Student Bleed To Death In Her Dorm Room After Having Secret Still Birth

19 Years Old Ayaanah Gibson

A student at a small Christian college in South Carolina bled to death after she gave birth to a stillborn baby in secret in her dorm room and didn't seek medical attention, it was has been revealed.

Ayaanah Gibson, 19, a freshman from Sacramento, California, died alone in her room at Benedict College following labor late Saturday or early Sunday.

County Coroner Gary Watts said Gibson's tragic death could have almost certainly been prevented if she had gone to a hospital after delivering the stillborn fetus, which she had carried for 30 to 32 weeks.

The State newspaper reports that the campus of Benedict College, in downtown Columbia, South Carolina, is less than a mile and a half from three of the biggest hospitals in the state.

Gibson had come to the small, historically-black Baptist college last month and was majoring in chemistry.

On her Facebook page, she expressed homesickness just a few days after moving to campus.

'I miss California. South Carolina is something else I tell you,' she wrote.

Based on the coroner's estimates of the age of the fetus, it appears that Gibson was pregnant before she graduated high school.

The college, which has 2,500 students, offers free access to a health center that provides, among other services, gynecological care.

The coroner said it did not appear that she sought medical care for her pregnancy at any point.

Watts said it appears that Gibson spontaneously went into labor and that she had not planned the delivery.

She was found dead in her room on Sunday.

'The Benedict College family is deeply saddened this evening about the unexpected loss of one of its students. Please join the Benedict College family in praying for our fallen Tiger and her family,' the college said in a statement.

Students gathered on campus for a vigil on Tuesday