Adult neighbors harass thirteen year old via MySpace into committing suicide

[OCD]

As the mother of a 12 year old daughter I just have to say this is a very good reminder of why myspace is a no go in our house. (Or any other "social" internet based outlet.

Children do not need to be plugged in to machines to keep in touch with friends. Of course my kid is also going to be the weirdo with no cell phone and a mother that refuses to participate in mother daughter slut games.

These people need to be tried and fried, it's sick completely sick.

[lurkur]

Reading through the longer article carefully, there is still something 'off' about the mom and I still believe she cannot place all the blame on the phoney Josh thing.

"Megan had a lifelong struggle with weight and self-esteem," Tina says. "And now she finally had a boy who she thought really thought she was pretty."

When you believe that your daughter, whether or not she has mental issues and a history of suicide attempts, is "finally" achieving something because a boy is interested in her, that's pretty scary. Not to mention that the mother is admitting that her TWELVE YEAR OLD had a LIFELONG struggle with weight and self-esteem? If someone has a lifelong self-esteem problem, you can't go and blame their suicide solely to a profile on the internet, no matter who is on the other end.

It did seem odd, Tina says, that Josh never asked for Megan's phone number. And when Megan asked for his, she says, Josh said he didn't have a cell and his mother did not yet have a landline.

This was another WTF for me. The mom is "surprised" that her daughter unsuccessfully tried to swap phone numbers with someone her daughter met online? Under what circumstances would any of us here think it would be ok for your daughter to be calling someone they met on the internet, someone you had never met, someone who you could not confirm the identity of?

It's a sad story, tragic, but those assholes who created the Josh account, as foul as they were, are not solely responsible for the girl's suicide.

[greysfang]

Originally Posted by Mira

In the internet stalking thread I created, I mentioned that the legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said that prosecutors are wary of pursuing these types of cases because it isn't a clearcut enough case for cause of suicide.

It will probably replay on CNN all weekend, so watch for it if you're interested (Soledad O'Brien's broadcast).

Someone plase watch it and report back. Soledad is way too annoying for me to listen that long.

[BoogsBun]

Originally Posted by msdebagain

man i saw this on mydeathspace.com
it made me ill.

Yeah...as soon as I read your reply, I trotted on over to MDS. One of the posts on the thread about this said that the mom that pretended to be the boy orginally felt bad, but when she found out the girl was suicidal (or attempted suicide before, can't rightly remember), she changed her tune to "not my fault".

I hope myspace is long gone by the time my kids are older.

[Mariesoleil]

They should be charged. At least they've been outed on the internet now.

[Sm0kah0ntas]

Omg! I Can't Believe This!!!!??! Wtf Do She Mean, Once She Found Out At The Child's Funeral That She Attempted Suicide Before, She Didn't Feel As Bad???? Omg!! I Just Can't... I Fukkin Can't. I Know They Are Divorced Now, The Dad Is Blaming The Mother For That Final Day. Your Depressed Daughter Is "extremely Distraught" After Being The "most Happiest She's Ever Been" And You Want To Chastize Her?!? Yes She Blames Herself. And Those Neighbors.. I Know People Say What They "would Have Done Had It Been Them" But I Can Honestly Say That I Would Be Sitting In Jail Right Now Reminding Family And Friends To Send Me Cartons Of Cigarettes And Magazines For My 20 Year Term For Manslaughter. I Have To Respect That Child's Parents Composure. Here I Am Sittin' Over Here Reading This Barely Able To See The Screen Because Of The Tears, And The Story Kept Getting Worse And Worse As I Read On. The Father Never Seen Her In The Dress They Picked Out For Her Birthday Until Her Funeral??? Omg!! This Has My Stomache Hurting And My Heart Heavy. Oh Gosh. I Just Can't Take This Sad Sad Sad Shit. Damn!!! And That Other Mother... O God... I Just Want 10 Minutes Wit' That Bitch... Just 10 Minutes!!!! Omg Damn.. It's Too Much On My Mind I Just Gotta Get Outta This Thread. Omg

[sputnik]

Must You Capitalise Every Word? It's Really Annoying. Not To Mention, It Must Be Annoying To Type Like That All The Time.

[MrsDark]

No kidding. When I first started to see kids doing that kind of typing I thought there had to be some new trendy special program that did it...capitalized the first letter of every word...cause what a pain in the ass to deliberately type that way! And Forget About Any Job Where You Have To Be Able To Type A Certain Number Of Wpm!

About this girl...am I the only one who found it a tad annoying that the mom's first reaction was to lambast her daughter for using "vulgar language" in her fireback remarks? I feel for the parents but, bitch please. Your fragile and clinically-depressed-to-the-point-of-meds daughter just had her little world shattered. Can you think of something else to say before you have your clueless mamma freakout over your innocent little baby using cuss words? You can always have a sit-down (to tell her "how shocked and disappointed...yadayadayada" you were) over that one later when she's more stable. People kill me.

[travelbug]

There's a legal term called intentional infliction of emotional distress, and I think it applies here.

Intentional infliction of emotional distress - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[McJag]

Originally Posted by hotncmom

There's a legal term called intentional infliction of emotional distress, and I think it applies here.

Intentional infliction of emotional distress - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You are so right! This sounds like it would do to prosecute.

[travelbug]

^^Unfortunately, it's just a tort law claim. In criminal law, maybe there are some harassment charges that can be filed? I hope they charge them with something.

[january]

Well, considering that the mom admitted in the police report that the talks between Megan and "Josh" turned sexual in nature later (so the mom could use it against her, calling her a "slut") - I would think there would be some kind of legal ramifications for engaging in sexual talk with a minor. This is just so awful, there are no words.

[MrsDark]

Oooh, that's a good one too. These folks need to be reading our board. We have great legal minds here.

[Mira]

Originally Posted by greysfang

Someone plase watch it and report back. Soledad is way too annoying for me to listen that long.

I know what you mean especially since something seriously wrong happened to her hair She had on Drew Pinksky that psychologist who's pretty good given the fact that he's only given 60 seconds at most to say his piece. Jeffrey Toobin was the one who pointed out the legal analysis and the reasons why this hasn't gone forward, and may not.

Sometimes CNN puts these clips online, you could try that if you're truly interested. Though CNN usually runs these things ad infinitum on the weekends - especially a story like this when families are somewhat more likely to hear it and make it a topic of discussion.

[KrisNine]

WTF is wrong with a parent who does something like that?? She could have "monitored" what was being said about her daughter without going that far. I'm not familiar with the case that you're talking about, Mira...but it sounds horrible.

There was something in the paper last week about a kid who was cyber-bullied and he committed suicide and the fucking shits that bullied him posted nasty messages on his memorial page about him.