The parents of Stanford soccer goalie Katie Meyer revealed on Friday morning that their daughter died by suicide on Tuesday at the age of 22. Meyer was found dead in an on-campus residence and Santa Clara County, Calif. authorities determined the cause of death, noting that there was no sign of foul play involved.
Katie Meyer’s parents, Steven Meyer and Gina Meyer, spoke with the TODAY show about their daughter’s death and announced that they have set up a foundation in her name. The parents said they spoke to Katie hours before her death and had no signs that anything was wrong with her. They said she was seemingly in great spirits.
“She died by suicide. The last couple days are like a parent’s worst nightmare and you don’t wake up from it,” they told TODAY. “So it’s just horrific. I don’t even think it’s hit us yet. We’re still in shock. But we had no red flags … We’re just we’re struggling right now. We are struggling to know what happened, and why it happened. We’re just heartbroken, so heartbroken.”
Steven Meyer and Gina Meyer added that Katie may have recently been stressed about potential disciplinary action by Stanford officials over “an incident” that involved her “defending” a fellow soccer player at the school. Katie Meyer received an email from the school about the incident, but Steven Meyer and Gina Meyer have not seen it yet.
“Katie, being Katie, was defending a teammate on campus over an incident and the repercussions of her defending that teammate (were possibly resulting in disciplinary action),” Steven Meyer told TODAY.
Katie Meyer helped lead her team to a national championship in 2019.
