Megan Meier, 13, Commits Suicide - Cruel MySpace Hoax by Adults

[Red]

If you have not read or heard about the story of 13 year old Megan Meier, you really need to. Megan Meier committed suicide after she was harassed by what she thought was a friend she met on the internet that was her own age. It turned out to be adults that lived right down the block.

You have to read this to believe it.

http://scaredmonkeys.com/2007/11/17/internet-cruel-intentions-13-year-old-megan-meier-commits-suicide-after-cruel-sick-myspace-hoax-josh-evans/

What evil lurks in the minds and hearts of cowards that would hind behind their key boards and do such things?

In thuis case then end result was a 13 year old hanging herself.

[MuffyBee]

Red ~  I read this story and saw that it appears no current laws on the books have been broken.  There were ADULTS in on this.  These folks need to be held accountable for their behaviors and actions.  Megan Meier might have had problems but what these people did to her greatly contributed to her suicide, imo.  Megan's poor parents  . 

[pdh3]

I saw this story, and I was incensed. I wonder if the parents could pursue it in a civil case.

[Red]

Red ~  I read this story and saw that it appears no current laws on the books have been broken.  There were ADULTS in on this.  These folks need to be held accountable for their behaviors and actions.  Megan Meier might have had problems but what these people did to her greatly contributed to her suicide, imo.  Megan's poor parents  . 

I can't imagine that the people in this community would not run these people out of town on a rail. Actually, I would think that they would just voluntarily leave as it would be impossible to live in a town where everyone knew what you did.

These people if not punished here ... certainly have a day of judgement coming and they will burn in hell.

[MuffyBee]

Red ~  I read this story and saw that it appears no current laws on the books have been broken.  There were ADULTS in on this.  These folks need to be held accountable for their behaviors and actions.  Megan Meier might have had problems but what these people did to her greatly contributed to her suicide, imo.  Megan's poor parents  . 

I can't imagine that the people in this community would not run these people out of town on a rail. Actually, I would think that they would just voluntarily leave as it would be impossible to live in a town where everyone knew what you did.

These people if not punished here ... certainly have a day of judgement coming and they will burn in hell.

Red ~  I rewrote my post a number of times I was so angry after reading what happened to Megan and about those rotten people that were so cruel to her.   And you know what?  I had written " I wonder what the people in this town think of what happened to Megan.  Are the townspeople  just going along, acting like it's just another day in the life  because it wasn't them or their daughter that it happened to?   Maybe they are just sort of shaking their heads and just tsking?   Man, oh man.  The people of the city could begin by shunning those that were so cruel.  I couldn't for the life of me smile and shake hands with people like that.  I would refuse to do business with them-period.   So sue me.  What if EVERYONE in town got together and gave them the treatment.  They gonna sue everyone?  And for what?   I wouldn't want people like that around my family or pets.  Evil.  No conscience.  As you said Red "run these people out of town on a rail"... 

[MuffyBee]

Red ~  I read this story and saw that it appears no current laws on the books have been broken.  There were ADULTS in on this.  These folks need to be held accountable for their behaviors and actions.  Megan Meier might have had problems but what these people did to her greatly contributed to her suicide, imo.  Megan's poor parents  . 

I can't imagine that the people in this community would not run these people out of town on a rail. Actually, I would think that they would just voluntarily leave as it would be impossible to live in a town where everyone knew what you did.

These people if not punished here ... certainly have a day of judgement coming and they will burn in hell.

Red ~  I don't think those rotten people will leave town.  I don't think they have even said they were sorry or tried to atone.  Why should they leave town?  Is anyone shunning them?  Giving them THE treatment?  I wondered about that.  I had written and rewritten several posts and deleted because I was so incensed over what was done to Megan.  I wonder how the townspeople are reacting?  Is it just another day, since it wasn't their daughter or their problem?  Or are they do they have some back bone and will stand up and tell those people enough is enough.  Start by shunning them.  Refuse to wait on them or do business with them.  I wouldn't be friendly to them and I surely wouldn't be of any help or service to them. And so sue me. The community should stand by Megan and her parents.  I wouldn't want those rotten people around my family or pets, that's for sure.  Are the townspeople afraid?  If they banded together to send a strong message, it would be the right thing to do.  Churches could show their support for the family by giving sermons on what happened to Megan.  Business and townspeople could put up signs and posters with Megan's name on them, and when every time and every where the rotten people turn around they will see her name and have to THINK.  Maybe a ribbon campaign?

