Lori Drew, the infamous Mom next door and alleged villain in the Megan Meier MySpace Suicide story, plead not guilty in a Los Angeles Federal Court on June 17th to charges of conspiracy and accessing computers without authorization.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Drew plead not guilty in a "proceeding that last only a few minutes".
ALSO at DBKP.com: Megan Meier MySpace Suicide, Lori Drew: DBKP Library of Stories Over 40 DBKP stories and videos on the Megan Meier MySpace Suicide case--from DBKP: the place who coined "MySpace Suicide" and had the story first on the Net! |
Drew was indicted on May 15 by a Los Angeles Federal Grand Jury. DBKP's Megan Meier MySpace Suicide: Lori Drew Indicted details Drew's alleged involvement in a case that stunned not only a bedroom community of St. Louis, Missouri, but the entire nation.
Megan Meier was about to turn 14 when she hanged herself in the closet of her room. Megan's parents, Tina and Ron Meier, allege that Megan's suicide was acerbated by the alleged antics of Drew, a long time neighbor and Mom of a former childhood friend of Megan.
Megan had opened a MySpace account shortly before her 14th birthday with the permission of her parents. Megan then met a boy named Josh on MySpace who said he was 16, new to her area, and interested in an online "friendship". The two spent several weeks communicating via MySpace until shortly before her birthday Josh began to post abusive comments about Megan's appearance and friends which culminated in an online fight. Megan committed suicide after a comment was posted by Josh which intimated the world "would be a better place" without Megan.
It was weeks later that the Meiers discovered that there wasn't any "Josh", that he was a fake online personality, and that the person behind "Josh" was a long time neighbor and friend, 46-yr-old Lori Drew.
Drew denies any involvement and blames a 17-yr-old employee, Ashley Grills. Grills, who tried to commit suicide after the circumstances surrounding Megan's death hit the news and the neighborhood, claims Drew was the instigator, that Drew wanted to "monitor" what Megan had to say about Drew's daughter. St. Charles County prosecutor's investigated and declined to press any charges. The Los Angeles Federal Prosecutor's office then stepped in and held Grand Jury hearings. Drew was indicted on conspiracy and unauthorized use of a computer.
The trial is scheduled for July 29.
By LBG
Image - Megan Meier
The infamous mother in the Megan Meier Myspace Suicide case, Lori Drew, has been indicted by a Los Angeles federal grand jury on one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain private information.
Drew's indictments come as a surprise to many as the local authorities where the case transpired, in O'Fallon, Missouri, and the FBI, declined to press charges after investigating the Megan Meiers Myspace case.
Back in December, St. Charles County prosecutor Jack Banas announced his office would not file charges against Drew because she hadn't "broken any laws".
Drew had admitted in a police report that she had "set up" a fake MySpace page to "monitor" what her daughter's ex-friend, Megan Meier, was posting about her daughter on Megan's MySpace page. Drew later recanted, claiming she wasn't involved, that the police report was filled with errors.
Banas had said that the St. Charles County prosecutor's office couldn't "prove" that Drew or Grills had meant their messages to be a form of "harassment" even though Megan's mother claims the messages from the fake 16-year-old "Josh" had grown increasingly mean, culminating in a final message posted the day Megan hanged herself in her bedroom closet, that the "world would be a better place without you".
Megan had set up a MySpace page with the permission of her parents. She had told her parents about "Josh", a boy on MySpace who claimed he was new to her area. For weeks the "two" exchanged messages until shortly before Megan was to celebrate her 14th birthday.
It wasn't until after Megan's death that her parents were informed by a neighbor that "Josh" wasn't a 16-year-old boy but a concoction made up by their neighbor, a woman in her forties with a daughter who was a former friend of Megan's, Lori Drew.
Drew claims she wasn't involved even though she filed a police report stating she was instrumental in devising the web page as a way to "keep tabs" on what "Megan was saying about her daughter". Drew then claimed it was all her 17-year-old employee, Ashley Grill's idea, that Drew had nothing to do with it.
DBKP has been following the MySpace Suicide story and finds it highly unlikely that Grills, an employee of Drew, would take it on herself to create a fake persona on MySpace in order to chat up a 13-year-old neighbor girl she was not acquainted with. Megan had been Drew's daughter's off-and-on again friend for years.
Grills testified before a Los Angeles federal grand jury that it was Drew who suggested creating the fake page but that it was Grills who set it up. Grills also testified that Drew helped write some of the messages from "Josh".
Megan took her life in November of 2006, it wasn't until January 2008 that a Los Angeles federal grand jury began issuing subpoenas in what is now known as the Megan Meier MySpace Suicide Case.
