Posted on 11/21/2007 9:26:06 AM PST by Between the Lines
An Internet hoax that apparently led to the suicide of a teenage girl has stoked outrage online, divided the suburb where the girl lived and prompted calls to reform online harassment laws.
About a year ago, 13-year-old Megan Meier hanged herself inside her parents' home in Dardenne Prairie, Ill. The apparent cause, her parents have said, was the sudden decline of her online relationship with a 16-year-old boy they thought was named Josh Evans.
But, soon after their daughter's death, Tina and Ron Meier discovered that there was no Josh Evans. They say the boy who pretended to be Megan's friend and then sent her nasty messages was the creation of an adult neighbor.
Though police and prosecutors have investigated, a year later, no criminal charges have been filed against the woman who allegedly created the online profile, and it's unclear whether any will be brought.
But that hasn't stopped an outpouring of hostility against her, both online and in the real world. The story hit the national media late last week, with Megan's parents appearing on "Good Morning America" and the "Today" show. Though the newspapers and networks declined to identify the real-life "Josh Evans," bloggers quickly outed her and posted her family's name, address and phone number online.
Since then, messages threatening the family have been posted online. A brick was thrown through their window. Someone drove a truck over their front lawn, according to police. A paint-ball was shot against the house.
The woman, who also has a young daughter, has received threatening phone calls; people have screamed obscenities as they drive by the house, a neighbor said. Police descended on the house in the middle of the night last week, neighbors said, after an apparent fake 911 call was made.
Police are concerned that the harassment, first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, may escalate.
"We believe that all the publicity about this situation has led to an air of vigilantism," said Lt. Craig McGuire of the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department. "We're concerned people will take things into their own hands."
Megan, who sometimes suffered from low self-esteem and depression, was elated when she got an e-mail on the social networking site MySpace from a cute boy named "Josh Evans," her parents said. Josh claimed to be a 16-year-old boy who lived nearby. He said he was home-schooled and didn't yet have a phone.
The two developed a virtual friendship that lasted more than a month before things inexplicably took a downward turn. "Megan gets an e-mail, or a message from Josh on her MySpace on Oct. 15, 2006, saying, 'I don't know if I want to be friends with you any longer because I hear you're not nice to your friends,'" Tina Meier said on "GMA."
Insulting messages calling Megan "fat" and a "slut" were being posted, according to The Associated Press.
Tina Meier discovered her daughter's body in a bedroom closet the next day. She had hanged herself.
Six weeks after Megan's death, a neighbor told the Meiers that there was no Josh Evans. He was a fictitious creation of woman whose daughter knew Megan and lived down the street.
The Meiers knew the woman who allegedly created the profile. Her family had asked the Meiers whether they could store their foosball table. The woman attended Megan's funeral, according to the AP.
Once they learned of the family's involvement, the Meiers allegedly destroyed the table, placed it in the woman's yard and encouraged the family to move, according to the AP.
The Meiers said they don't think the woman wanted Megan to commit suicide. But they still hold her responsible for their daughter's death.
"I believe they are the ones who took her to the edge of the cliff and forced her to go over," Ron Meier said. "Everything that we found out so far — it was the sole idea of the mother."
No charges have been filed in the case and the local prosecutor has said it appears no laws were broken. McGuire said the sheriff's department and local and federal prosecutors investigated the case and concluded that they could not file criminal charges.
But, it appears that the Josh Evans profile and messages could have violated a federal cyberstalking law, which prevents people from sending abusive or threatening messages, said Perry Aftab, a cyberlaw expert. Aftab, who runs WiredSafety, which helps victims of so-called cyberabuse, said this was one of the few instances she could recall of adults harassing children online.
The involvement of an adult set Megan's story apart from traditional cyberbullying, she said. "This is particularly heinous," she added.
Some neighbors of the family accused of setting up the profile agreed.
"I do think it's criminal, and I think they should be held responsible for it," said Terri Hutchinson.
With the publicity, county prosecutor Jack Banas has said he will re-examine the case. Wednesday, the local town council will propose an ordinance that will criminalize this kind of online harassment, making it a misdemeanor, said Pam Fogarty, the mayor of Dardenne Prairie.