[kissyface]

Muffy, those are great ideas.  Especially the ribbon campaign.  This story really ticks me off.  And then the comments I have read where people say that it isn't the adults' fault.  Well, maybe she took her own life but what they did added that extra push.  Sick and sad. 

[pdh3]

How can anyone say that the behavior of the adults involved did not add to that poor child's emotional burden? That is completely ludicrous.
That old saying about " why kick a man when he's down" would certainly have applied here.
I just cannot imagine being that cruel and heartless to anyone, let alone a troubled and fragile child.

What is this country becoming, when people can do things like this, and show no remorse, or accept no responsibility? And then the laws provide no punishment for them? There should be a National Shunning for the adults involved in pushing that poor little girl over the edge.

[Nut44x4]

Parents of MySpace hoax victim seek justice

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21882976/

‘No apologies’ over teen who hanged herself over failed romance, kin say.
By Mike Celizic
TODAYShow.com contributor
updated 3:03 p.m. ET, Mon., Nov. 19, 2007

The parents of a 13-year-old Missouri girl who hanged herself after a failed MySpace romance — later uncovered as a hoax — say they have yet to receive an apology from the family they blame for their daughter’s death.

“They’ve absolutely offered no apologies,” Ron Meier told TODAY co-host Matt Lauer on Monday. “They sent us a letter in the mail, basically saying that they might feel a little bit of responsibility, but they don’t feel no guilt or remorse or anything for what they did.”

Rather, said Tina Meier, the people are upset with her for going public with their story. Last week, while shopping, she ran into the woman who invented the hoax, Tina Meier said.


CONTINUED on the link...pages 1-3

[MuffyBee]

   
Anguish for mother of suicide girl as 'cyber-tormentor' escapes the law


As neighbours mourn, the family of a teenager who took her life after online hoax pledges a legal battle

Caroline Davies
Sunday November 25, 2007
The *******

Police rarely need to patrol the small suburban town of Dardenne Prairie, Missouri. Its affluent residents are mainly law-abiding professionals whose children play safely behind the picket fences of smart houses in upmarket roads. 'Small and quaint' is how it describes itself.

But last night the St Charles County Sheriff's Department was on alert. Feelings are running high in this tight-knit community. And the focus was on one home in Waterford Crystal Drive and a planned candlelit vigil outside by parents and children with placards reading 'Justice for Megan'. 'It's all we can do,' says Tina Meier. 'It's for Megan.'


Megan Meier was Tina's daughter. She was vulnerable, a little overweight, suffered from depression and she was only 13. About a year ago she persuaded her parents to let her have an account on the social networking site MySpace. And on it she met Josh Evans, 16 and handsome, who told her she was 'beautiful'.

Six weeks later she was dead - found by her distraught parents hanging from a beam in her bedroom closet. After weeks of kind compliments, Josh had suddenly turned. He'd called her 'mean' and said he'd heard she was nasty to her friends.

Others then joined in the online onslaught, saying she was 'fat' and a 'whore'. For Megan, who, says her mother, had been regularly bullied and 'had been striving for years for a boy to like her,' the rejection was too much.

But Josh never existed. He was made up. And, in another cruel twist made public for the first time last week, he was apparently the creation of the mother of one of Megan's friends who lived four doors away in Waterford Crystal Drive.

What is more, despite both police and FBI investigations, Megan's embittered parents have been told that Lori Drew, 48, the woman they accuse of causing the death of their 'goofy, bouncy and beautiful daughter,' faces no charges. Cyberspace, it seems, has outpaced the law.

