’t speak, I still miss her. There are a lot of times I want to text her, call her, or hug her. It’s difficult to live with the fact that she isn’t on this Earth anymore, but I know she is free and happy wherever she is."

sambamclam

11."I’m still friends with my best friend from middle school, 15 years later. After high school graduation, we lost touch after she became a born again Christian and joined a very cult-like church, where she met and married the man she had children with."

someone being handed a cross with bibles scattered around the table

12."My childhood friend disappeared just after the start of seventh grade. Two weeks later, her body was found in a pile of rotting trash at an illegal dump site. I had known her my entire childhood. To this day, no one has ever been held accountable for her death. It has haunted me for 35 years."

keetawnandon

13."I met my best friend on August 15, 1983, at the bus stop on the first day at my new high school. Tina and I became inseparable, and we stayed in touch through the years. We’d had some good and bad times and fought like sisters sometimes. When my husband and I decided to leave Florida, she invited us to check out her town in Alabama, and we ultimately moved just 20 minutes away."

a group of friends toasting champagne glasses

14."My best friend and I met when I was 8 years old. He remembered the first day I walked into class after moving from another state midway through the school year. We were best friends for 35 years. His parents were my second parents, and mine were his. On that note, I say 'were' because he died on December 21, 2023, of cancer."

"It was the most difficult thing ever to say goodbye to him the day before he passed away, but I am very grateful for that opportunity. I am very happy with the life we shared with each other as friends, almost brothers. He was always there for me, and I was there for him. I miss him a lot and will never forget the person I became because of him. There is a lot of truth in the saying that legends never die. He’ll never be forgotten for his gratitude and patience."

bugman4

15."She’s married with kids. After high school, we were roommates and coworkers. We did everything together, and then my younger brother died suddenly. She didn’t 'know how to deal with me' and decided to break our lease and move out. My grief was too big to fight for the friendship, and I haven’t spoken to her since. She tried to stick me with all the final bills and turned most of our friend group against me. I don’t wish her any bad, but I do wish her a friend just like her. You know, the kind that ditches you at your lowest point."

roommates arguing
Urbazon / Getty Images

And finally, here's someone who is actually living an experience that me and my best friends often dream about:

16."I still keep in contact with my childhood best friend every day. We live together and have been best friends for going on 30 years! We divorced our respective spouses and decided to move in together about a year ago LOL. Yeah, aside from immediate family, she’s been the only constant in my life."

two friends watching TV and eating chips on the couch
Morsa Images / Getty Images

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity. 

Do you want to share your own story of what happened to your childhood best friend? Let me know in the comments or if you want to remain anonymous, you can fill out this form!