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Everyone loves myspace

Mom: Web Hoax Led Girl to Kill Herself




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.



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.



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.


"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."

I was watching the CNN video about this story earlier this morning and I predict firestorm. I haven't checked back on it but I would be surprised if there aren't people out there foaming at the mouth over this incident. Personally, I can see it on a couple levels. First, there really is notta criminal you can charge that other mom with. It'd be different if she were trying to solicit sex or engaging in harassment, but pretending to be a teenage boy to chat up a teenage girl only to then tell her she's a loser dosen't break any laws. You might be able to push something through if one of the messages had at least encouraged her to kill herself or was incredibly abusive. All in all, telling someone you think they suck and should have a horrible life just dosen't cut it. I guess it could be stalking or harassment, but usually you have to tell the person to stop or make some attempt to sever contact which persists for that to stick. Oh well, if all else fails, there's always the civil trial for intentional infliction of emotional distress and whatnot.

All that being said, there is something incredibly derranged about an adult going on myspace and making up an identity so she can find out if a girl is talking smack about her daughter. WTF? It sort of reminds me of that texas cheerleading mom who hired a hitman and tried to whack her daughter's rival's mom. There's being involved in your kid's life and then there's psycho. It's not exactly a thin line, people.


Well, it looks like I was right and then some. I just did a blogsearch and half the net is humming like a hive of angry bees over this. It seems to have gone beyond basic outrage and really touched a nerve.

When this initial story broke, the reporter decided to grant anonymity to the family responsible for the fake page and not print their identity. This led to a shitstorm and people people doing their own research. The internet being what it is, the mystery was soon uncovered and now bloggers are posting the names and address of the people responsible. In case you don't want to scroll through all those comments and you are curious, their info is:

269 Waterford Crystal Drive
St Charles, MO 63385

Telephone #

Let the games begin.
Tags: crime/law, myspace, news

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