Hilton Head teen’s death ruled a suicide

The gunshot death of teenager Rae Prock on Hilton Head Island in early February has been ruled a suicide.

Prock, 17, died Feb. 4 at a Savannah hospital after she was found with a gunshot wound to the head the day before at a residence on Wild Horse Road.

The Beaufort County Coroner's Office ruled her death as a suicide late Tuesday after nearly three weeks of interviews with witnesses and family members and an examination of forensic evidence by the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office and SLED, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.

“There is no information or evidence to suggest she died at the hands of another,” the release said.

The ruling came 19 days after the teen died.

Her father, Robert Prock, 44, is being held in the Beaufort County Detention Center on assault and battery charges after he allegedly bit a friend’s ear lobe off during a drunken tirade at the Beach Break Bar on Feb. 7, three days after his daughter died.

In an interview with an Island Packet reporter Monday, Robert Prock said he was distraught over his daughter’s death, has little memory of the bar incident and said he did not believe his daughter took her own life.

He said he had sent her to Hilton Head from Oregon three weeks before her death after she had a difficult breakup with a girlfriend.

He next saw his daughter in a Savannah hospital.

He found the girl he remembered as happy and always singing lying in a bed comatose, her body attached to life support systems.

“I couldn’t even stay in the room, and I’m a pretty tough guy,” Prock said. “So I told them, she’s in pain. ... I said, ‘You unplug my kid. She’s never coming back.’”

“Everybody loved to love my kid,” Robert Prock said. “She brought a smile to everyone’s face. She was that kind of person. ... She was the most happy child.”

This story was originally published February 23, 2016 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Hilton Head teen’s death ruled a suicide."