Crime & Safety

Point Pleasant Woman Had Contemplated Suicide Two Days Before Taking Her Life

Lily Seegobin sent her stepfather a suicidal text message shortly before she killed herself Saturday night

Lily Seegobin had told her family that she thought of killing herself two days before she drove her car onto NJ Transit train tracks in Spring Lake on Saturday night, according to her stepfather.

Lily, 19, had come home to Point Pleasant Borough on Thursday from Rutgers University in Newark, upset about breaking up with a boyfriend, said Jeffrey R. Surenian.

When asked if Lily had said she might be considering suicide, he replied, "I don't want to get into all of it, but there was an incident after a break-up last Thursday and she mentioned it."

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He said that because she had mentioned that she was contemplating suicide, he brought her to Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune.

"But she was examined by a counselor at the hospital and released," he said.

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A corporate communications official at Jersey Shore Medical Center could not be reached for comment. Federal law prohibits hospitals from discussing patient information.

Surenian, who said he has been dissatisfied with some of the media coverage about Lily's death, used the opportunity for an interview to caution other teens and their parents with the hope of preventing further tragedy.

"I just hope this doesn't happen to anyone else," he said.

In Lily's case, the counselor and the family talked to her extensively between Thursday and Saturday nights.

"Plenty of people talked to her between then and Saturday night and everyone came to the same conclusion," he said. "That she was going through a tough time, but that she was OK. It seemed like she was able to handle it."

That assumption was shattered Saturday night when he got a text from Lily saying that she was ending it.

"Tell everyone I love them very much," she had written. "Tell everyone I’m sorry. I’m just at a point of no return."

"We had no idea where she was when she sent that," Surenian said. "We frantically tried to find her. I called police, I called her friends. We didn't find her until it was too late.

"If I could have found her, I would have stood in front of the car," he said.

He said he would have told her that she would get over what was bothering her and remind her how much she was loved.

"She knew she was loved, but I don't know if she knew the extent of it," he said.

"It's a horrific thing," he said. "She was a wonderful person. We all adored her. It's tragic."

He said he and his wife, Sharena, have no idea why she was in Spring Lake or whether she had gone out with friends that night.

Surenian said after Lily, her mother and sister moved from Trinidad, they lived in Point Pleasant Beach for a number of years, later moving in with him on Rue Avenue in Point Pleasant Borough.

The couple married seven years ago and recently had a baby girl, Sherri.

Lily's older sister, Laura Seegobin Nelson, graduated from the borough high school in 2005 and still lives in the borough.

Surenian said he had been helping to raise Lily since she was 8 years old.

"She was loved by all, she was lovable," he said, starting to weep.

"She had a great sense of humor. She was unique, funny, kind beyond words," he said.

"The only thing I would ask," he said sobbing, "is that I just wish something good would come out of this.

"And the only way I can see that happening," he continued, "is if someone out there, thinking about doing this, just realizes how loved they are.

"If people who commit suicide could see their own wake and funeral and the outpouring of love there, maybe they wouldn't have done it," he said, sadly.

"So I hope that if there's a person in the audience who's thinking of doing this, who's suffering from depression, that they see what happened to Lily and they get the help they need and don't do it," he said, referring to Lily's friends who will gather today and tomorrow for a visitation and eulogy.

"I think if Lily realized the pain this would cause, she wouldn't have thought twice about it," he said. "She didn't want to hurt anybody."

"I just hope there's at least one person who benefits from this," he said. "At least there would be something redeeming out of this."

"I'm sure no one would be more surprised than Lily to see this," he said, referring to the outpouring of sympathy and love from residents all over the greater Point Pleasant area.

He said his message to parents is: "Watch your kids. Hold them close. Sometimes kids might say they want to commit suicide. You might not think they mean it. Who knows what happens to kids when they go into a dark place? They don't think straight."

"If we knew she was seriously going to do this, there would have been nothing we would not have done to stop it," he said.

Surenian said that for the most part, Lily was "a happy person. She had many interests and friends. She was going through a tough streak, but it was nothing she couldn't surmount."

Visitation will be from 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. today at the Van Hise & Callagan Funeral Home, 812 Arnold Ave., Point Pleasant Beach, according to the funeral home's website.

A eulogy will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the funeral home. Burial will follow at Greenwood Cemetery, Brielle.

Also surviving are her grandparents, Rose and Darius Surenian,Wall.

Lily was born in Trinidad and lived in Point Pleasant since 1999, according to the funeral home's online obituary.

"In lieu of flowers, donations will accepted to help pay for the operation of a family member in Trinidad that has no means to have a much-needed operation," the obituary says.

Checks can be made payable to Jeffrey R. Surenian, 1206 Rue Ave., Point Pleasant, NJ 08742.


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