'We've been told there is no law to 'fit'. That is why this vigil is so important,' Tina, a real estate agent told The *******. 'I cannot do anything to bring her back. But what I can do is press for change. And I get comfort from the fact that a tightening of the law will be Megan's legacy and protect other children from this ever happening again.'

The allegation, according to Tina and Megan's father Ron, and also contained in a report filed by the St Charles County Sheriff's Department, is that Drew perpertrated this heartless online hoax to win Megan's confidence and establish if she was badmouthing her own daughter, Sarah, now 15.

For a year the Meiers kept quiet on their attorney's advice. Last week they broke their silence for the first time. Prosecutors say the case is complicated, and there is no way of proving why this young girl took her life, though they may re-examine if there is new evidence.

But the allegation, and lack of action, has bewildered and enraged America. Virtual vigilantism has taken over. Irate bloggers have posted details of Drew and her husband Curt, 51, on the internet identifying their home and telephone number and details of their jobs, his as a manager in a local factory, hers as an ad saleswoman.

The couple, now bombarded with hate mail and reportedly receiving death threats, have remained silent on legal advice.

Now Dardenne Prairie is turning on them. They are shunned by neighbours. They have had a brick through their window and been subjected to a paintball attack and false 911 calls. Last week the town's board of aldermen unanimously passed a law making cyber-harassment a misdeamenour with a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and/or a $500 fine.

'It's not much,' admitted Mayor Pam Fogarty, who hugged a tearful Tina Meier after the vote; her own daughter went to the same school as Megan and she was due to join the candlelit vigil. 'But it's a start. We intend to press for changes to the state and federal laws.'

Tina, now in the process of divorcing Ron, concedes Lori Drew may not have thought of the consequences of her actions. But, she says, Megan had had a 'typical teenager' on-off-on-again friendship with her own daughter, had regularly slept over at their house and accompanied them on family outings. Drew knew of Megan's emotional problems, for which she was receiving counselling and medication.

'She might as well have held a gun to her head. She thought it was funny, she thought it was a game. I just want them behind bars,' Tina said. 'She was an adult and she preyed on and stalked a child, posing as a 16-year-old boy. She messed with her. She screwed with her mind. She lifted her up and then crushed her right back down.'

'I hear she's receiving death threats and that she's been besieged in their home. But I don't feel one ounce sorry for her for the repercussions in any shape or form. I intend to fight to the bitter end to see her prosecuted.'
http://*******.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2216603,00.html

[MuffyBee]

Prosecutor: No Criminal Charges in MySpace Suicide

Monday, December 03, 2007
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,314620,00.html
 Missouri prosecutors will not file criminal charges in connection with the suicide of a teen who had been dumped by a fictitious boy on MySpace, officials announced Monday.

St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas announced at a news conference that there wasn't enough evidence to press criminal charges in connection with the death of Megan Meier, 13.

Meier of Dardenne Prairie, Mo., committed suicide last year after being dumped by "Josh," a boy created under the direction of Lori Drew, the mother of one of Megan's former friends, who wanted to know what the girl was saying about her daughter online.

"Their purpose was never to cause her emotional harassment that we can prove," Banas said. "There's a difference between what people think or what we may believe the reason was that they created this, it's what we can prove and what a jury would believe."

Banas said statements from the neighbor and two teens who participated in the fictitious account couldn't meet criminal standards for the state's statutes on harassment, stalking or endangering the welfare of a child.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation lead the investigation after the U.S. Attorney's Office was contacted by the Meier family, Banas said.

Meier's parents have contended her suicide was the result of the neighbor's MySpace harassment.

"There's no dispute that Mrs. Drew was aware of the creation of this MySpace," Banas said. "It was done by a young person that was in the employ of her — an 18-year-old girl along with her younger daughter — and the sole purpose by all parties that were involved in this was has been to find out what Megan was saying about this 13-year-old daughter of Mrs. Drew."

Megan's mother, Tina Meier, said last month she didn'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," Tina Meier 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.

