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Reforms urged after MySpace hoax's
victim kills herself
By Betsy Taylor
Associated Press
Tina Meier, left, and her husband,
Ron, look at the grave marker of
their daughter, Megan, who killed
herself. (Roy Sykes, Suburban
Journals, Lee News Service) |
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DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo. — Megan Meier thought she
had made a new friend in cyberspace when a cute
teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace
and began exchanging messages with her.
Megan, a 13-year-old who suffered from
depression and attention deficit disorder,
corresponded with Josh for more than a month
before he abruptly ended their friendship,
telling her he had heard she was cruel.
The next day Megan committed suicide. Her
family learned later that Josh never actually
existed; he was created by members of a
neighborhood family that included a former
friend of Megan's.
Now Megan's parents hope the people who made
the fraudulent profile on the social networking
Web site will be prosecuted, and they are
seeking legal changes to safeguard children on
the Internet.
The girl's mother, Tina Meier, said she doesn't
think anyone involved intended for her daughter
to kill herself.
``But when adults are involved and continue to
screw with a 13-year-old, with or without
mental problems, it is absolutely vile,'' she
told the Suburban Journals of Greater St.
Louis, which first reported on the case.
Tina Meier said law enforcement officials told
her the case did not fit into any law. But
sheriff's officials have not closed the case
and pledged to consider new evidence if it
emerges.
Megan Meier hanged herself in her bedroom on
Oct. 16, 2006, and died the next day. She was
described as a ``bubbly, goofy'' girl who loved
spending time with her friends, watching movies
and fishing with her dad.
Megan had been on medication, but had been
upbeat before her death, her mother said, after
striking up a relationship on MySpace with Josh
Evans about six weeks before her death.
Josh told her he was born in Florida and had
recently moved to the nearby community of
O'Fallon. He said he was homeschooled, and
didn't yet have a phone number in the area to
give her.
Megan's parents said she received a message
from him on Oct. 15 of last year, essentially
saying he didn't want to be her friend anymore,
that he had heard she wasn't nice to her
friends.
The next day, as Megan's mother headed out the
door to take another daughter to the
orthodontist, she knew Megan was upset about
Internet messages. She asked Megan to log off.
Users on MySpace must be at least 14, though
Megan was not when she opened her account. A
MySpace spokeswoman did not return calls
seeking comment.
Someone using Josh's account was sending cruel
messages. Then, Megan called her mother, saying
electronic bulletins were being posted about
her, saying things like, ``Megan Meier is a
slut. Megan Meier is fat.''
Megan's mother, who monitored her daughter's
online communications, returned home and said
she was shocked at the vulgar language her own
daughter was sending. She told her daughter how
upset she was about it.
Megan ran upstairs, and her father, Ron, tried
to tell her everything would be fine. About 20
minutes later, she was found in her bedroom.
She died the next day.
Her father said he found a message the next day
from Josh, which he said law enforcement
authorities have not been able to retrieve. It
told the girl she was a bad person and the
world would be better without her, he has
said.
Another parent, who learned of the MySpace
account from her own daughter who had access to
the Josh profile, told Megan's parents about
the hoax in a counselor's office about six
weeks after Megan died. That's when they
learned Josh was imaginary, they said.
The woman who created the fake profile has not
been charged with a crime. She allegedly told
the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department she
created Josh's profile because she wanted to
gain Megan's confidence to know what Megan was
saying about her own child online.
The mother from down the street told police
that she, her daughter and another person all
typed and monitored the communication between
the fictitious boy and Megan.
A person who answered the door at the family's
house told an Associated Press reporter on
Friday afternoon that they had been advised not
to comment.
Megan's parents had been storing a foosball
table for the family that created the MySpace
character. Six weeks after Megan's death, they
learned the other family had created the
profile and responded by destroying the
foosball table, dumping it on the neighbors'
driveway and encouraging them to move away.
Megan's parents are now separated and plan to
divorce.
Aldermen in Dardenne Prairie, a community of
about 7,000 residents about 35 miles from St.
Louis, have proposed a new ordinance related to
child endangerment and Internet harassment. It
could come before city leaders on
Wednesday.
``Is this enough?'' Mayor Pam Fogarty said
Friday. ``No, not by any stretch of the
imagination, but it's something, and you have
to start somewhere.''
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