Suicide due to MySpace bullying - Murder??

The_Minister

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/us/28hoax.html?ei=5088&en=a29f1c615f59038a&ex=1353906000&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1196334436-XS0okqdBzm3fC04DmTqbCA

A Hoax Turned Fatal Draws Anger but No Charges
Sign In to E-Mail or Save This
Print
Reprints
Share
Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Newsvine
Permalink


By CHRISTOPHER MAAG
Published: November 28, 2007
DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo., Nov. 21 — Megan Meier died believing that somewhere in this world lived a boy named Josh Evans who hated her. He was 16, owned a pet snake, and she thought he was the cutest boyfriend she ever had.

Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image

Peter Newcomb for The New York Times
Tina and Ron Meier with a photo of their daughter Megan, 13, who killed herself last year after an online romance ended.
Josh contacted Megan through her page on MySpace.com, the social networking Web site, said Megan’s mother, Tina Meier. They flirted for weeks, but only online — Josh said his family had no phone. On Oct. 15, 2006, Josh suddenly turned mean. He called Megan names, and later they traded insults for an hour.

The next day, in his final message, said Megan’s father, Ron Meier, Josh wrote, “The world would be a better place without you.”

Sobbing, Megan ran into her bedroom closet. Her mother found her there, hanging from a belt. She was 13.

Six weeks after Megan’s death, her parents learned that Josh Evans never existed. He was an online character created by Lori Drew, then 47, who lived four houses down the street in this rapidly growing community 35 miles northwest of St. Louis.

That an adult would plot such a cruel hoax against a 13-year-old girl has drawn outraged phone calls, e-mail messages and blog posts from around the world. Many people expressed anger because St. Charles County officials did not charge Ms. Drew with a crime.

But a St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman, Lt. Craig McGuire, said that what Ms. Drew did “might’ve been rude, it might’ve been immature, but it wasn’t illegal.”

In response to the events, the local Board of Aldermen on Wednesday unanimously passed a measure making Internet harassment a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $500 fine and 90 days in jail.

“Give me a break; that’s nothing,” Mayor Pam Fogarty said of the penalties. “But it’s the most we could do. People are saying to me, ‘Let’s go burn down their house.’”

St. Charles County’s prosecuting attorney, Jack Banas, said he was reviewing the case to determine whether anyone could be charged with a crime. State Representative Doug Funderburk, whose district includes Dardenne Prairie, said he was looking into the feasibility of introducing legislation to tighten restrictions against online harassment and fraud.

In seventh grade, Megan Meier had tried desperately to join the popular crowd at Fort Zumwalt West Middle School, only to be teased about her weight, her mother said. At the beginning of eighth grade last year, she transferred to Immaculate Conception, a nearby Catholic school. Within three months, Ms. Meier said, her daughter had a new group of friends, lost 20 pounds and joined the volleyball team.

At one time, Lori Drew’s daughter and Megan had been “joined at the hip,” said Megan’s great-aunt Vicki Dunn. But the two drifted apart, and when Megan changed schools she told the other girl that she no longer wanted to be friends, Ms. Meier said.

In a report filed with the Sheriff’s Department, Lori Drew said she created the MySpace profile of “Josh Evans” to win Megan’s trust and learn how Megan felt about her daughter. Reached at home, Lori’s husband, Curt Drew, said only that the family had no comment.

Because Ms. Drew had taken Megan on family vacations, she knew the girl had been prescribed antidepression medication, Ms. Meier said. She also knew that Megan had a MySpace page.

Ms. Drew had told a girl across the street about the hoax, said the girl’s mother, who requested anonymity to protect her daughter, a minor.

“Lori laughed about it,” the mother said, adding that Ms. Drew and Ms. Drew’s daughter “said they were going to mess with Megan.”

After a month of innocent flirtation between Megan and Josh, Ms. Meier said, Megan suddenly received a message from him saying, “I don’t like the way you treat your friends, and I don’t know if I want to be friends with you.”

They argued online. The next day other youngsters who had linked to Josh’s MySpace profile joined the increasingly bitter exchange and began sending profanity-laden messages to Megan, who retreated to her bedroom. No more than 15 minutes had passed, Ms. Meier recalled, when she suddenly felt something was terribly wrong. She rushed to the bedroom and found her daughter’s body hanging in the closet.

As paramedics worked to revive Megan, the neighbor who insisted on anonymity said, Lori Drew called the neighbor’s daughter and told her to “keep her mouth shut” about the MySpace page.

Six weeks later, at a meeting with the Meiers, mediated by grief counselors, the neighbor told them that “Josh” was a hoax. The Drews were not present.

“I just sat there in shock,” Mr. Meier said.

Shortly before Megan’s death, the Meiers had agreed to store a foosball table the Drews had bought as a Christmas surprise for their children. When the Meiers learned about the MySpace hoax, they attacked the table with a sledgehammer and an ax, Ms. Meier said, and threw the pieces onto the Drews’ driveway.

“I felt like such a fool,” Mr. Meier said. “I’m supposed to protect my family, and here I allowed these people to inject themselves into our lives.”

The police learned about the hoax when Ms. Drew filed a complaint about the damage to the foosball table. In the report, she stated that she felt the hoax “contributed to Megan’s suicide, but she did not feel ‘as guilty’ because at the funeral she found out Megan had tried to commit suicide before.”

Megan had mentioned suicide several times, her mother said, but had never attempted it, and no one who knew her, including her doctors, felt she was suicidal.

On the advice of F.B.I. agents who did not want the Drews to learn of their investigation of the hoax, Ms. Meier said, her family said nothing publicly about the case for a year. Today, the Meier and the Drew families continue to live four houses from one another on a winding suburban street.