Read more Megan Meier MySpace Suicide: Lori Drew Indicted at DBKP.com
By LBG
Image - Evil Wine
Source - LA Times - L.A. Grand Jury Issues subpoenas in Web Suicide Case
Source - ABC News - No Charges Filed in MySpace Suicide
Source - MSNBC - Mom Indicted in MySpace Suicide Case
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page
Prosecutors in Los Angeles questioned Lori Drew's employee, Ashley Grill, before a Grand Jury over the Megan Meier MySpace suicide case. Grill, who was 17 when Megan Meier committed suicide in October of 2006, testified that she did not act alone in setting up a fake MySpace account used to pull a hoax on the 13-year-old Megan. Grill's testimony could begin to peel away the fake facade of innocence maintained by Lori Drew through her attorneys.
Grills, who attempted to take her own life after Megan ended hers, stated that while she was responsible for setting up the profile of the fake 16-year-old boy named "Josh Evans", that Lori Drew and her daughter were also involved in the cruel online hoax.
Megan and her family lived just a few doors down from the Drews in a quiet suburb of St. Louis where the two girls were friends since elementary school. When the girls reached the 7th grade the relationship had become on-again, off-again, with Megan transitioning to a new school. Megan had asked her parents if she could open a MySpace account, after all, all the other kids were doing it too. Megan's parents agreed but counseled their daughter to be careful, to be wary of the people she met online. Megan met a boy on MySpace who said his name was Josh Evans, he was 16 and he lived in her area.
Megan's parents warned her to be careful but the online relationship with Josh seemed harmless and made Megan happy. Megan, like many girls her age, was insecure and unable to see her own unique qualities that made her special. After a period of about six weeks the relationship with Josh took a sharp turn with Josh telling Megan that "she was mean to her friends".
On October 16th, Megan went to school with invitations to her upcoming 14th birthday party. She had picked out a new dress and when she returned home from school she asked her mother to log onto the computer so Megan could see if Josh had posted any new messages to her. Megan wanted to know why Josh had been "so mean" to her.
Tina logged on but had to leave to take her other daughter to an appointment. Before she left she could see that Megan was still upset, evidently Josh's newest messages troubled Megan. Tina, in a hurry to get to the orthodontist's appointment told Megan to sign off.
"I will Mom," Megan told her. "Let me finish up."
Read Megan Meier MySpace Suicide: Prosecutors Question Drew's Employee at DBKP.com
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
The mystery of why the Megan Had it Coming blog is still up continues.
Another report of the evil blogosphere dogging a helpless victim.
We present another sighting of the "Power of the Evil Bloggers" and a statement released yesterday by Jim Briscoe, Lori Drew's attorney, concerning the Megan Had it Coming blog:A blogger at a website claiming to be Lori Drew and commenting on the Megan Meier suicide case is an imposter, the Drew family said in a statement issued Friday by their attorney.
Time on the DBKP Megan Had it Coming Blogwatch clock:
The statement says, "First and foremost, the Drew family mourns the death of Megan every day." The statement was the first public comment by Lori and Curt Drew on the death of 13-year-old Megan, although their lawyer has made statements on their behalf.
Friday's statement reiterates that Lori Drew was not aware of any mean or nasty comments made by anyone online against Megan until after Megan took her life. The negative comments that were sent occurred when Lori Drew was not home, and teenagers at other locations also made several negative comments.
"Lori Drew has been a high-profile target of extreme criticism for things she did not do," the family's statement says.
Bloggers have threatened the family and called for boycotts of businesses that advertised with Lori Drew's business. The statement says an "avalanche of criticism" forced her to discontinue a coupon book she had sold in St. Charles County for nine years.
The statement also says the Drews have not and will not participate in any blogs or other discussions online regarding Megan's death, and that anyone posting a message who claims to be a member of the Drew family is an imposter.
Jim Briscoe, the Drews' attorney, said he contacted the operators of a website where many of the messages have appeared and asked that the blog be removed. A company representative said it was reviewing the request. The blog included a defense of Lori Drew's actions and criticized Megan. St. Charles County authorities also are investigating who created the blog.
Megan's parents, Tina and Ron Meier, could not be reached for comment Friday.
19 days, 22 hours, 51 minutes
Since the blog was created.
Only Lori Drew can shut it down. Why hasn't she done so?
Her lawyer says he's trying. If Lori Drew emails Blogger, and the email isn't the same as what was used to set up the blog, the blog would come down immediately.
What's the delay?
Why the hesitation in having Ms. Drew pick up the phone? Or write an email?
Or does she have the power to delete the blog already and not want to touch it, for obvious reasons?
We don't know the answers.