"It's not much, but at least it's something," Fogarty said of the proposed ordinance. "I think it's absolutely horrible that an adult can do this to a child, much less the mother of a friend and there is nothing to charge her with."
You never know how unstable a person you are posting to may be.
“I don’t see how you can make that particular prediction about not making it through highschool based on whats available publicly. Millions of others have, many with much worse problems than this girl.”
Exactly. Those millions didn’t kill themselves the first time somebody called them names.
“I disagree with your first assertion, and no way you can convince me this wasn’t not only ‘harrassment’ but also ‘stalking’.”
No way. You can’t invite someone in your home and complain that they are harassing or stalking you. Having that user on her friend’s list is an invite. The fact remains that she could have easily blocked all correspondence from the user if she had wanted to.
“A child, age 14, being approached under false pretense by an adult is what this is all about. Not the child, nor the child’s actions.”
Where is the proof of that? It is my understanding is that it was the adult’s idea but the daughter did the messaging. You have any proof that an adult approached this child? If so, how many messages would constitute harassment? One? It appears the kid made NO attempts to break off correspondence so I’m having trouble seeing how that is stalking OR harassment.
Look, the kid was sick. She obviously had SERIOUS mental and emotional problems if some person she knew online for a month was cause enough for her to kill herself.
Goodby telephone too. That is also criminal.
The kid was a kid. With all that entails.
The adults that did this to her are the problem. That you don’t see this clearly is mindboggling to me.
A little girl is dead today, and you choose to defend the actions of the ADULTS in this matter?
Wow.
Lets not continue this discussion, okay? It won’t end well for either of us.
“The world would be a better place without you.”
They pushed her over the edge. Just as the government military pushed David Koresh over the edge.
Cops don’t dare a man with a gun to his head to pull the trigger. They wait for him to point the gun at them and then carry out his wishes.
They are however more dangerous because of their increase in knowledge but still trapped in their juvenile mindset. Also their adult guise tricks people into thinking they are indeed matured so they can be even more insidious.
There’s a “reasonable” person standard. A reasonable person wouldn’t expect a single hurtful accusation to send someone over the edge. A reasonable person would expect that what was done to this girl in these circumstances had a significant chance of causing serious harm.
The dead girl’s parents had the password for her account and would not let her log on without them granting the access.
It is currently against federal law to post annoying Web messages or send annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.
http://www.news.com/Create-an-e-annoyance,-go-to-jail/2010-1028_3-6022491.html
Exactly!
And these people knew her and KNEW how fragile she was. They were neighbors, pseudo friends to her parents. Again, they KNEW her. She wasn’t a stranger. They did it to ‘help’ their daughter spy on a girl she was, what, jealous of?
Heck, even I know that all I have to do to bring one of my 17 year old students to tears is to say something negative about them to their faces. The hormones, chemical and physical changes make this an extremely volital time for even the mentally healthiest of children. Yeah, they need to ‘toughen up’ to a degree, but kindness on my part only makes me better and doesn’t harm them.
So I have no pity for the scum who hurt this girl.
Thanks for the info!
More likely the anointed at ABC think all flyover country is the same.
And with a poor self-esteem, here is someone out of the blue who thinks you’re neat! Special! Wonderful! When you are at your most awkward, self-conscious, “the whole world is looking at me and laughing” age. I can nearly feel how happy and special she must have felt at first. Probably that's why her parents were OK with it....they saw the positive effects.
Then all of a sudden, this person turns on you. Heck, if I wanted to kill a depressed child, I couldn’t come up with a better formula.
It was a teenage boy that was invited in, not an adult intent of harassment.
What happens when narcissism is taken to an extreme. Call me a simpleton, but I believe that Evil exists in the world.
There is no point in explaining or trying to understand. IMO one must simply protect oneself and loved ones, physically and spirtually, from people who have succumb to pure evil.
They “knew” nothing of the sort. That’s my point about MySpace and 13-year-old girls.
Children shouldn’t be allowed to use the internet.
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