[brassplayersrock²]

A Hoax Turned Fatal Draws Anger but No Charges

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.

how screwed up can a person get? Since a 47 year old mom did this kind of thing, shouldn't she be put into prison?

and to say this kind of crap: " ... she did not feel ‘as guilty’ because at the funeral she found out Megan had tried to commit suicide before.”
She needs to be put into prison.

[besson3c]

Why do people care about these sort of stupid stories?

People do stupid and depressing things all of the damn time, why get worked up over this sort of stuff? Mark my words, there is something going on right as you read this that would break your heart, why think about it?

Cody Dawg used to do this all the time - post threads on various tragedies in humanity almost obsessively (that and celebrity related stuff). She was awesome in every way, but I never really understood this draw.

Then again, there are many draws I don't understand.

[brassplayersrock²]

[Laminar]

Uh oh, dissension among the ranks?

[starman]

So where were the parents this whole time?

Call the person mean or whatever (she was), but Jesus F'n Christ, the parents don't keep tabs on their kid while she's on the net?

[Dakarʒ]

So Cody Dawg is brassplayersrock²?

Also, if this forum had $1 for everything besson didn't understand, it'd have a huge IPO.

[shifuimam]

It's definitely harassment...hopefully it can get charged as such.

The parents should have kept closer tabs on Megan's internet usage...but at the same time anyone here knows how hard it is to monitor your kid's net presence 24/7.

That mother - Lori Drew - is a horrible person though. For a 47-year-old mother to act like such a child is inexcusable. It's ridiculous how immature some adults continue to be late in their lives.

Really bad photo of the parents, BTW. The mom looks kind of scary in that shot.

[brassplayersrock²]

she looks pissed off (so does the dad). I'd be as well if this happened to a child of mine.

[Mastrap]

Originally Posted by starman 

So where were the parents this whole time?

Call the person mean or whatever (she was), but Jesus F'n Christ, the parents don't keep tabs on their kid while she's on the net?

The parents kept close watch of what their daughter was doing. She got duped by adults posing as a child.

[Laminar]

At the beginning of eighth grade last year, she transferred to Immaculate Conception, a nearby Catholic school.

Out of all of the things to name your school...

[Nodnarb]

Whatever happened to Cody Dawg by the way, I forgot about her until this thread.

[starman]

Originally Posted by Nodnarb 

Whatever happened to Cody Dawg by the way, I forgot about her until this thread.

I think we all had enough of her and wdlove's "how are you today?" bullsh*t and we voted them off NN.

[brassplayersrock²]

she's around here in disguise. and no i am not cody dawg. I just wanted to share this story since it's so screwed up what the parent did, and it annoyed me.

edit: not cool starman

[starman]

What's not cool? That we got annoyed to the point where the mods had to step in?

[brassplayersrock²]

I don't know the entire history of what happened. so ignore my post. one of those knee jerk responses people have sometimes. sorry about that.

[starman]

The history is this:

wdlove and cody would constantly throw these +1-type "hi, how are you?" posts at each other all mother f'n day. It got annoying. VERY annoying. The mods thought it was annoying.

In the middle of a thread you'd get:

"hi, cody, how are you today? Can't wait to talk to you about <whatever>".

Next post:

"hi wdlove. I'm fine. I can't wait either. You're such a good friend".

Next post
next post
next post
next post

on and on and on.

[Big Mac]

The woman should be charged with some sort of malicious act and made to stand trial if the evidence is clear that the posts made the girl commit suicide. I was going to say that the poor girl must not have been too smart to be so harmed by something she saw online, but then I considered that even normal teens can be very fragile emotionally.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Dakarʒ 

So Cody Dawg is brassplayersrock²?

Also, if this forum had $1 for everything besson didn't understand, it'd have a huge IPO.

That's quite true. These forums are quite adept at making me feel quite dumb in not understanding many things.

[brassplayersrock²]

the girl was also on anti-depressants. For the lady to use that information against the girl is very very cruel to say the least.

If you could choose what happens to the lady. what would you want to happen to her??

"hi starman. Thanks for the info! I can't wait until our next online conversation "

[starman]

^^

But to answer the question, she should go to prison for something.

[besson3c]

(this combination of emoticon always reminds me of these aforementioned interactions

[BlueSky]

They always remind me of a radiation-poisoning victim.

[brassplayersrock²]

a life sentence needs to be given to the lady. or at least whatever the punishment for secondary manslaughter is these days; or a court order for her to have to wear a sign around her neck visible to all for the rest of her life that says what she did, and what happened because of it.

