The Inside Story of One Tragic MySpace Suicide
Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:00AM EST
See Comments (40)
The story is so tragic it's actually difficult to read. Thirteen-year-old Megan Meier, victim of an orchestrated cyberbullying pile-on that left her dead, hanged by her own hand in her bedroom, unable to take the abuse any longer. But if you think you know how this one ends, read on.
Teen suicide is nothing new (it's one of the top causes of death for teens), but the online component certainly is, and it's growing. Meier's case, on the surface, has all the hallmarks of classic bullying. Overweight, depressed, and suffering from low self-esteem, she turned to the web, specifically MySpace, to make friends. There she met Josh, who flirted with her for weeks before abruptly cutting her off, sending her nasty notes about her being "mean" and "everybody hates you." Hours later, she had taken her own life.
Weeks later, Megan's parents would learn a horrifying truth: There was no "Josh." Josh was a creation of the parents of one of Megan's former friends, a girl with whom she'd had a falling out. That's right: A 13-year-old girl was bullied into taking her own life by grown-ups.
Ultimately no charges are likely to be filed over Megan's death, simply because there's no law broken for the adults to be charged with. The FBI investigated and was unable to recover all the messages Megan received, so the true level of provocation to suicide may never be known.
Meanwhile, the two families live on the same block. Megan's parents are divorcing. Life will never be the same for any of them. Welcome to MySpace.
No takeaways on this one aside from what you already know: Parents, keep tabs on your kids' online activities, and talk to them about the difference between knowing someone online and in real life. And whatever you do, don't believe anything you see on MySpace.
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27 Posted by rbl20 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:31PM EDT Report Abuse
boring
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28 Posted by gcuellar71 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:07PM EDT Report Abuse
BAN MYSPACE, IS EVIL!!! LIKE BILL GATES, MICROSOFT, APPLE AND GOOGLE!!!! LOL And yes this is boring and stupid those who take their own lives don't deserve it I know many persons whose live seem unliveable by american standards YET they live happy, you have too many CRYBABIES
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29 Posted by tcatranis on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:57PM EDT Report Abuse
Thirteen year old kids don't have the right to kill themselves no matter what the case. Well, maybe serious abuse & extremely unstable family life could validate the deed. Eventually everyone will be looking lacking, and depressed, so there is only one thing to do... Run off to Europe and work as an english teacher till you've made some money, then renovate and rent out apartments for outrageous prices to foreigners.
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30 Posted by jenncosmith on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:32PM EDT Report Abuse
Post number 5....RIDE ON! That is so the problem. I so agree.
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31 Posted by rlang777 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:43PM EDT Report Abuse
One Day we will all be held accountable for what we say... some are punished here for a shortcoming... if the Drews knew what might happen they never would have spoken in a weak moment... things cannot be taken back so each of us should try to respond to emotional things that happen and not react.. There are 2 sides to every story as the old saying goes.. and the Drews have to put up now with a lot of abuse from emails and now mails as their address is posted... I personally do not agree ever with saying things to offend as I do not want to be offended.
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32 Posted by senshi_of_vision on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:12PM EDT Report Abuse
Wow Im appalled by some of the comments stemmed from this serious story. I fully agree in monitoring a childs online habits, but then again this tragedy was inspired by the same people who were supposed to monitor their child. In fact that saddest part of this story it it was Grown Ups who allow and participated in this awful event that lead to a 13 year olds death. For the person who posted this story was boring, why read it then? why bother to comment at all? your intelligence really poured threw on that one. As for theyowman despite your pretty cool nickname, your message equally makes no sense to me since even with a "healthy" house hold as your saying they should have had, kids have been know to exhibit signs of depression especially when they are the targets of school bullying. The fact is schools need to have more outlets to cope with kids who have nothing better to do then harrass others. Parents truly need to be there for their kids to come to if this is happening as well. I just hope that the publicity this story is getting serves to open peoples eyes to this serious situation. Bullying isnt like it used to be, its no longer being followed in the hallways and threatened to be beat up. Now kids can harrass you online, on the phone and its sick and sad.
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33 Posted by kyr2989 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:55PM EDT Report Abuse
yawwn
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34 Posted by tt_bloom_15 on Sun Dec 9, 2007 9:14AM EST Report Abuse
this is so stupid because they didn't say the notes she wrote back to see how it happened. But don't Ban Myspace it's fun. Also dat grl Megan should've thought dat's y god gave her a brain. STUPID B!
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35 Posted by jovelbaring on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:41PM EDT Report Abuse
omg.....boring???? i dont think a girl hanging herself is boring..iits pretty scary..
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36 Posted by nysleon on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:42PM EDT Report Abuse
dont blame myspace. its not myspace its the ignorant kids for being so stupid XD and taking stuff over myspace so presonally its jus the net get over it.
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37 Posted by nysleon on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:42PM EDT Report Abuse
lol at post num. 30 :]
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38 Posted by brownjames20 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:14PM EDT Report Abuse
Ha haa..I think the only thing better then parents who are literate in the ways of myspace, is the fact that the girl gets so offended she kills herself. Out of the gene pool with you!
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39 Posted by mason.dennis on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:10PM EDT Report Abuse
they make a little debbie dispenser?!?!
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40 Posted by ldfalcons12 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:58PM EDT Report Abuse
oh wow. it's not boring. people should do something about this. myspace should like...be more secure! aaaaand...check the comments b4 they r posted!!!
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26 Posted by w_hfuller on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:51PM EDT Report Abuse
who's really responsible for her suicide? sounds like it's the same old debate: are vehicle manufacturer's to blame when a drunk diver kills a family? does making firearms mean you're blame for a shooting? is it the company that the young lady's computer that pushed her toward suicide? she wouldn't be dead had it not been for that computer in the first place. it's a problem within a problem within a problem. why not go after the company that makes propellant for ammunition factories? why not go after the company that made the labeling machines for seagrams? why not go after itunes? she was probably listening to her favorite "i want to kill myself today. darn that josh" song at the time. interesting the paren't divorce gives credit to this tragedy. who the fk raises a child that wants to kill themselves over myspace comments. I say keep myspace out of this. there are 200,000,000+ people on my space. that means there are plenty who want to die from time to time but don't end their own life. another kudos to the fine human beings that spawed and reared emo swingset playtime patty. how much did you get for releasing your daughter's name to the press? she was 13.