Family Mourns Texas Teen Electrocuted While Using Phone in Bathtub: 'She Had Such a Huge Heart,' Says Mom

Madison Coe's family said the teen likely died after grabbing her phone from a bathroom outlet

A 14-year-old Texas girl is dead after she was electrocuted while trying to use her cell phone as she took a bath on Sunday, the family says.

Madison Coe, of Lubbock, was at her father’s home in Lovington, New Mexico, over the weekend when she either plugged her phone into a bathroom outlet or grabbed the already-plugged-in device as she sat in the tub, her mother tells PEOPLE.

“[Her father] found her. He had knocked on the door to tell her it was time to get out [of the tub] and she said, ‘Okay,’ ” Coe’s mother, Angela O’Guinn-Downs, tells PEOPLE. “He went back 20 minutes later, she didn’t respond and he went in.”

O’Guinn-Downs says Coe’s father is an emergency medical technician and did everything he could to save his daughter.

Coe’s grandmother, Donna O’Guinn, told KCBD that officials found a burn mark on the teen.

“There was a burn mark on her hand, the hand that would have grabbed the phone,” O’Guinn said. “That was just very obvious that that’s what had happened.”

Coe had just graduated 8th grade from Terra Vista Middle School and was expected to attend high school in Houston, the family told KCBD. The teen was a basketball player and played tuba with the school’s band.

“She was such a bright, vibrant, very intelligent, loving, caring young lady,” O’Guinn-Downs says of her daughter. “She had such a huge heart. Always willing to help others.”

Family Members

A GoFundMe page has been created to cover funeral costs for the girl, with the creator noting that services are planned for Friday in Lovington.

Now, the family is working to share Coe’s story in hopes of preventing a similar situation from happening to anyone else.

“This is such a tragedy that doesn’t need to happen to anyone else,” O’Guinn told KCBD. “We want something good to come out of this as awareness of not using your cell phone in the bathroom as it is plugged in and charging.”