“There are no words to explain my rage,” Ms. Meier said. “These people were supposed to be our friends.”

Is it murder? Does this woman deserve some punishment?
Can you imagine still living beside her?

Lux23

That is sick. She needs to be instituionalised at least, what 47 year old woman bullies a 13 year old like that. Weird.

Blisterman

Bit of a sick thing to do, but it's hardly illegal, let alone murder.

zuutroy

****ing mentle

No, but funnily enough, had it been a man, he would've been charged as a pedophile probably.

Binomate

Definatly an hero.

OctavarIan

It would have just seemed like harmless fun from their end. If they knew Megan was suicidal I'm sure they wouldn't have done it.

Lux23

OctavarIan wrote: »

It would have just seemed like harmless fun from their end. If they knew Megan was suicidal I'm sure they wouldn't have done it.

Well they knew she was prescribed medication and that she was sensitive. This is the kind of thing that happens when Parents get involved in their kid's silly little fights. Some people just never grow up.

leninbenjamin

Deleted User wrote: »

No, but funnily enough, had it been a man, he would've been charged as a pedophile probably.

yeah, soliciting a minor through the internet or something along those lines. shower of pricks that family.

Kazu

old news

RxQueen

Binomate wrote: »

Definatly an hero.

who

Spud83

Deleted User wrote: »

No, but funnily enough, had it been a man, he would've been charged as a pedophile probably.

Yeah. Cant they charge her with "grooming" the child?

The_Minister

Kazu wrote: »

old news

It was only published Nov 28th 2007. Unless you can see the future........

Kazu

i read about it online a week ago

smarty pants

Goldenquick

That's awful and the woman that created profile of “Josh Evans” dosen't even feel guilty because the 13 year old child had tried to commit suicide before!! She is a dangerous person imo with no conscience.

biko

Suicide due to MySpace bullying - Murder??
Not in my opinion.

Although she should be done for obstruction of justice: "As paramedics worked to revive Megan, the neighbour who insisted on anonymity said, Lori Drew called the neighbour daughter and told her to “keep her mouth shut” about the MySpace page.

Six weeks later, at a meeting with the Meiers, mediated by grief counsellors, the neighbour told them that “Josh” was a hoax. The Drews were not present."

leninbenjamin

The_Minister wrote: »

It was only published Nov 28th 2007. Unless you can see the future........

you can't see the future? then good sir its for people like yourself that the following forum has been proposed

in the future when this has been created people will have no excuse for not knowing tomorrows news. all you need is a microwave, a toaster (preferably a four slot one), some led lights and a third generation flux capacitor.

The_Minister

Kazu wrote: »

i read about it online a week ago
Where did you read it? According to the article the couple only spoke out recently enough, and it hasn't been discussed on boards yet, so it hasn't started smelling yet.

uptheKazu wrote:

smarty pants

Personal Abuse!!!111!!!eleven!!;)

andyl222

Thats a really messed up story, fookin hell. The 47 year old woman should probably have an enforced psychiatric evaluation, and could be charged with grooming a child online (due to the flirting etc etc), as was previously stated if it was a man he'd be sentenced already as a paedophile. I think that there could be a case for criminal negligence that lead to the death of a minor, considering she was aware of the childs previous mental health issues and proceeded to bully and manipulate her etc.

Kazu

lol


19 nov btw

http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,22783456-5014108,00.html

projectmayhem

she was just trying to make herself taller

po0k

Myspace should be shut down.

Nothing to do with this case, it's just an eyesore.

ScumLord

The kids obviously had problems to go that far just because of what someone said but surely something could be done to punish yerone. Would she get off scotfree if it was done in the real world? If I was the parent of that child and I knew they where just four doors down and they wouldn't face any charges I would have kicked the living **** out of them.

humbert

If the boy had existed and they had fallen out the girl would probably have reacted the same way. You couldn't really hold the boy guilty of a crime. There's something wrong with a 13 year old that considers suicide like that without the parents noticing.

I do think the womans acts were abhorrent but I could only see them being illegal if there was a sexual component.

MOH

The_Minister wrote: »

Kazu wrote: »

i read about it online a week ago
Where did you read it? According to the article the couple only spoke out recently enough, and it hasn't been discussed on boards yet, so it hasn't started smelling yet.

I read it at least a week ago too. In a few places, cos I've seen different versions of it. Can't remember where though.

It's tragic, but it's hardly murder. Impression I got from the other versions was the woman's kid had been upset by the way their friendship had ended, which prompted her to pose as this Josh character. I don't think she was going out of her way to drive her to suicide.
Silly and stupid, now her family is being subjected to abuse and death threats.
Calling it murder is a bit daft.

thelordofcheese

Binomate wrote: »

Definatly an hero.

emo!! wrote: »

who

Warning: NSFW

An hero

RxQueen

thelordofcheese wrote: »

Warning: NSFW

An hero

the link is blocked in work.. oh well ill just keep pondering !!:rolleyes:

i still think is totally wrong what the woman did it people like her getting away with things like this that makes bulling acceptable, then again a child that young shouldnt have a myspace account .

humanji

humbert wrote: »

If the boy had existed and they had fallen out the girl would probably have reacted the same way. You couldn't really hold the boy guilty of a crime. There's something wrong with a 13 year old that considers suicide like that without the parents noticing.

But that would be a completely different scenario then. The woman specifically went out to mislead the girl, whereas, if the guy was real, he would of just been a gimp.

I don't think the woman did anything illegal but from this part:

The police learned about the hoax when Ms. Drew filed a complaint about the damage to the foosball table.

You can tell that she has mental issues. To know that you're responsible for the kids death and then file a complaint against the family is just sick.