[CollinG3G4]

Originally Posted by brassplayersrock² 

A Hoax Turned Fatal Draws Anger but No Charges


She needs to be put into prison.

Save it for Nancy Grace, Suzann.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Prison? For what? She teased a young teenager.

Mean? Yeah. Idiotic? Yeah. Downright pitifully juvenile? Of course. But Criminal? That would seem to be stretching it big-time to me.

Where's your rationale behind thinking she should be guilty of manslaughter? What if, for example, the girl had been teased and spiraled into depression...would the neighbour be guilty? What if nothing at all had happened – would the neighbour be guilty of "harassment" then – posing as someone else on teh intarweb? What if Megan had then gone out, got her Dad's gun, and killed her classmates? Is the neighbour guilty or liable then?

greg

[Shaddim]

It's possible, that if this to one of my children (I have none) there would be a few new, deep graves in a very secluded part of the Smoky Mountains.

Just possibly, mind you.

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

Prison? For what? She teased a young teenager.

Mean? Yeah. Idiotic? Yeah. Downright pitifully juvenile? Of course. But Criminal? That would seem to be stretching it big-time to me.

Where's your rationale behind thinking she should be guilty of manslaughter? What if, for example, the girl had been teased and spiraled into depression...would the neighbour be guilty? What if nothing at all had happened – would the neighbour be guilty of "harassment" then – posing as someone else on teh intarweb? What if Megan had then gone out, got her Dad's gun, and killed her classmates? Is the neighbour guilty or liable then?

greg

Knowing someone is susceptible to such things, and pushing them until they break is beyond simple harassment. They did this in a fashion to cause a breakdown, and it was quite premeditated. If I knew someone was allergic to a certain food, and consciously tried to feed it to them, even going do far as to mask it in other foods, I would be responsible for their death.

"Hey, this kid is allergic to peanuts, let's grind up some peanuts and put them in a batch of brownies and see if we can make him suffer!"

[ShortcutToMoncton]

How did they know the girl was susceptible to suicide?

greg

EDIT: Your example is also flawed. Giving brownies containing nuts to someone you know is allergic to nuts, could be classified as murder. That's a world away from "making someone feel bad" – you aren't doing anything criminal to them (AFAIK).

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

How did they know the girl was susceptible to suicide?

greg

They knew she was being treated for severe depression, they even helped administer her meds while on vacation.

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

How did they know the girl was susceptible to suicide?

greg

EDIT: Your example is also flawed. Giving brownies containing nuts to someone you know is allergic to nuts, could be classified as murder. That's a world away from "making someone feel bad" – you aren't doing anything criminal to them (AFAIK).

From the article:

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.

They knew she was fragile, they knew she had severe psychological problems, and they knew she would react badly to being tormented. Pushing a person like this, in such a malicious way, is murder, or at the very least voluntary manslaughter.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

They knew she took antidepressants. I know lots of girls who've taken antidepressants – hell I've dated a couple, and they were normal as could be as far as I could tell. I think doctors give the things out like candy nowadays.

Because a teenager takes antidepressants doesn't make them inherently "susceptible to suicide" AFAIK. It also doesn't make it a criminal matter to tease someone who is taking antidepressants, unless you have some evidence to the contrary?

greg

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

They knew she took antidepressants. I know lots of girls who've taken antidepressants – hell I've dated a couple, and they were normal as could be as far as I could tell. I think doctors give the things out like candy nowadays.

Because a teenager takes antidepressants doesn't make them inherently "susceptible to suicide" AFAIK. It also doesn't make it a criminal matter to tease someone who is taking antidepressants, unless you have some evidence to the contrary?

greg

They did it to cause her pain, knowing she was weak. That's plenty of evidence for me.

Hell, this is creepy and devious enough to make a Stephen King novel.

[Shaddim]

Let's see, she had a weight problem, she was on anti-depressants, she had changed schools, and due to her weight she probably hadn't received as much attention from boys as other girls she knew. The attention she was getting from this fictitious boyfriend was probably all that was holding this kid together after all that turmoil.

This neighbor's daughter had been her best friend, and she knew how to manipulate her in the most excruciating way. I'm sorry man, that's just plain evil.

[Oisín]

They knew she took antidepressants. I know lots of girls who've taken antidepressants

You know lots of 13 year old girls who take prescription antidepressants? I certainly don’t.

