Author Topic: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide  (Read 3524 times)

Butterbean

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Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« on: November 20, 2007, 02:51:33 PM »



Mom: Web hoax led girl to kill herself
(from yahoo.com)
By BETSY TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 17, 5:46 AM ET
 


DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo. - Megan Meier thought she had made a new friend in cyberspace when a cute teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace and began exchanging messages with her.
 
Megan, a 13-year-old who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder, corresponded with Josh for more than a month before he abruptly ended their friendship, telling her he had heard she was cruel.

The next day Megan committed suicide. Her family learned later that Josh never actually existed; he was created by members of a neighborhood family that included a former friend of Megan's.

Now Megan's parents hope the people who made the fraudulent profile on the social networking Web site will be prosecuted, and they are seeking legal changes to safeguard children on the Internet.

The girl's mother, Tina Meier, said she doesn't think anyone involved intended for her daughter to kill herself.

"But when adults are involved and continue to screw with a 13-year-old, with or without mental problems, it is absolutely vile," she told the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis, which first reported on the case.

Tina Meier said law enforcement officials told her the case did not fit into any law. But sheriff's officials have not closed the case and pledged to consider new evidence if it emerges.

Megan Meier hanged herself in her bedroom on Oct. 16, 2006, and died the next day. She was described as a "bubbly, goofy" girl who loved spending time with her friends, watching movies and fishing with her dad.

Megan had been on medication, but had been upbeat before her death, her mother said, after striking up a relationship on MySpace with Josh Evans about six weeks before her death.

Josh told her he was born in Florida and had recently moved to the nearby community of O'Fallon. He said he was homeschooled, and didn't yet have a phone number in the area to give her.

Megan's parents said she received a message from him on Oct. 15 of last year, essentially saying he didn't want to be her friend anymore, that he had heard she wasn't nice to her friends.

The next day, as Megan's mother headed out the door to take another daughter to the orthodontist, she knew Megan was upset about Internet messages. She asked Megan to log off. Users on MySpace must be at least 14, though Megan was not when she opened her account. A MySpace spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.

Someone using Josh's account was sending cruel messages. Then, Megan called her mother, saying electronic bulletins were being posted about her, saying things like, "Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat."

Megan's mother, who monitored her daughter's online communications, returned home and said she was shocked at the vulgar language her own daughter was sending. She told her daughter how upset she was about it.

Megan ran upstairs, and her father, Ron, tried to tell her everything would be fine. About 20 minutes later, she was found in her bedroom. She died the next day.

Her father said he found a message the next day from Josh, which he said law enforcement authorities have not been able to retrieve. It told the girl she was a bad person and the world would be better without her, he has said.

Another parent, who learned of the MySpace account from her own daughter who had access to the Josh profile, told Megan's parents about the hoax in a counselor's office about six weeks after Megan died. That's when they learned Josh was imaginary, they said.

The woman who created the fake profile has not been charged with a crime. She allegedly told the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department she created Josh's profile because she wanted to gain Megan's confidence to know what Megan was saying about her own child online.

The mother from down the street told police that she, her daughter and another person all typed and monitored the communication between the fictitious boy and Megan.

A person who answered the door at the family's house told an Associated Press reporter on Friday afternoon that they had been advised not to comment.

Megan's parents had been storing a foosball table for the family that created the MySpace character. Six weeks after Megan's death, they learned the other family had created the profile and responded by destroying the foosball table, dumping it on the neighbors' driveway and encouraging them to move away.

Megan's parents are now separated and plan to divorce.

Aldermen in Dardenne Prairie, a community of about 7,000 residents about 35 miles from St. Louis, have proposed a new ordinance related to child endangerment and Internet harassment. It could come before city leaders on Wednesday.

"Is this enough?" Mayor Pam Fogarty said Friday. "No, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it's something, and you have to start somewhere."

R

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2007, 05:25:18 AM »
I read that.  How messed up is it that that woman made the account "so she could see what was being said about her daughter"?   It's like that woman who tried to hire someone to bump off her daughter's cheer leading rival.

 People are messed up.  I hope they find something to charge the bitch with.