"You have a lot of facts that have gone out across this country that are a misstatement of facts, of things that occurred that actually didn't occur — some being true, some not being true," Banas said.

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 hanging out 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.

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 the world would be better without her, he has said.

"Mr. and Mrs. Drew deny that they knew anything about the final message that went out," Banas said. "You're never going to prove one way or the other."

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.

Drew 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.

A police report said Drew and her 18-year-old employee fabricated a profile for a teenage boy online who pretended to be interested in Megan before he began bullying her. The police report indicates others gained access to the profile, and it is not clear who was sending Meier messages just before her death.

Banas said based on additional interviews, the fake MySpace page was not created by Drew. He said the page was created by the 18-year-old employee, though the mother and her 13-year-old daughter knew about the page. He said he was unable to speak directly with the 18-year-old, whom he said has been hospitalized for psychiatric treatment.

Dardenne Prairie, a bedroom community of St. Louis, adopted a law making Internet harassment a crime after Meier's death.

Dardenne Prairie's assistant city attorney, John Young, said that harassment and stalking already are illegal, but the town's new law expands the definition to include electronic media.

Banas said there were aspects of current state law that needed to be addressed.

"There are some loopholes that probably do need to be cleaned up," he said. "The harassment statute says nothing about the Internet, although it's picked up in the stalking. But stalking requires repeated conversations.

"The other problem is, is it doesn't address a particular scenario where somebody else owns the computer such as a parent and is allowing or knowingly allows a child to send a message that ... it's intention is to cause emotional stress on another teenager or another person period," he said.

Naomi Harlin Goodno, an assistant professor at Pepperdine University School of Law in California, thinks the Dardenne Prairie measure looks comprehensive and well thought out.

Her overview of U.S. cyberstalking law, published in the Winter 2007 Missouri Law Review, was used by lawyers who drafted the new measure, Young said.

She found that as of January, that six states — Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Washington — have state laws specifically dealing with cyberstalking. Four others — Florida, Nevada, Delaware and Virginia — have amended their laws to address aspects of cyberstalking.

[Dihannah1]

Lorie Drew's Response - Mother speaks out on Blog 

http://meganhaditcoming.blogspot.com/2007/12/im-lori-drew.html
I am copying contents in case it is taken down for any reason. There have been many negative comments left 


Megan Had It Coming


Monday, December 3, 2007

I'm Lori Drew
 
It's time I dropped the charade. Yes, I made this blog. Yes, I'm Lori Drew.



My daughter had nothing to do with this. Everyone needs to leave her alone. None of you can possibly know her involvement, and none of you can possibly know what she's gone through. She's just a kid. She doesn't deserve these brutal verbal attacks. Please stop.


Now that Mr. Banas has made public the announcement that there will be no charges filed against me or my family, I feel it is time to speak out about this tragic affair. I cannot count on any media organization to fairly represent my story, as they have grossly misrepresented and sensationalized the story so far. So, I must present my case here, on the blog that has been my only outlet.


You don't understand what the last two years have been like, living in this town, dealing with these people. When we came here, the Meiers seemed like a great family with whom we could form a friendship. Tina sold us our house and our little girls became fast friends. It was typical. Sleepovers and vacations and events in the community. The girls were inseparable.


We knew Megan and we liked having her around, at first. But as the months went on, we saw a change in our daughter. She was increasingly disturbed and defensive. We thought the effects of puberty were taking hold. But, we soon realized the negative influence was Megan. Megan had her bright and perky side, but she also had her dark side. We knew that she suffered from depression, so we tried to be supportive and patient. We talked to Ron and Tina about our concerns, but they would have none of it. Their precious Megan couldn't be the problem -- and they said we should feel bad for even suggesting it of a poor, mentally ill child.


It only got worse from there. Megan found out that we had gone to her parents and she worked to drive a wedge between our daughter and us. We fought back the only way we knew how: we supported our daughter and explained to her what we thought. She agreed with us, and that's when the fallout started.


