Black girl in West Plains admits writing threatening letters to

WEST PLAINS, Mo. -- An investigation into racially motivated and threatening letters that a 12-year-old black girl received ended when she admitted writing the notes herself.

The West Plains Middle School student apparently wrote the letters because she didn't feel school officials did anything to address her concerns that she'd experienced racial discrimination, said Howell County Sheriff Bill Shephard.

The girl put the letters into her locker and that of a friend to draw attention to the problem, Shephard said.

"She wanted to magnify the situation to the point the police and school would step in," Shephard said.

For two days, the West Plains Police Department, Howell County Sheriff's Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the school district worked to find who had written the threatening letters.

"They had racial slurs. Some were death threats, talking about killing. They were pretty bad," said West Plains police chief Charles Brotherton.

The school did not involve police in the initial investigation. West Plains Superintendent John Lewis, who first heard of the notes on March 14, said the school put hidden cameras in the hallway to identify anyone who might be slipping the notes into the lockers.

The case has been turned over to juvenile authorities, and the girl is thought to be the only student involved, Brotherton said.