However you look at it, creating a false identity (even if only online) and wilfully becoming intimate with a person you know to be in a fragile or unstable mental condition with the sole purpose of suddenly turning around and using every intimate detail you know about this person to turn friends against her and make it seem like everybody is ganging up on her—that goes way beyond my definition of ‘teasing’, especially when the victim is 13 and the perpetrator is 47. Teasing is when you put a whoopie cushion on somebody’s chair; this was harassment.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

I'm sorry man, that's just plain evil.

Evil? Yes.
Manslaughter? No.
Harassment at most.

The legal line has to be drawn somewhere. If the evil peeps were prosecuted for manslaughter in this case, then the line would be way too far over towards the "no free speech whatsoever" mark - everyone would be walking on eggshells all the time. Sad but true.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Evil? Yes.
Manslaughter? No.
Harassment at most.

The legal line has to be drawn somewhere. If the evil peeps were prosecuted for manslaughter in this case, then the line would be way too far over towards the "no free speech whatsoever" mark - everyone would be walking on eggshells all the time. Sad but true.

I don’t know how US law is on this, but over here, it’s unlawful to act under a false identity if the intent is to hurt or cause damage to another person, and I don’t see why that should be any different just because it’s on the Internet.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

I don’t know how US law is on this, but over here, it’s unlawful to act under a false identity if the intent is to hurt or cause damage to another person, and I don’t see why that should be any different just because it’s on the Internet.

Yeah, it'd be harassment here in the UK. Up to six months in the slammer. The false identity part of it would have no bearing at all (it'd get the perp kicked off their ISP though).

[- - e r i k - -]

Your sig is harassment.

[Shaddim]

What you got against boobies? Boobies are a part of what's clean and good in the world.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

Your sig is harassment.

Your telling me that my sig is harassment is harassment.

See how easily these things can get out of control when the line isn't clearly marked?

[- - e r i k - -]

Are you promising eternal life to Ron Paul voters?

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

Are you promising eternal life to Ron Paul voters?

No. I'm punning on a well-known phrase. Now stop harassing me!

[Chuckit]

Eh, it's not manslaughter. It's harassment, not an actual attempt at violence. In my non-lawyerly opinion, though, the family definitely has a good shot in a wrongful death suit. Take the woman's house.

(And yes, I know I could be spending my time on more important topics like how much Apple needs more X11 software on its platform, but what can I say?)

[ghporter]

The two adults who drove that poor girl to kill herself (knowing full well that she was very vulnerable), should not be charged with any crime-there isn't anything on the books in their jurisdiction that covers this. No, they should be free, and live long, healthy lives. And think about Megan and what they did to her every single minute of those long lives.

[red rocket]

↑

Yeah, that'll teach them.

[Dakarʒ]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

What you got against boobies? Boobies are a part of what's clean and good in the world.

Just ask the FCC.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by red rocket 

↑

Yeah, that'll teach them.

I'm hoping it'll make them suffer. Which would indeed teach them that they did something horrible.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

Why do people care about these sort of stupid stories?

Some people are interested in the nature or actions of other humans.

People do stupid and depressing things all of the damn time, why get worked up over this sort of stuff?

I am not sure getting worked up is the word. Being surprised and shocked that someone is possible to such a thing and not care or think of the consequences is actually a normal response. I think it's healthy as a society to KEEP responding to these types of actions in such a way. If we just trivialize it and "just accept" it , it starts becoming seen as normal behavior. OR at least more acceptable behavior.

Cody Dawg used to do this all the time - post threads on various tragedies in humanity almost obsessively (that and celebrity related stuff). She was awesome in every way, but I never really understood this draw.

It's called compassion. Some people have it. Some don't have it as much I guess.

Originally Posted by starman 

I think we all had enough of her and wdlove's "how are you today?" bullsh*t and we voted them off NN.

CodyDawg took a break to give birth to her baby. She still posts here. WDlove left however, because of comments like that above among other things that wont be mentioned. Neither of them were doing anything wrong. Yet certain people were so hateful to them. I'm afraid that says more about them then it does WD or Cody. Which BTW are great people.

[red rocket]

Originally Posted by ghporter

I'm hoping it'll make them suffer. Which would indeed teach them that they did something horrible.

That's pretty naïve, in my opinion. Arseholes don't usually get all regretful and heartbroken over their actions.

[Mastrap]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

And think about Megan and what they did to her every single minute of those long lives.

As it Glen, as if. People who do **** like this usually have something missing. Some part of their humanity just never developed, or it wasn't nurtured. Or, in extreme cases, it was destroyed.