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Kate Fagan:

ON THE MORNING of Jan. 17, 2014, Madison Holleran awoke in her dorm room at the University of Pennsylvania. She had spent the previous night watching the movie The Parent Trap with her good friend Ingrid Hung. Madison went to class. She took a test. She told a few friends she would meet them later that night at the dining hall. She went to the Penn bookstore and bought gifts for her family.

While she was there, her dad called. "Maddy, have you found a therapist down there yet?" he asked.

"No, but don't worry, Daddy, I'll find one," she told him.

But she had no intention of finding one. In fact, she was, at that exact moment, buying the items she would leave for her family at the top…