MySpace Hoax Leads To Megan Meier Suicide

December 3, 2007 by Morbid  

UPDATE 5/15/08 – A federal grand jury indicted Lori Drew today in connection with the suicide of Megan Meier. If she is convicted of all charges, Lori Drew could get up to 20 years in prison. Details at the bottom of this article. – imp

You are probably gonna hear more about this incident, as it seems to have everything the media loves. Death, Myspace and teenagers.

In a nutshell, a cute guy named Josh Evans had taken an interest in 13-year-old Megan Meier and contacted her via her Myspace page. Megan was a girl who had battled depression and struggled with her weight for the majority of her life. But after striking a friendship with Josh, a relationship that Megan’s mother was aware of and approved of, her disposition had changed. She was happy, more confident, was losing weight and excited about having her braces removed and her approaching birthday.

Then, Josh started posting mean things about Megan and making them public for everyone to see. One of the last messages, allegedly, was that the world would be a better place without her and that everyone hated her. On the day of that message, Megan went to her room and hung herself, three weeks before her birthday. While that is a story in itself, it actually gets a bit worse.

Six weeks after her death, the parents of Megan were notified that Josh was not even a real person. He was a fabrication created by a neighbor down the block, an adult woman whose own daughter had once been Megan’s friend. This woman knew of Megan’s depression, and was friends with the family. The woman has stated that she created the account to check to see what Megan was saying, if anything, about her daughter. The woman, her daughter and an 18-year-old monitored the Josh Evans account.

You can read the all the details, even though they are from one side of the story, here:

ttp://stcharlesjournal.stltoday.com/news/sj2tn20071110-1111stc_pokin_1.ii1.txt

I am curious as to what our readers think. Should the adult who created the fake account share in any of the blame? Or should on-line bullying remain a crime that goes unpunished?

Update – 12-03-2007

No criminal charges will be filed. St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas announced at a news conference that there wasn’t enough evidence to press criminal charges in connection with the death of Megan Meier, 13.

Feel free to comment on this article, or discuss the topic in the forums.

UPDATE 5/15/08 – A federal grand jury in Los Angeles has indicted Lori Drew today in connection with Megan Meier’s suicide. Drew has been charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization in order to obtain information to inflict emotional distress. If Drew is convicted of all charges, she could face up to twenty years in prison.