We're just asking the questions.
by Mondoreb
Sources:
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Drew Family Says Blogger is Imposter
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
[NOTE: DBKP has examined the 'Megan Had it Coming' Blog and its last post, dated December 3, "I'm Lori Drew". We don't know who is behind the blog--Lori Drew or Internet troll.
However, we've asked Trench Reynolds, who has covered MySpace crime for the last eight years, to give us his opinion.
He makes some good points. Some we agree with, others: we're not so sure. But, he makes several of his points so persuasively, we thought you readers should get a chance to see them and decide for yourselves.]Hey everybody. My name is Trench Reynolds. Some of you may know me from my blogs about crime, TheTrenchcoat Chronicles and MyCrimeSpace. At the Chronicles I've been blogging since 2000 discussing school shootings and at MCS I talk about MySpace related crimes.
Mondoreb invited me to Death by 1,000 Papercuts (which is the greatest blog name ever) to express my thoughts on the Megan Meier story, specifically the 'Megan Had It Coming Blog'. As a lot of people have I've been following the story closely since it broke nationally. And just like most people I was horrified to read what happened to Megan Meier by people who were supposed to be adults.
When the identity of the Drews were made public by bloggers and commenters I decided that I would not post their names in hopes of not facilitating some kind of vigilante justice. Also I did not want to interfere with the investigation into whether or not criminal files would be charged. 
It was after I made that post that someone posted a comment about 'MHIC'. It was also on that same post that someone by the name of 'ANONYMOUS' was leaving comments in defense of Lori Drew and was leaving comments similar to the posts on 'MHIC'.
I conferred with a blogging friend of mine who is a cybersecurity expert and we both agreed that ANONYMOUS and MHIC were the same person. Of course the Internet being what it is a lot of people automatically assumed that it must be Lori Drew without doing any investigation.
Now that's not a dig at DBKP because their own investigation seems to be thorough. However whenever a tragedy like this breaks there's always people willing to take advantage of the situation in order to get some attention. That's what I think is going on with MHIC.
Getting back to ANONYMOUS the e-mail address used to place the comments at MCS traced back to the MySpace of 16-year-old African-American girl from Michigan. It is possible that the address was a fake that coincidentally belonged to this girl's MySpace. However once I made that fact public the MySpace in question disappeared.
The second thing that leads me to believe that MHIC is a fake was the IP address of ANONYMOUS. Every time someone posts a comment at MCS I receive an e- mail that has their IP Address in it. IP addresses are used to trace back to someone's Internet Service Provider (ISP). Through this information I can usually ascertain the person's relative geographical location.
ANONYMOUS' ISP traced back to Louisville, KY which is roughly 260 miles from where the Drews and Meiers lived. IP addresses can be spoofed but if the person really wanted me to believe they were Lori Drew and had the knowledge on how to spoof IP addresses they probably would have made the address trace back to Missouri and not Kentucky.
Lastly, which may just be wishful thinking on my part, after everything that has be relayed in the media and on blogs I'd like to think that Lori Drew would not be that callous or stupid to entitle a blog 'Megan Had It Coming'.
Recently Lori Drew's lawyer said that she had nothing to do with the blog. Mondoreb himself poses the question if it's a hoax why is still up because of Google's imitation rules. My answer to that is I think it's not really a high priority for Google. Not only that if it was Lori Drew I think her lawyer would have advised her to take it down by now which can be done as easily as clicking on a button.
Since civil charges are likely against the Drews I think since the blog is still up that the odds are in favor of MHIC not being written by Lori Drew.
More than likely MHIC was posted by a group of people just looking for the attention and to see how many people they can get to fall for it. In the end I could be wrong but that would mean that Lori Drew is really that stupid and callous and if she is I weep for humanity.
So what do you think?
Is 'Megan Had It Coming' the work of Lori Drew?
Or an Internet troll?
[Check out other Trench Reynolds reports on the MySpace Suicide story, as well as MySpace and school crime at TheTrenchcoat Chronicles and MyCrimeSpace. Crime buffs need to drop by for the latest.]
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
MySpace Suicide: The Story Of Megan Meier
BACKGROUND: Our original video released on November 17, 2007. Tells the story up to that point. Over 40,000 views to date at all locations.
by Mondoreb
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
Some times to keep in mind and ponder for 'Megan Had it Coming' blog-watchers.
Time Elapsed Sine the Megan Had it Coming Blog published its first post on November 18, 2007 at 1:01 pm.
Time Elapsed since the following post appeared on the "Megan Had it Coming" blog.
[at 4:53 am EST December 7, 2007]: 11 hours 30 minutes]
K said...
