I wrote an article last year about a girl named Megan who committed suicide after a boy named Josh on MySpace told her that the world would be better off without her. The tragic element of that tale is that there was never a boy named Josh – it was always a fake person, invented by a friend of Megan’s and Lori Drew, that girl’s mother.
The two of them together gained Megan’s confidence on MySpace, and then proceeded to toss insults at her, eventually leading directly to Megan wrapping some rope around her neck and hanging herself to death. Despite a previous jury ruling that Lori Drew was guilty, today a judge reversed the decision, and passed a full acquittal.
There’s lots I could say right now, but I really don’t have the heart. Maybe in the legal world Lori Drew deserves to be acquitted, but that doesn’t change the fact that a 13 year old girl is now dead. She’ll never get to attend her high-school prom, or to kiss another boy. She’ll never graduate from college, and she’ll never know the absolute delight of getting those braces off.
The world sure isn’t fair sometimes.
Photo from KTLA.com
I completely agree with you, Duane. My heart breaks thinking about this. I worry about my nieces, who are on Facebook. I worry about all the people (myself included) who have, at some point, been the target of cyber-bullying. My thoughts and prayers are with the Meier family (and may her tormentor never find peace in her life).
That doesn’t seem right. Aquited? Ugh
They said (in the article) they wanted her to have 3 yrs, but the PO are wanting probation with a fine of only $5,000?
The fact that a mother would cyber-bully someone is just juvenile. I guess some people just never grow up?
The fact that the girl’s MOTHER, a grown woman, was involved with creating an imaginary person online and using that persona to taunt a CHILD is so incredibly wrong that I don’t have the words for it.
More wrong on top of of a big steaming pile of error. This is a stink. Ridiculous.
I have to admit, I haven’t heard about this before. That’s really sad.
They’ve now set a precedence for thing kind of thing and people are going to think cyber bullying (or any kind of bullying) is okay. Let alone that it results in suicide. Ugh.