Hey, all. I'm rarely here anymore these days, but I discovered this news late last night and it's been haunting me, and I'm trying to process this. I feel like if anyone is going to understand or recognize what's going on, you guys can.
It's about Megan Meier, a 13 year old, who committed suicide last year after a boy she met and was wooing her on MySpace, Josh Evans, suddenly turned on her and sent her vicious messages, along with other kids on-line. The story has resurfaced, and this time has gone national.
The last messages to Megan were sent via "bulletin", which means they are broadcast to everyone who's on their "friend's list", not just to one specified person.
Turns out that the boy was the
creation of
an adult, the mother of a girl who
used to be Megan's best friend. They had gone back and forth as friends, and when Megan was transferred to a new school, she ended it with this girl.
So this girl's mother creates this hoax, for the sole purpose, she said, to garner Megan's trust and find out what Megan was saying about her daughter and other friends.
Megan was being treated for depression, diagnosed as ADD and emotionally unstable ever since the 3rd grade when serious bullying started. She was taken out of her current school and started a new school that year. Getting this contact from Josh was a big self esteem booster for Megan and for the first time in ages, she was feeling better about herself.
But the boy was a hoax, and despite what the mother claims, the purpose was to humiliate Megan once she realized she was foolish enough to think a real boy was interested in her and that all her correspondences were being read by people laughing behind her back!
And this woman
and her husband were aware of Megan's emotional state. They, also, actively encouraged other kids in the neighborhood to participate in this hoax.
I don't know what chills my blood the most - the events I just described or the fact that
this woman and her family, attended Megan's funeral, consoled the Meier's and invited Megan's grieving family to attend her daughter's birthday after Megan's death. Plus, they had asked the Meier's to hold a Christmas present foosball table for them in the Meier's basement, which the Meier's graciously agreed to! How can you do that???
The Meier's didn't find out until six weeks after their daughter's death who Josh Evans really was, and that was because the mother of a daughter who had been recruited to participate by the offending parents, confessed to her mom and the mom came forward. She said when the ambulance was taking Megan away, the mother/Josh Evans called this girl and told her not to tell anyone about MySpace, because it could cause trouble.
I am so disturbed by this...

From what I've read there's been no expression of remorse, whatsoever...just one written statement that she's sorry for what the family is going through, but NOT one word about being sorry for the part she or her family played.
Here's some links to a few articles:
http://stcharlesjournal.stltoday.com/news/sj2tn20071110-1111stc_pokin_1.ii1.txthttp://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stcharles/story/77D27634D36233968625739800167159?OpenDocumenthttp://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/printedition/saturday/chi-suicidenov17,0,2946138.storyhttp://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3888606&page=1(abc news has a video clip next to article)
Here's a link to a CNN interview of Megan's parents.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/17/internet.suicide.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch#cnnSTCVideo(hit refresh or reload if video doesn't start right away...this can be hard to watch)
Cyberbullying is relational aggression taken on-line, but I think this goes way beyond that. It sounds like Megan fell victim to someone with a serious personality disorder who took Megan's rejection of her daughter personally. No boundaries, no empathy, no remorse.
I think that's why I'm freaking out so much about this story. I can literally feel the evil in this story.