The family of a 16-year-old Bloomington girl who died last week is struggling to understand what could have happened to her.
Bloomington Police said Thursday they are investigating the death of Mariah Kletz as a homicide.
Police have said little about how Mariah may have died, only that it was an isolated incident and that there is no threat to the public. Kletz, a student at Normal West high school, died Feb. 7 after emergency responders were called to a mobile home on Canada Lane in southwest Bloomington for a reported cardiac arrest.
Richie Kletz, Mariah's uncle, recalled she was like a tomboy who loved animals and the outdoors, including hunting and fishing.
"She did everything that a boy would do. She would even touch the fish," he told WGLT, adding that Mariah was always happy.
“She enjoyed life very much and this whole thing has really got to us because we don’t understand how this all happened,” he said, adding his niece’s death has been especially rough on his brother, Mariah's father.
“I just feel so bad for him. I feel terrible. The pain that I feel, I can only imagine what he’s feeling right now. ... This really shocks us all.”
Kletz said Mariah moved back to Bloomington nearly a year ago after living in Florida with a relative for a few years. Her mother died in 2021.
Her family remembers Mariah as a loving and caring person. Sara Kletz said her niece Mariah was her "forever best friend."
“She was someone I loved in that deep, protective way that doesn’t even have a name, the kind of love where you don’t just care about someone, but you carry them and she was always there will me,” she said.
Sara Kletz said she wants to remember Mariah for her “uplifting joy” and the ability to put joy in other people’s lives. “She always knew exactly what to say and how to make me laugh,” she said.
Her niece’s death has been especially hard to process without knowing how she died.
“My heart is still refusing to understand what has happened,” she said.
Richard Kletz set up a GoFundMe to cover burial expenses. A celebration of life is planned for 4-8 p.m. Friday at the White Oak Community Room in Bloomington.