When Sarah stopped going along with Megan's antics, Megan took it especially hard and lashed out. She called my daughter every nasty name in the book, swore to never be friends again and stormed out. Then a few days later they were friends again, Megan would try to manipulate Sarah, Sarah wouldn't buy it, and Megan would become furious again. Then came the MySpace attack. Not the one you're reading about in the news, but the one that started this whole thing.


After the final break-up in their frienship, Megan coordinated a MySpace attack on my daughter. Since she didn't have access to MySpace herself, she had to work through friends. I wasn't too surprised because I knew that Megan was grounded from MySpace the previous year after she made a fake profile with a friend to go prank and bully a classmate they didn't like.


Fortunately, that prank didn't go far, and neither did her latest attempted prank on my daughter. But the damage was done to my child, and I knew what kind of child Megan was, depression or not.


Now I had nothing but sympathy for Megan's condition. But my sympathy has limits. When you come after my daughter and try to hurt her like that, my patience wears out. This troubled child was no longer able to poison my baby in person, so she decided to reach out on the Internet to do it instead. Like any parent, when you see the ill-behaved child next door causing trouble for your family, you want to wring the neck of the parents who let it happen. But, as Megan's parents made it clear earlier, they were not about to come down on their precious Megan. I had no recourse with them. And, forbidding the children from seeing each other was not effective because Megan could simply harass my daughter online.


Then, my daughter heard that Megan was lobbying her parents to get her MySpace back. I was instantly terrified. That little monster was a tremendous poison for my daughter as-is. I didn't want to think about what kind of damage she would do if she had total access to the internet. I talked the situation over with people I knew and trusted, who told me to be very afraid. Teenage bullying was rampant on MySpace, and there were very few, if any, legal options for people being harassed. Everyone's advice was: if you're harassed, your only option is to delete your profile and run. It won't stop people from saying bad things about you, but at least you won't have to see it.


I wanted to hide my daughter away from all of this, and delete her MySpace, but she begged and pleaded with me to let her stay. I know it's MySpace and it's a social hub for teens today and I didn't want my daughter to be the only one without, so I relented.


Instead, I worked with a couple of people I knew to create a profile so I could keep tabs on Megan. They helped me add pictures and graphics and music so it would look like a boy that Megan would want to talk to. We didn't totally know what we were doing with the Josh Evans persona, or where it would lead, so I kept it quiet. We did our best to shmooze Megan into opening up. I complimented her pictures and said how great she was. I very gently asked her about her school life and her friends hoping that if she was planning any attack on my daughter that we would be one step ahead of her and could take this evidence to her parents, show them what their daughter is up to so they would finally take action.



A couple of weeks went by and Megan was buying it. We were surprised at how she could be so nice to "Josh" and still have an undercurrent of negativity when she talked about school friends. We wanted to make sure she wasn't going to try anything to get back at Sarah, so we kept the account going. When Megan started talking about being in love and wanting to do boyfriend/girlfriend stuff with "Josh" I got concerned. How do we keep going for information AND figure out a way to let her down gently once we were convinced nothing was going to happen? What if we let her down, and she regressed and came after my daughter anyway? I was becoming very confused and concerned then. Megan was unpredictable and I absolutely did NOT want her harassing my child. I didn't know what to do, so I kept going. I played down her innuendo. Anytime she became explicit, "Josh" backed off and kept the compliments above board.


Then I found out that Megan's parents were actively monitoring the account! Everything that had been going on, they were witness to. This troubled me deeply: were they not concerned when their 13 year old daughter wanted to have heavy duty make out sessions with a 16 year old boy? Hello!


I had "Josh" friend other people that Megan knew all the while so that if anyone else knew of anything that was going to happen, we'd have that much more chance of staying ahead of the game. One of the girls we friended even figured out that the profile was fake. We let her in on it, and asked what she wanted. Turns out, she wasn't friendly with Megan, either, so she wanted to help. I gave her access to the account.