FOR ALL OF YOU OUT HERE THAT THINKS THIS ISN'T LORI DREW,I HATE TO BREAK THE NEWS TO YOU BUT IT IS.I TALKED TO A FAMILY MEMBER WHO SAID THAT WHEN LORI WROTE THIS SHE THOUGHT PEOPLE WOULD BE UNDERSTANDING ONCE THEY HEARD HER SIDE OF THE STORY,SHE DIDN'T EXPECT TO GET THE BACK LASH THAT CAME AND IS STILL COMING.SHE HAS DECIDED TO LET PEOPLE VENT AND IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO HER FAMILY THEY WILL HAVE SOMEWHERE TO START(THIS BLOG LIST).
December 6, 2007 5:24 PM
NUMBER OF COMMENTS on 'Megan Had it Coming' BLOG [4:35 am EST 12-07-07]: 2845
Blogger.com, which houses the blog and lists "impersonation" as one of the things banned from the site, said it has no information that would call into question the authenticity of the "Megan Had It Coming" site.
"We take violations of Blogger's policy very seriously as such activities diminish the experience for our users," a spokesman for Google, Blogger's parent company, told FOXNews.com.
"Once we are notified about a blog that impersonates a person, we act quickly to remove it. We have not received an impersonation claim to date from the individual allegedly being impersonated."
As we said before, we'll wait and see what happens.
Meanwhile, the numbers accumulate.
by Mondoreb
[image:dkimages]
Sources:
Megan Had it Coming, Lori Drew: What Her Lawyer Says, What Google Says
Megan Had it Coming Blog Still Going Strong
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
Two statements about the 'Megan Had it Coming' blog were quoted by Fox News. We present both, as well as some questions at the end.
Lori Drew, who signed a police statement in 2006 that she was the instigator of the fictitious Internet boy named "Josh Evans", and was involved in the MySpace hoax in the minutes before Megan Meier's suicide: her attorney, Jim Briscoe's statement:
"I can categorically say that she did not write it," Briscoe told FOXNews.com. "She has not said anything on the Internet, on any blogs, on any Internet sites."
Briscoe said that Drew, a neighbor of the Meiers, has purposely remained silent in the media and online during the investigation and since.
"That's part of why she's remained silent, so there's no confusion about that," Briscoe said. "Anything that's on the Web is not true. She hasn't done anything. She doesn't know anybody who's done it — anybody who's doing it or has done it."
And now a statement from Google, parent company of Blogger.com, which hosts the 'Megan Had it Coming'.
Blogger.com, which houses the blog and lists "impersonation" as one of the things banned from the site, said it has no information that would call into question the authenticity of the "Megan Had It Coming" site.
"We take violations of Blogger's policy very seriously as such activities diminish the experience for our users," a spokesman for Google, Blogger's parent company, told FOXNews.com.
"Once we are notified about a blog that impersonates a person, we act quickly to remove it. We have not received an impersonation claim to date from the individual allegedly being impersonated."
Questions we'd like to ask:
* Why is the blog still up?
* If it is true, as Mr. Briscoe maintains, that Lori Drew is not the blog's author, why hasn't Ms. Drew shut it down?
* If Lori Drew is not the author of the 'Megan Had it Coming' blog, she can have it shut down in a heartbeat by contacting Blogger. This has not happened.
Blogger.com says, they have "no information that would call into question the authenticity of the "Megan Had It Coming" site."
* Blogger.com has information on who created the blog. What does that tell us?
These are the questions.
We're patient. We'll wait for the answers.
What do you think?
by Mondoreb
Source: MySpace Mom Linked to Missouri Teen Suicide Being Cyber Bullied Herself
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
It's still chugging along, the vile little blog that could, "Megan Had It Coming."
It's been 48 hours since the news article reported that the St. Charles Prosecutor, Jack Banas, had begun an investigation into who was running the twisted little website. The comment section is still rolling along, over 2351, and still growing.
Curt Drew issued a denial that it wasn't him nor anyone in his family, which includes the infamous Lori Drew, the current Queen of Internet Hoaxers. The Drew's attorney, Jim Briscoe couldn't be reached for a comment. Megan Meier's mother welcomed the investigation.
Was it really Lori Drew, as the poster claimed in the last thread, "I'm Lori Drew?"
To believe it was Lori Drew was to believe that this person was capable of extremely cruelty. The poster wrote a long diatribe, part blame the victim, Megan, part blame Megan's parents, part blame the cops and schools for allowing Megan the "monster bully" to roam the neighborhood streets and back alleys of MySpace. And none of the blame for Lori Drew.
If this is/was a fake, an imposter, a Lori Drew impersonator, they took a stand and stuck to it. Never deviated from their story, stayed on point. Tried to paint a picture of Lori Drew as the victim. The one whom the cops, the schools nor Megan's parents would help in the matter of the horrible little Megan. So fake or real Lori Drew did what she had to do. She set up the MySpace to teach Megan a lesson, to give Megan a dose of her own medicine.