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2007, 07:00:30 AM »

Aldermen in Dardenne Prairie, a community of about 7,000 residents about 35 miles from St. Louis, have proposed a new ordinance related to child endangerment and Internet harassment. It could come before city leaders on Wednesday.



Typical overreaction by politicians without thinking things through.  How exactly does a municipal government in Missouri expect to enforce this law on people on the internet, who could be in other states or in any country on Earth?  ::)   (not to mention whether such a law would be constitutional or not, the jurisdictional problems aside.)
Ron: "I am lazy."

Butterbean

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2007, 12:03:56 PM »
 It's like that woman who tried to hire someone to bump off her daughter's cheer leading rival.


That's what I thought about too.




Typical overreaction by politicians without thinking things through.  How exactly does a municipal government in Missouri expect to enforce this law on people on the internet, who could be in other states or in any country on Earth?  ::)   (not to mention whether such a law would be constitutional or not, the jurisdictional problems aside.)
It would be difficult from another country but not hard from down the street.  Maybe they're mostly concerned w/nutjobs like this "mother" who specifically target people they know in real life.
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youandme

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2007, 12:26:36 PM »
what a nut job, the mother that made the account should be charged with something.

JediKnight

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2007, 02:01:38 PM »
Oh who cares,,,that girl was probably a fat little nerd anyway. the kid had depression, I wonder why, she was fat and nerdy, people sholdnt be in trouble for funny pranks like that.

knny187

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #6 on: November 21, 2007, 02:18:04 PM »
I make gimmick accounts all the time....

just to email myself


 ;D


JOHN MATRIX

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #7 on: November 21, 2007, 02:42:11 PM »
talk about an owning! suicide is the ultimate meltdown!!!

24KT

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #8 on: November 22, 2007, 02:04:52 AM »
what a nut job, the mother that made the account should be charged with something.

I knew eventually there'd be something we agreed on.

I think it's horrible that a 37 yr. old adult, can knowingly prey on a child and get away with it. She in effect cyber stalked this child, ...it's no different than those jerks busted on 'To catch a predator' ...except with malice & forethought, she chose her target ahead of time. How any adult can justify posing as a minor online, with the intent of befriending & gaining the confidence of that minor, then manipulating them to such tragic ends is beyond me. And for the courts to say it's not illegal is just plain stupid. She should be charged with something, ...whether it be depraved indifference causing death, involuntary manslaughter etc., And to say she wouldn't have committed suicide if the girl wasn't already depressed and unstable is not good enough. Adults shouldn't be able to stalk children over the internet or otherwise and be allowed to get away with it, ...even if there is no sexual intent involved.
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youandme

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #9 on: November 22, 2007, 06:43:21 AM »
It's just that she was a minor, and she was a adult. It all else fails I'm more than sure a attorney could sue her for fraud in civil court and take her for everything her and her family has.

I'm sure once they did deep enough into the messages they will be able to come up with something, criminal. You cannot be an adult and "gain" the "trust" of a minor, and seek to "spy" on their behavior.

Deadpool

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #10 on: November 22, 2007, 07:54:38 AM »
how unstabe you have to be to suicide because of the internet  :-\
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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #11 on: November 22, 2007, 08:44:04 AM »
this happened right down the road from where i live, they're making a HUGE deal out of it and it's not, she'd have run into problems regardless of whether she was "harassed" on the internet or not.

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #12 on: November 22, 2007, 09:36:59 AM »
what a nut job, the mother that made the account should be charged with something.

With what, exactly?

Making up a fake internet persona is not against the law.

Neither is saying unkind things about someone or to someone...  we do still have first ammendment rights in the US.

About the only thing they might bootstrap together is if they knew the girl was suicidal, and were intentionally trying to get her to kill herself, a manslaughter charge might apply, but it would be damn tough to prove.  Merely "being mean to someone on the internet" wouldn't qualify.

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #13 on: November 22, 2007, 09:38:18 AM »
how unstabe you have to be to suicide because of the internet  :-\


Kill yourself, Medford!





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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #14 on: November 22, 2007, 09:41:09 AM »
I'm sure once they did deep enough into the messages they will be able to come up with something, criminal. You cannot be an adult and "gain" the "trust" of a minor, and seek to "spy" on their behavior.

Why not?