It wasn't long after that that we saw what was being said on other accounts: Megan was still mad at Sarah and was very quiety spreading cruel rumors. She kept it off her own MySpace because she knew that kind of stuff would get her grounded off it again. I was furious! Not only was Megan obviously not going to stop until she had her revenge, but now there was no way to get any evidence about it.


That's when I decided I would have to teach Megan a lesson and give her a taste of her own medicine.


I decided that I would shut down the Josh account, and not be nice about it. Megan's feelings be damned, and to hell with her consequence! I was going to protect my daughter no matter what. So I sent the break up e-mail to Megan saying that Josh didn't want to be friends because Megan was very cruel to her friends. Naturally, Megan freaked, and I tried to keep the messages short and sweet. As a last resort bargaining chip, I figured that if she really loved Josh then maybe he could pressure her into stopping her lies. But it didn't work, and the situation devolved lightning fast.


Megan was screaming at Josh for answers on who he had been talking to: she wanted to know who ratted her out so she could take out revenge on them, too. I shared Megan's messages with everyone involved and encouraged everyone to stand up against her and not take her crap anymore.


Instead, once the word got out about Megan, so did all her romantic replies, as well as a few secrets and the MySpace crowd ganged up on her.But I didn't realize that this group would react that way. I expected a certain amount of bullying, and I was OK with it. I wanted Megan to get a taste of what she had been dishing out this whole time. But I didn't want it to go as far as it did. It's true that the slut and fat references came out of what I shared. And by the time I was done with work on that day, the bullying against Megan had progressed pretty far. I had heard about the "better off without you" message and that's when I told everyone to cool it. Megan had been punished enough, and I was satisfied that she would think twice before bullying or manipulating anyone again. I don't know who wrote that "better off without you" message.


That night I saw the ambulance lights at the Meier house, and then I saw them take Megan out on a stretcher. I was stunned and horrified. I wasn't sure what had happened, and when they had said Megan tried to kill herself, I didn't believe it. Yes, Megan suffered from depression, but she was always laughing and smiling when we were on vacations, or at sleep overs. After the shock wore off, I panicked: what if Megan ended her life after what happened on MySpace? It seemed ridiculous. When kids were bullied, they went to their rooms and cried -- even the depressed ones. They didn't hang themselves.


I was distraught over the event, so I instructed the key people involved to stay quiet to protect themselves against any counter-bullying, and I deleted the Josh profile. I kept the truth from the Meier family because there was simply no reason to come forward. Their little girl died the next day at the hospital. Their lives were destroyed. What good would it do to inform them that their daughter's MySpace boyfriend was a fake? They wouldn't believe that their daughter was a MySpace bully and a real life manipulator when she was alive, so why add to their grief now? I stayed quiet. I went to the funeral to pay my respects to this troubled child who took herself to a tragic end. We mourned the loss of a girl who once was a good friend. We all tried to get on with our lives.


Little by little rumors of the cause of Megan's suicide spread. Of course the Josh break-up was mentioned, as was the MySpace bullying. People talked about the need to stop MySpace bullying. There were a couple of news reports, but it never went anywhere.


Until six weeks later when one of the girls involved decided to link me to the issue. When Megan's parents found out that the Josh account was me, they focused all of their rage and pain and guilt at me. Instantly, what had been a mysterious suicide with no definite answers became a personal vendetta.


Just like Megan, her parents showed their dark side and scared the holy hell out of me when they dumped our smashed foosball table on our driveway. Instantly I knew we were dealing with unbalanced people. Aggravated by their child's death and their own culture of anxiety, I very much feared for my family. I made sure to report the incident to the police so the Meiers would know that we would stand up for ourselves and that the police were watching, should they choose to do something rash.


A little bit after that, I decided to try to diffuse the situation and confront the parents. I would lay out everything I knew, all the intent, and everything I thought. If they didn't want to accept the truth about their daughter, then there was nothing else I could do. But I would at least try. Unfortunately, Tina & Ron would have none of it. They wouldn't talk to us, they wouldn't deal with us. Ron pretty much came unglued when we made one last attempt. They had nothing but raw hatred for us, and they wouldn't listen. That's when I realized it was hopeless.