Megan Had it Coming said...The person who wrote the diatribe was believable as someone who was angry over the "alleged" treatment of her daughter at the "monster" Megan's hands. This led readers to actually believe this story about Megan. Many wrote that even though "Megan was bully" Lori had no right to act like one too. Thus buying into the story that Megan was, indeed, a bully.
Neither can I, but you get my point. If Megan had simply not chosen to kill herself, this would be a non-story. Another case of a bully getting what's coming to him/her. That's why I named this blog the way I did. My part was to teach a bully a lesson. Megan's part was to kill herself for some unknown reason that I'm unfairly being blamed for. [1]
Any stories about Megan being a bully and monster have come from a very unreliable source.
Megan Had It Coming said...
I disagree. You weren't there, and you couldn't have known what my daughter went through. This was much much more than two kids having a falling out. My daughter cried over this many times, and was wounded deeply by Megan's theater of attack. And when I found out that Megan was up to her old tricks, she stopped being an innocent 13 year old in my eyes. Megan was a predator and I treated her as such. [1]
Unless you were in my shoes you can't know what it was like. So take your judgment elsewhere because it doesn't work here.The person who claimed they were "Lori Drew" hung in there and shot back replies to comments. Telling the readers that they had no idea what Lori and her daughter went through. This part was convincing. Someone knew how to mimic a mother's concern for her child.
Megan Had it Coming said...
How old was your daughter? Was she part of the popular crowd? Did she even have to deal with school-wide shame?
You're not even in the same league as what my daughter almost went through. Burn in hell yourself, bitch. [1]The readers reacted to the "Lori Drew" statement of "innocence" in the manner of the MySpace hoax and Megan's suicide. "Despicable, monster, bitch, and more, much more." Many wrote that they knew the site was most likely a hoax but also took the opportunity to write their "thoughts" about Lori, to Lori, on the blog. And whoever set up that site was one sick f#$#k.
The fake or real Lori, at this point no one knows for sure who this person is, whoever they are, they know enough details about this case to get by, played the part well. The "angry" mother who wanted to teach Megan a lesson about bullying. The claim that the police report was wrong, the fault of the police. This was the real Lori Drew's contention too. The police report, now in the public domain, told the tale of a woman, Lori Drew, distraught over the treatment by the Meiers after Megan's suicide and her "anger" that they would not "meet" with her to "learn the truth" about what happened. How Lori had set up a fake MySpace account, how it had gotten "sexual." It's no wonder Drew now claims the police report is wrong because it damns Lori. It's the opposite of what Lori Drew's attorney and the St. Charles prosecutor claimed to of happened, of Lori's "participation" being only peripheral.
The fake or real Lori bemoans that she acted as a "responsible" parent and when the commenters chided her she slapped them down, telling one to burn in hell. She grew impatient with the readers inability to "understand" why she had to do what she did to Megan. Megan's suicide had nothing, nothing to do with her. Blame Megan's mother, it said. Blame Megan's medication. Megan was a bully. Megan was going to humiliate my daughter. God, you people are morons.
Megan Had It Coming said... YOU PEOPLE STILL ARENT LISTENING!!!!! [1]The outrage from the readers was understandable. The comments about this person, whoever they are, being a sociopath, spot on.
And so, 48 hours after the authorities said they were investigating this blog, it's still there, open for business. We wondered, since the person who wrote the blog claims they are Lori Drew, and the real Lori Drew claims she is not involved, then why hasn't the blog owners, Bloggers, closed it down? After all it fits their criteria, of impersonation. The blog has been brought to the attention of the owners, Bloggers, to the cops, to Lori Drew, to the county prosecutor, to the news organizations. And yet, it still rolls on, collecting comment after comment.
We want to know who is behind this blog, specifically, that it is not Lori Drew. We want to know how the blog has managed to keep going even though it fits 3 out of 4 of the criteria as an offensive blog according to Bloggers, the ones who gave this site out to "Megan Had It Coming."
Megan Had it Coming said...Source - 1 -Megan Had It Coming
You don't know that. Nobody knows why Megan took her life that night except Megan. Was it MySpace? Was it the boyfriend? Was it the medication? Was it something else?
You can't put the responsibility or the blame on me when you can't verify or possibly know what was going through Megan's head that night.
I'm getting really tired of defending this point over and over. Please, people, just get it. [1]
By LBG
Image - [leonardovitale.it]
Back to Front Page.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has fingered a culprit in the Megan Meier story.
And the guilty parties are--surprise!--bloggers.
