Megan Meier
Posted on 11/18/2007 6:50:42 AM PST by LurkedLongEnough
DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo. (AP) -- 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."
there’s a least a civil suit here
I heard someone on the radio say that while there is no law against what they did, the least the family should do is PUBLICIZE the names of the people who created the fake profile and tell people how their cruely led their daughter over the edge
A 50 foot billboard would be nice.
If the kid was that delicate she probably would have committed suicide anyway.While what the neighbors did was lousy I don’t see how it’s illegal.
This is horrible what adults did to a vulnerable young girl!
Obviously, mentally healthy children with intact self-esteems don’t commit suicide over such things, but it sounds like this poor girl had some problems already.
The article mentioned she was on medication - I guess for depression and attention-deficit disorder - doesn’t sound like the medication helped her. It’s sad, so many children are medicated these days.
What the neighbors did was sadistic but perhaps legal even though a minor was involved. Another reason to keep kids from getting involved with people on the Internet.
Maybe there's a reason these kids need to be 14. What's next? 13-year-olds go on a web site claiming they're 18 and then get offended by porn?
What the other family did was just flat-out cruel. I hate to see kids pick on each other, but when adults are involved, that is sick.
Destroyed their foosball table? I would have destroyed everything they own and take my chances with a jury.
Yeah, it's ridiculous, reactionary feel-goodism.
, and you have to start somewhere."
No, you don't. It's tragic. It's stupid. It's not illegal. Get over it.
Exactly.Kids...particularly kids that young....shouldn't have free access to the internet.There are so many ways that young kids can get into serious trouble in cyberspace.
Her myspace page says she's 16, which conflicts with the reporting that she was 13 when this happened (Oct. 2006).
In addition, someone is still logging into her account as the account was last accessed today (Nov. 18, 2007).
Big part of the problem in this story is that all of the parents involved, that were supposed to be raising these teenagers, were very immature and maladjusted themselves.
I think the girl was pretty weak. Killing yourself over an imaginary friend. That is like us here picking up a nice conversation and a month later the person drops the other. Weak 13 year old.
I'd be surprised if she wasn't.
Read any tragic article about a teen -- either they did something or something was done to them. What do you find? They're on medication for something.
there’s a least a civil suit her
Let’s hope not. Too much suing. The girl was weak. Killed herself over a fictional guy. Tragic but insane all in one breath.
One possible way to improve these kind of internet services could be (in the case of minors, anyway) to insist that initial registrstion on kids websites be done with both the kid and parent live on webcam with a rep of the website...........there would then be both video and voice evidence stored for use if needed.
I agree. Not illegal. But in a civil case I don’t think there needs to be any laws broken.
This is a case of parental and personal responsibility and a total lack of it. Tina Meier (Megan’s mother), needs to be brought up on charges - not be allowed to go around playing the victim, suing everyone else and allowing progressive politicians to begin legislating new restrictive (and uninforcable) hocus pocus for the Internet. The Internet, and especially MySpace, Facebook, et. al., is no place for thirteen year-old “depressed” children with a-d disorders. If you allow your child to play in traffic, don’t try to sue the other drivers.
She had "ADD", but managed to correspond with Josh for over a month.
Go figure.
It's unbelievable to me that parents would be involved. What is happening in this country????
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