Latest news with #MikaylaRaines
Daily Mail
14-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Harrowing new details in tragic death of YouTube star found dead by her husband
A devastating new update has come to light less than a month after YouTuber Mikayla Raines's suicide. According to the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office, Raines hanged herself in the barn on her property in Faribault, Minnesota. She was found dead on June 20 wearing a fleece onesie, a shirt, boxer briefs and socks. Her husband, Ethan Frankamp announced her death to her loyal followers on Instagram on June 24. He said that she'd long struggled with mental health issues, including depression, borderline personality disorder, and autism. Raines was reportedly cremated and a funeral was held in her honor on Saturday, July 12. The 30-year-old was on the receiving end of online harassment and bullying leading up to her death. In his statement, Frankamp said, 'She was so took everything negative to heart. 'For a few years a group of people had been throwing dirt on Mikayla's name,' he said. 'They consistently spread ridiculous claims and rumors and being the sensitive human that she was, Mikayla took it all to heart. And it hurt her.' Frankamp found Raines in the barn and performed CPR on her for fifteen minutes while he waited for help to arrive, but it was too late. He said that recently, she had come to a breaking point with all of the negativity she was facing online. 'She felt as if the entire world had turned against couldn't bear what she was feeling any longer and she ended her life.' Raines was known on YouTube and TikTok as a passionate animal advocate. She gained millions of followers after founding Save a Fox rescue where she cared for abandoned foxes and foxes bred for pelts on fur farms. Her rescue has locations in Minnesota and Florida. Her husband promised to keep them running in her absence. 'Every single animal here just lost their best friend,' he said. She also used her personal platform to educate her followers about autism and advocate for autistic adults like herself. Her TikTok page has over three million followers. Her husband described her as a loving mother to their daughter Freya, a devoted wife, and a 'light' for animals her entire life.
Daily Mail
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Heartbreaking final hours of beloved animal rescuer 'bullied to death'... as husband reveals her haunting last words
Beloved animal rescuer Mikayla Raines spent what would tragically prove to be her final evening alive looking forward to the future. The founder of Save A Fox Rescue, who had recently turned 30, sat down to dinner with her mother, brother, and three-year-old daughter in Lakeville, Minnesota. They shared shrimp cocktail, one of her favorite meals, and she opened a gift from her brother: a quirky hooded sweatshirt zipped all the way up.
Daily Mail
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Haunting final hours of animal rescue star... as her heartbroken husband reveals what he fears drove her to suicide
Beloved animal rescuer Mikayla Raines spent what would tragically prove to be her final evening alive looking forward to the future. The founder of Save A Fox Rescue, who had recently turned 30, sat down to dinner with her mother, brother, and three-year-old daughter in Lakeville, Minnesota. They shared shrimp cocktail, one of her favorite meals, and she opened a gift from her brother: a quirky hooded sweatshirt zipped all the way up.
New York Times
28-06-2025
- New York Times
Mikayla Raines, Who Rescued Foxes and Other Animals, Is Dead at 30
Mikayla Raines, who accumulated millions of followers on social media for her work in rescuing and championing foxes and other animals, died on June 20 at her home in Faribault, Minn. She was 30. Her husband, Ethan Frankcamp, said the cause of death was suicide. He said Ms. Mikayla had struggled with mental health issues and had experienced some bullying on social media. Ms. Raines grew up under the wing of her mother, who worked in wildlife rehabilitation. She founded Save a Fox Rescue, a nonprofit sanctuary dedicated to rescuing foxes born in captivity, in 2017. Her work had become so popular that she had 2.4 million followers on YouTube. She rehabbed foxes and found them adoptive homes. Many were from so-called fur farms, where animals are bred for their pelts and live in tiny wire cages, unable to move about freely or sometimes even to sit up. Other foxes she rescued were surrendered by owners who found it difficult to care for them. Still others were seized by authorities after having been kept illegally. Ms. Raines's organization rescued some 150 foxes from 'certain death,' she wrote in an undated post on the Save a Fox website. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CBS News
26-06-2025
- CBS News
Husband of Mikayla Raines says she struggled with online bullying before her death: "I do hope there's accountability"
Less than a week after Save A Fox rescue founder Mikayla Raines died by suicide, her husband, Ethan Frankamp, is speaking out and sharing his grief. "I'm going to be honest – I don't have any words to describe it. It's definitely been the hardest week of my life, for sure," Frankamp said. Frankamp says he discovered Raines Friday morning. Despite efforts to save her life with CPR, she died. Raines leaves behind a young daughter. "It's been really difficult trying to watch (our daughter) comprehend what's going on," Frankamp said. "Because she doesn't know. And I can't explain it to her. I don't have the words to explain it to her. Just trying to explain it to her that mommy's gone. Frankamp reiterated Thursday that Raines had struggled with online bullying, including from people close to her. He says that, paired with recent levels of increasing stress, could be overwhelming. "There's a bunch of different places where this just kind of all adds up," he said. "And even though she would always see so many positive comments on stuff she was doing, she took the negative ones very personally. The Rice County Sheriff's Office says the investigation into Raines' death is still open. Frankamp says he would hope to see some sort of accountability for the people commenting hatred online. "I do hope there's accountability. Not just from a legal aspect, or a criminal aspect, but just if the people that did this can have the time to self-reflect on what they've said and what they've done. And how just a simple comment online can be such a personal thing online to someone that's reading it," Frankamp said. Raines founded Save A Fox in Lakeville, Minnesota, in 2017, and was soon at odds with the city council for violating her permit by taking in more than twice the number of foxes allowed and by expanding the fencing on her property, according to city officials. "Ninety percent of the foxes that come through here are getting re-homed," she told WCCO in 2017. "I consider them my family." Despite her permit loss, she received $60,000 in donations in just three months, leading her to open a bigger operation near Faribault in Rice County. Mikayla Raines told WCCO she began caring for animals as a teenager, first taking in a fox when she was 19. "These foxes need a place to go, so I want to make that happen," she said in 2019. "And I'm going to do whatever it takes to do that." If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or suicidal crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255). For more information about mental health care resources and support, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email info@ contributed to this report.