The traditional press, ever mindful of mouthing ethics that fall far short of what they actually practice, is again pointing a finger at their Internet brethren.
Joel Currier, the P-D writer seems upset that readers, upon reading Megan's story, became upset. The Post-Dispatch can hardly direct their ire at readers, having lost over 10,000 of them over the last year, so bloggers are not only handy, but also a logical target.[1]
Besides, bloggers most likely don't read the Post-Dispatch anyway.
Why's Joel so upset? We'll let him explain.Rage against Curt and Lori Drew of Dardenne Prairie continues to explode on the Internet — targeting the couple and people who did business with them.
So: there are people upset with the Drews. This is unpardonable. Joel quotes a few of the merchants, who are upset at being contacted by people learning of their association with Drew's Ad Vantage advertising company.
Bloggers want justice for Megan Meier, 13, and vengeance against the Drews, whom they blame for Megan's suicide last year.
Dozens of names and phone numbers of businesses that advertised in Lori Drew's coupon book have been posted online with demands to boycott their establishments.
Many of the companies have canceled their advertising contracts with Drew and received letters saying Drew is folding her coupon business.[2]
He then moves on to Drew's lawyer to support his thesis. The reporter in Mr. Currier surely knows that someone's attorney may not be the final word in objectivity.
Doesn't he? Jim Briscoe, the lawyer representing the Drews, told the "Today" show on Tuesday that Lori Drew has had to close her advertising business and her daughter has dropped out of school after the publicity and investigation into Megan's suicide. Briscoe also said it was not clear whether the Drews would be able to continue living in their Dardenne Prairie neighborhood, four doors down from the Meier house.
One admires Jim Briscoe. His job of presenting Lori Drew as a sympathetic figure is not an easy one. But he gets paid to do that job.
Drew "absolutely, 100 percent" did not know that Internet messages to Megan had become nasty, Briscoe said. Drew did not write any of the MySpace messages that preceded Megan Meier's suicide in October 2006.[2]
Joel Currier gets paid to do another job.
And today he earned his pay decrying the reactions of readers--of bloggers. He quotes another harried small businessman.Stein Hunter, 49, the owner of the Crooked Tree Coffee Shop in St. Charles, says he sees irony in the way people are using the Internet to harass business owners in order to get back at the Drews.
"The issue is harassment," Hunter said. "And they are harassing people."
An expression of opinion is many things to many people. To Mr. Hunter, it's harassment; it must certainly seems like it to him. But then, Mr. Hunter brews coffee: he doesn't report the news.
Another expression of opinion in the Post-Dispatch came from Currier's colleague, Jeff Gordon, sportswriter, about the Cardinal's Scott Rolen. "Rolen's gotta go," writes Gordon today. But no piece on whether Rolen agrees with that opinion or feels harassed. Or whether his livelihood might be affected.
And Rolen didn't conduct a six-week hoax on a 13-year-old girl; all he's apparently guilty of is pouting and frowning.
There's more of the same from Joel Currier in his story; anyone wanting to read it can check out the article; it's listed at the end of this post.
One could do a simple check--we did--to find that most of the phone numbers, personal information and posting of advertisers came from readers of blogs, not the blogs themselves. Whether in comments tagged onto the end of posts, in forums or in emails, readers were almost universally outraged.
Why were readers outraged?
That was simple enough to check also. They were upset that a 46-year-old woman would concoct an elaborate scam on a 13-year-old girl suffering from depression. They were upset that, in Drew's own words, "she, with the help of a temporary employee named "Ashley", constructed a profile of 'good-looking' male on 'myspace'".
They are upset that when "the communication became 'sexual for a 13-year-old', Drew--again in her own words--continued the fake male profile despite this development.[3]
They became upset at a traditional press, which had long published the names and personal information of anyone targeted in frivolous lawsuits or cases where people were arrested for offenses, large and small(and later the charges were dropped), clammed up when it came to an Internet hoaxer.
And now, those same readers appear to be upset when reporters attack the one vehicle they had for expressing their anger: the Internet and the bloggers who chronicle there.
This isn't the first time this has happened. It's one of the reasons that TV ratings and circulation figures continue to tumble for the gatekeepers in the traditional media: poor and unresponsive customer service.
One suspects this won't be the last time.
by Mondoreb
[image:stlbrianj]
Sources:
1-FAS-FAX Numbers from the Audit Bureau of Circulation
2-Internet Fury Mounts in Megan Case
3-What Lawyer said in 2007, What Lori Drew said in 2006
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
Myspace Suicide, Lori Drew, Megan Meier: 'Megan Had It Coming' Blog Being Investigated By Local Authorities
0 comments
It's been confirmed that the authorities are investigating the "Megan Had It Coming" Blog. It’s a new twist in the story of the internet hoax that ended in a tragic teen suicide. A new investigation is being launched in connection with the October 2006 death of 13 year old Megan Meier's of Dardenne Prairie in St. Charles County.