The police investigation was especially frightening. We cooperated as best we could. I provided my statement, but I was not satisfied with the officer who took it. He got most of the details wrong, and he left out intricacies that I've explained here. When I tried to get the report corrected, an officer at the desk said she was familiar with our case, and flat out refused to allow us to amend our statement. That was the beginning of the backlash. That it came from a police officer truly shook us.


The investigators asked both us and the Meiers to remain quiet about the issue while they conducted their work. They warned us of small town mob violence and undue media attention. We agreed and went on with our lives. We heard almost nothing for nearly nine months. Our lives seemed to be getting back to normal, despite the family down the street that still grieved visibly and had devolved into fights and separation. I truly felt bad for them. They lost their baby, and now they were tearing themselves apart because the pain wasn't getting any better. I made sure to kiss and hug my Sarah every night and tell her how much I loved her. We actually grew closer from it.


Then the investigation was over. No charges would be filed. We were relieved. It felt like a weight had finally been lifted from us. But not so for Tina & Ron. They had focused their rage on us and blamed us for everything. I could understand their pain and their guilt, but I had had enough of their accusations. One day I did snap and told Tina to "give it a rest." Looking back, it was insensitive to say. But, you have to understand that for months we had been dealing with a family that didn't want to listen to our side of the story and only called for us to "be gone." Like I said, my sympathy has limits.


After the investigation, Tina made it clear she wasn't going to let this go. We weren't sure what to expect, but we had grown to be dismissive of her and her incoherent ranting. Then came the newspaper article, which instantly painted us as hoaxers who were out to make Megan kill herself.


You see, this is why I now have an extreme distrust for any media: they paint the story in whatever way gets the most readers. Everyone from Pokin to Andersoon Cooper has painted this story as if we set out to destroy Megan, as if her suicide was a foregone conclusion of our actions. But it's not. We didn't know Megan was going to do what she did. If we knew it was going to end like that, I wouldn't have started this whole thing. I had no intention for Megan to be so drastic. I wanted her to learn a lesson so she could be a better person. I didn't want her to die.


Then Sarah Wells outed me. Then the hate and harassment and threats poured in. Even against my daughter. First there were dozens of calls, then hundreds, then there was national news, and everyone went crazy.


That's why I started this blog and posted as "Kirsten." I was so angry at the world for being so unfair, especially when it came to my daughter whom I had sworn to protect from all of this. I took a low blow at Megan's memory because I desperately wanted the world to at least get a glimpse of the truth.


But that's all over now. The final word from authorities has come down that there will be no charges, so I don't have to remain silent. There's no point in hiding anymore. The internet has made it clear that mob revenge must prevail, even if there's no justice in it. So be it.


Here I am, internet. Come get me.

Posted by Megan Had It Coming at 8:02 AM   

[MumInOhio]

Di Wanted to thank you for bringing this here...I've read it twice and will read it again before I comment! Right now the 'Megan Had It Coming" keeps jumping out at me. Feel sick to my stomach reading that. So I made a comment anyway.

[MuffyBee]

Di Wanted to thank you for bringing this here...I've read it twice and will read it again before I comment! Right now the 'Megan Had It Coming" keeps jumping out at me. Feel sick to my stomach reading that. So I made a comment anyway.

MumInOhio ~  I've read the article twice myself and haven't commented-yet.  It's pretty sad alright.  No, it's more than sad.  Sometimes words just escape me...

[Dihannah1]

I know, the name is sickening, regardless of her excuse.  You should go to the blog and see the hateful comments being left and her responses to them!  She just cannot admit she was wrong.  She continues to justify protecting her own daughter.   

I'm all for protecting your daughter, but lowering yourself to there age, then blaming others for making the posts.  What is she teaching her own daughter? 

There are also comments from people who obviously know her and apparently one of the girls involved named stacy is so traumatized by it, she had a breakdown and is in a mental hospital.  However, I don't believe the girls name should have been used.  But a tragic story for many involved.

