What a terrible prank to pull.

[dispatch]

I've been picking up some OT for christmas, but my family already knows I love them, and this is so much more of a worthy cause!

pencil me in, blas and I'm down to help drive the thing, too!

[XCashier]

I saw this on CNN the other night, aparently the parents who set up the fake profile told the departed's parents to "get over it"

You do NOT tell the parents of the child you drove to suicide to "get over it"! No remorse, no apologies, not so much as a "good heavens, what was I thinking?" That is just cold-blooded evil. There has got to be a way to charge them with something, they should not be allowed to get away with this.

If that's the way you want it, fine then, you get over this:

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I saw this on CNN the other night, aparently the parents who set up the fake profile told the departed's parents to "get over it"

Uh oh, something in me just snapped....

Okay, if that were my daughter who was driven to hang herself and those miserable piles of shit told me to "get over it", I'd have a hard time not killing them on the spot.

You killed my daughter, you tore up my marriage, you ruined my life just to get your pathetic revenge on my daughter, and you're going to tell me to just get over it?! FUCK NO!!!

The time I'd spend in prison or on death row would be well worth it.

I agree with xcashier. It's cold, calculated evil. It's premeditated murder.

[MMATM]

It's comforting to know that in today's society, people aren't quite enough like sheep to just stand by if the guilty parties get off the hook.

They might be better off just pleading guilty and taking life imprisonment, or whichever preferred method of execution their state supports. The alternative is basically to live out the rest of their lives not knowing if, when and how someone will kill them for what they've done.

But these parents are so "smart" they'll never get caught. After all, they deleted the fake profile. [/sarcasm] Which has been online for months. And which has likely been cached many times for backup and recovery purposes.

Subpoenaing MySpace's backup files, anyone? The case would be over before it began.

[myswtghst]

But these parents are so "smart" they'll never get caught. After all, they deleted the fake profile. [/sarcasm] Which has been online for months. And which has likely been cached many times for backup and recovery purposes.

Subpoenaing MySpace's backup files, anyone? The case would be over before it began.

I do think that's part of the problem at this time, because Megan was only 13, and MySpace isn't supposed to allow you to be on there if you're under 14. Part of the reason they've been refusing to comment or outright help is because of that, they don't want to get dragged into a lawsuit stating that if she'd never been allowed to create that profile, this'd never have happened.

I'm not advocating the above, or stating that I think it's right, I think it's terribly wrong, but I do see it happening. Sucky world we live in.

By the by, I just read this article a couple hours ago while catching up on news, and it really made me sad and angry. I understand what the parents who started the process were hoping to do, and even if someone else got on this account and started posting all the bulletins, they still deserve to be punished for what the helped cause.

[MMATM]

I do think that's part of the problem at this time, because Megan was only 13, and MySpace isn't supposed to allow you to be on there if you're under 14. Part of the reason they've been refusing to comment or outright help is because of that, they don't want to get dragged into a lawsuit stating that if she'd never been allowed to create that profile, this'd never have happened.

I'd propose to offer MySpace immunity against any suits that any of the involved parties could file, just to have access to their caches. The problem is, since this case is over a year old, there may not be much information available.

And of course, if they refused to turn over their files I'd subpoena them as I mentioned, giving them no choice. I'd then turn to Megan's parents and recommend filing suit against MySpace for allowing a 13-year-old access to their website, and would use her subsequent death as leverage in court. Just because I believe in meeting douchebaggery with douchebaggery.

Note: I hate MySpace and consider it one of the most wide-open venues of all time for perverts, predators and sickos. Add that to the fact that they don't police themselves and apparently aren't in the habit of cooperating with the real police (even in a murder investigation which this would have been), and any respect I had for them just gets thrown out the window. Of an airplane. At 38,000 feet. Over an enormous fissure which reaches down into the asshole of the devil himself.

[dispatch]

I just think it's crap that they're not doing anything because "this doesn't fit into any law", if I trained a pack of snails to smother someone in their sleep and the whole neighborhood knew it was my doing then would I get away with it because there was no precedent?

[Ree]

The lesson in here is that a parent should not be fighting their child's battles for them.

Nobody likes to see their child hurting, but it's the parent's job to teach the child the skills to cope with others and roll with the punches.

This should never have happened.

[MamaMootz]

I saw this over the weekend and I was so saddened and angry.

I agree with her father, who said, "They handed my daughter a loaded gun" in one of their interviews.

In my mind, they are guilty of killing this child. And what kind of adult goes and does something like this?

From what I've also read, the community knows who they are - and many people on the internet have posted their name, address, and phone number on numerous message boards.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I saw this discussed on MSNBC today. The legal eagle they interviewed said there's not much hope for a criminal charge since there's no real precedent.

So here's hoping the bereaved parents take those scumbuckets to court for everything they have.

[ditchdj]

I saw this discussed on MSNBC today. The legal eagle they interviewed said there's not much hope for a criminal charge since there's no real precedent.

That's bullshit. If anything, it's involuntary manslaughter. The death may NOT have been planned (giving her the benefit of the doubt), BUT, her wreckless actions and behavoir caused her death, because she would still be alive today IF she had NOT done this.

[Lace Neil Singer]

The lesson in here is that a parent should not be fighting their child's battles for them.

Nobody likes to see their child hurting, but it's the parent's job to teach the child the skills to cope with others and roll with the punches.

This should never have happened.

Agreed. I will also say that the parents should have monitored their child's internet time better; they should not have allowed their daughter to go online alone so often, especially on Myspace. I'm not saying that the adults who created the false profile weren't cruel and evil, cuz they were; just saying that in blame proportion, the parents of the girl hold some. I also think that there's a worrying amount of kids today throwing the towel in and committing suicide over the most petty things; surely this is a trend that needs to be nipped in the bud? Maybe it's cuz todays kids aren't as tough cuz of all the H&S and PC brigade mollycoddling.

[Ree]

I have to say, LaceNeil, I am inclined to agree with everything you said.

Too many parents don't monitor their child's internet use.

When I read the article a few days ago, (it was actually posted in a friend's LJ when I saw it), I was struck by the fact that the young girl spoke to her own Mom about what was going on with this "boy" and how mean he was being.

I don't know, because I wasn't there, but it really doesn't sound like the mother took the time to look at what was happening online, nor did she seem to clue in to just how upset it was making her daughter.

I seem to remember reading there had been a history of internet problems with this young girl.

I also think that suicide has been 'romanticized' for young people in movies and TV shows, and with celebrities who pack it in being idolized because of their young and tragic death.
They are not learning proper coping skills at all.
For years, people have bent over backwards trying to give children a 'trauma-free' life, and that has not helped at all.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

According to what I've read, the Mother DID monitor the girl's MySpace use quite frequently. Apparently she and the girl who's Mother tormented her had, when they were still friends, created an online profile with fake pics and were talking to guys on it. Megan's mother found out and made her delete it. The next year her daughter wanted a myspace page again so the parents let her have one but they had the password, and they monitored it closely.

http://www.zimbio.com/pilot?ZURL=%2F...okin_1.ii1.txt

This is a much more complete article on the story. It should answer some questions for you.

[ditchdj]

Sounds to me like "internet justice" is being served....

http://www.wired.com/politics/online...ilante_justice

I know that most members here condemn vigilante justice, and I have no plans to take part in this, but hearing about it, sure as hell didnt make me feel bad.