DBKP has monitored the blog since its beginning. Only three posts since it began over two weeks ago. The latest claimed the author was Lori Drew.
The sheriff and the prosecutor have confirmed they're now looking into a blog site which recounts in great detail the entire Megan Meier saga. St. Charles County prosecutor, Jack Banas, is calling on the department’s "cyber" crimes investigators to find out who's behind the site; the very title of which may offend you: "Megan Had It Coming". The title is followed by the statement, "I'm Lori Drew."
What did Drew's attorney have to say about that? Drew's attorney, Jim Briscoe, did not respond to Fox 2's attempts to reach him for comment on the story.
The blog appeared on November 18th at 1:01 PM with the first post entitled "Set The Record Straight." This was when the story of Megan Meier's suicide and the hoax behind it was first reaching most of the country.
But Drew's family did; her father telling Fox 2, Drew had nothing to do with the blog; the family welcomed the investigation.
Authorities say Meier's former neighbor, Lori Drew, Drew's daughter, and Drew's 18 year old employee, concocted a MySpace web page, under the name of a make-believe 16 year old boy, who befriended Megan on-line.
Authorities say the purposed of the hoax was to find out if Megan was saying things about Drew's daughter, a former friend of Megan's. Megan's mother also welcomes the investigation into the "Megan Had It Coming" blog site.
"That would be great," said Tina Meier. "I think hopefully it would make a stand … we can post that we are anybody in this world. We can say we are anybody. We can act as anybody, and it's ok. It's just absolutely ok. You can absolutely ruin somebody's lives."
As in the case of Megan. Authorities say she hanged herself after receiving a final message from the make-believe boy; a message which said the world would be better off without her.
In that first post, the person claimed to be using a fake name, that of "Kristen." "Kristen" claimed to be a former classmate of Megan's.
There have been three posts on the "Megan Had it Coming" Blog. The first on November 18, when the story was first sweeping across the country.
The first post was entitled "Set the Record Straight" and it's reproduced below.Sunday, November 18, 2007
Set the record straight
I want to set the record straight about Megan Meier. I'm calling myself Kristen because if i don't want to give out my real name.
Megan and I were sort of friends. I always saw her at school and sometimes on myspace when her mom would let her on. I need to talk about what she was like because everyone has this picture of this innocent girl who had this horrible thing done to her. That's sorta true but not totally.
Megan was a total drama queen. Yeah i know it was depression or whatev but it was hard to be her friend for very long because she would always lose it and turn into a psycho. That's why Lori Drew's daughter stopped being friends with Megan. Let's call her laura. Every other day Megan would have some crisis and you could see her freaking out down the hall or screaming at someone for stabbing her in the back or not listening to her or whatever then she would go cry to Laura unless it was her pissing her off. You couldn't say anything to megan without her taking it the wrong way.
Yeah she was kinda fat. But she made it seem like everyone was out to harpoon her or whatev. I saw her out with her mom one day at tri sports and she was being a total basket case complaining how all the sports gear made her look fat. You could tell that her mom had been putting up with her daughter for a looooooong time and kinda tuned her out. I would, too.
Oh one other thing about Megan is that she was soooooo shallow. She totally threw herself at any boy who would give her the time of day and then totally lose him for stupid reasons. She was hot for this one boy in our math class and she was trying to be a flirt but she was being totally slutty at him until sara this other girl she talked to said she didn't think he was very hot and boom! suddenly megan wasn't intrested in him anymore and called him a loser in front of everyone. It was that kind of stuff that made people not like Megan. Megan could be really mean and hurtful.
Oh and if you ever disagreed with her or didn't go in with whatever she was talking about she totally pulled this poor me thing and got all defensive. she was a total psycho and everyone knew it. And she knew that everyone knew it and she went even more crazy! Like when she talked about liking Usher and someone else called her a getto bitch and she screamed at the top of her lungs NO IM NOT!!!!! You couldn't help but laugh at her because she was soooooo nuts!!!
So yeah it's to bad Megan killed herself but it's not suprising. I mean if she didn't have enough to eat at dinner that could have set her off and made her kill herself. And killing yourself over a myspace boy? come on!!! I mean yeah your fat so you have to take what you can get but still nobody should kill themselves over it. Oh wait unless your Megan the psycho who goes crazy over every little thing and acts like it's the end of the world. Think about it Megan was "drove" to suicide because from her perspective a boy she liked suddenly asked her about her school reputation and said he wasn't into it? How crazy do you have to be?