[MumInOhio]

I know, the name is sickening, regardless of her excuse.  You should go to the blog and see the hateful comments being left and her responses to them!  She just cannot admit she was wrong.  She continues to justify protecting her own daughter.   

I'm all for protecting your daughter, but lowering yourself to there age, then blaming others for making the posts.  What is she teaching her own daughter? 

There are also comments from people who obviously know her and apparently one of the girls involved named stacy is so traumatized by it, she had a breakdown and is in a mental hospital.  However, I don't believe the girls name should have been used.  But a tragic story for many involved.

Bolded is exactly what I wanted to say. Already decided I was not going to her site, what you posted was sickening enough. Thanks again!

[MuffyBee]

Sounds like blaming the victim.

[kissyface]

This woman is completely sick.  She not only keeps abusing the victim by her post but completely refuses to accept that what "they" did collectively had a direct impact on the mental state of a young teenager.  I am sickened by her lack of remorse for her actions and I am outraged that she feels like her family has been victimized.  I can't understand what would drive a (as she put it) balanced person to do something like that.  Kids are kids and I remember being in 8th grade and having friends who would pick out one person to pick on and terrorize, and the group would start a pack-like mentality, joining in to make the harrassment worse.  A couple of weeks would pass and they would all end up friends again.  It's part of being a kid.  For any "parent" to say they were just protecting their own child from "this little monster" without looking into their own childs actions or accepting that their own child may be a little aggressive towards other kids is just ridiculous.  My own son is almost 12 and when he has any kind of an issue at school or with his friends, I ask him about both sides of the situation.  Maybe I don't fully get the other side of the story, but I know my child is not completely innocent.  They are children who are learning how to deal with problems however we teach them to.  I sincerely wish that the law would've allowed for some type of prosecution in this case.  This Lori woman is still claiming they did'nt do anything wrong and still playing it up so that her family looks victimzed.  It's total horsesh*t if you ask me.  I think the fact that she refuses to accept even one iota of responsibility for what her own actions contributed to makes her look like a complete sociopath.  She has now impressed it upon her own daughter that to bully and harrass someone is a solution rather than teaching her to just stay away from someone who she claims was being mean.  I have read so many articles regarding this case but nothing has incensed me as much as this Lori womans post trying to make it all look like she deserved it. No child deserves to be terrorized by anb adult in any way.  And yes, The "Megan had it coming" title of her blog is highly offensive and disrepectful, not only to Megan but her family and friends.  This little girl is dead.  She did'nt deserve to be tricked into anything and she already had problems that were known to the parents of the other girl.  What would inspire a "balanced" adult to toy with a fragile child's mind?  I don't care if she is trying to protect her own daughter.  You don't attack a child.  She knew Megan was clinically depressed and still did this.  In my opinion, she might as well have tied the noose.  It's unfortunate that the law prevents any kind of punishment.  This is just bad.

[MuffyBee]

kissyface ~  Yes.  Yes and yes.  Just the title in it's self is a tip off.  Blame the victim. She takes no responsibility for her own actions.  She wanted to protect her own child, so she played a cruel and ultimately fatal game with another's child?  And that child is now dead?    

[kissyface]

So I went over to the "had it coming" site and did some reading.  The consensus seems to suggest that a high percentage of us are just mortified by this womans actions.  While that is all well and great, I am just disgusted that she cannot and will not accept ANY responsibility.  No, she did'nt "murder" Megan.  Don't you think she should at least apologize for maybe making a poor choice by setting up that fake account?  I mean come on.  No accountability at all is why everyone is so mad.  Yes, bullying happens but it just makes no sense that it was a full grown woman.  I'm still baffled.  She goes on and on about how her own daughter is just a kid and does'nt deserve all of this harrassment and backlash.  What the hell does she think Megan was?  13 years old, the same as her own daughter.  What about that makes Megan any less of a kid?  AHHHHHHH!!!!  FRUSTRATING!!!