Unless there's a sexual component, such behavior doesn't violate any laws.
Ron: "I am lazy."

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #15 on: November 22, 2007, 10:00:49 AM »
Masquerading as a child and trying to "befriend" another child, and talking to her for a month can certainly be construed as pedophile behavior.  Take the bitch to court.  Maybe she will get labeled as a sex offender for the rest of her life.

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #16 on: November 22, 2007, 10:20:36 PM »
It's just that she was a minor, and she was a adult. It all else fails I'm more than sure a attorney could sue her for fraud in civil court and take her for everything her and her family has.

Apparently this case is complicated by the fact that the girl in question was too young to even have a myspace account in the first place. She got one only as a result of parental consent.

Quote
I'm sure once they did deep enough into the messages they will be able to come up with something, criminal. You cannot be an adult and "gain" the "trust" of a minor, and seek to "spy" on their behavior.

...unless it's your own kid.  :P
w

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #17 on: November 22, 2007, 10:26:45 PM »
Masquerading as a child and trying to "befriend" another child, and talking to her for a month can certainly be construed as pedophile behavior.  Take the bitch to court.  Maybe she will get labeled as a sex offender for the rest of her life.

{LOL} I don't know about sex offender, ...but certainly child abuser would be appropriate.

Up here, we had a case of a 34 yr old teacher in a Catholic highschool, sending sexually suggestive emails to her 16 yr old student. His parents found it, and now that teacher is behind bars, suspended from her job, charged with luring a minor online etc., etc., etc., ...and I don't think there was any physical activity between the 2. Posing as a guy, a minor, and sparking up an online romance has to be considered equally inappropriate. She had to know she was doing something wrong, ...why else would she feel the need to pose as a 16 yr old?
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JasonH

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #18 on: November 23, 2007, 12:26:59 PM »
How can a 13 year old girl have depression in the first place?

She hasn't fucking lived long enough to be depressed about anything. People today..... ::)

gtbro1

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #19 on: November 23, 2007, 06:47:13 PM »
 what the lady did was wrong...immature...but not criminal. Who knows who it was that sent the harrassing messages...maybe that was the lady's kid? it is a very sad thing but the girl had serious issues to hang herself over a boy she never met.

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #20 on: November 23, 2007, 11:35:49 PM »
How can a 13 year old girl have depression in the first place?

She hasn't fucking lived long enough to be depressed about anything. People today..... ::)
maybe she didnt get the jeans she wanted, real bad BigJ?

24KT

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #21 on: November 25, 2007, 07:40:47 AM »
what the lady did was wrong...immature...but not criminal. Who knows who it was that sent the harrassing messages...maybe that was the lady's kid? it is a very sad thing but the girl had serious issues to hang herself over a boy she never met.

It was wrong, immature, ...and criminal. She stalked a minor over the internet.
I believe she admitted to sending the harrassing messages.
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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #22 on: November 25, 2007, 09:23:26 AM »
It was wrong, immature, ...and criminal. She stalked a minor over the internet.
I believe she admitted to sending the harrassing messages.

And nobody knows more about sending harassing messages than Jag does.

haider

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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #23 on: November 27, 2007, 10:33:23 AM »
Should be criminally prosecuted IMO, no excuse to play with a depressed 13 yr old girls mind. I would stone the fvcking bitch.
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Re: Gimmick account contributes to girl's suicide
« Reply #24 on: November 29, 2007, 10:36:19 PM »
first of all, the girl's mother knew she had a myspace account and that she wasn't old enough to even be on that...That shit is on the mother....

second of all..The police can't find the other message's that said she was a slut ect...Because they don't exist...The father and mother are lying trying to build a case...

The worst that was said was that she is a bad person and is mean to her friends...Whoopdi fucking dooooo...

Their are 8 year old kids outside my apartment calling each other fat ass and ugly and your mother is a whore...

Whats interesting about the story is it says that the father said everything is going to be ok when she went up to her room....Yeah right buddy...I'll bet my car her parents are the ones who mentally abused the girl to begin with...The girl acts out against other kids and because so gets fucking depressed...

Why else do you think the family is splitting...They are trying to blame everyone else but its not working so now they are blaming the right people-----Each other...