Oh and I don't think Lori Drew is so evil as everyone says. Megan was a total bitch to everyone around her especially Laura so if I was her mom I would be mad at Megan too and I would check up on her to see what shit she was spreading about my daughter. And Megan totally talked shit about everyone, including Laura. After she told Laura off, she went around to all her friends to get everyone on her side as if it was this huge divorce or somethingcalling Laura a slut and a bitch so whatev. So yeah Laura's mom checked up on Megan to see what was up and give her a taste of her own medicine. And it's not like Laura's mom did this whole campaign like you see on the news. She was pretending to be this nice guy for six weeks and then said two mean things in one day and that was it. It's not like Megan thought some mean adult was coming after her. All she knew was that some boy who would totally make her think she's hot shit at school cuz she couldn't shut up about him she totally showed him off like a trophy so all the other girls would be jealous and then oops her awesome boy toy was fake!! She was like totally busted on that one. And she had it coming with all the shit she did.
So nobody in the news talks about what Megan the bitch was like so now you know. Oh and don't bother trying to figure out who I am. Unlike Megan, I DO have a boyfriend and he knows computers and he totally covered my tracks.
Posted by Megan Had It Coming at 1:01 PM
The next post came almost a week later on November 26 and was entitled "Who's at Fault". It included some information on bi-polar sufferers and comments which generally took a pro-Lori Drew outlook.
The second post is reproduced below:Monday, November 26, 2007
Who's really at fault?
When the grief counselor came to our school last year and spoke to us, she said over and over again that Megan's death was the fault of nobody but Megan. No matter who was feeling guilty, or who thought they should have known something or said something or not said something or whatev. She said it was a tragedy, but something like "there's no way to predict when or why a depressed person would end her own life. In the end no one but Megan can be held responsible for Megan's suicide." She sent us to this site too: http://www.healthyplace.com/communities/bipolar/related/suicide_8.asp
My boyfriend showed this to his older brother. He's in college and really smart. He said there were some really good comments and we should repost them so people can see. So here:
BlondeHrtBreakr said...
So let me get this straight...Megan was old enough to get on MySpace, create a fake profile to attract guys, but yet she's not old enough to take a few insults in one SINGLE afternoon? Come on. If you go as far as to get online and flirt with "boys", you should be able to take a little rejection without HANGING YOURSELF. The parents who tricked her were being rude, yes, but if I were them, I would not feel guilty. You don't MAKE someone kill themselves. That is utter garbage. Megan was old enough to make her own choices. She made a CHOICE to get online and impersonate someone else....she made a CHOICE to talk to a 16 yr old boy she DID NOT KNOW....and she made a CHOICE to kill herself. All piss poor choices. You people talk as if this was a 5 or 6 year old girl who didn't know better....please. She knew what she was doing. She got fooled this time! SHE IS NOT THE VICTIM. Quit speaking about her as if she was.....So ignorant!
Good answer!
A. Addolorata said...
At 13 years old I had a blog on teenopendiary.com, somewhat similar to myspace.com. As any other 13+ year old I wrote my fair share of angst, and I had various comments, including ones that told me to kill myself, that I was worthless, etc. I've had people tell me to kill myself, and yet I'm still here. At 13, I was smart enough to simply step away from the computer. I mentioned earlier that I had made a suicide attempt, but the attempt was made due to reasons well beyond what someone said on the internet.
Smart girl you rock!
Jeff said...
Lori didn't tell Megan to hang herself. Lori didn't put the belt around her neck, didn't fasten it to the closet. The evidence is scant that it was indeed Lori who sent the message that Megan allegedly found so hurtful.
Yet, there is an internet mob which insists that despite all these facts, Lori is guilty of the murder of Megan Meier. The internet mob has repeatably harassed Lori Drew, to the point where the police have expressed concern. The internet mob has also demanded the prosecution of the author of this blog for unnamed crimes. This is bullshit, and of course I stand against it.
Jeff is one of the most level headed people here. I think you should read his comments where he debates a psycho mommy bitch (probably Tina) and hands her ass to her! Right on!
JennaD said...
This case has only been tried in the court of public opinion, mostly by people who only have the knowledge of what they have read on the internet or heard on a sensationalized TV show in order to make money.
Every story has two sides and if you don't think so - then I hope you are never tried and convicted in your own court.
This is why I tried to bring the second side to the story. But hey whatev, people don't want to hear it.
Angel said...
It's quite obvious you don't know what you're talking about. Did you even know Megan? If not, you have no opinion worth listening to
Oh really, Angel? Did any of YOU people commenting here condemning her and me even know Megan? Well, if not, none of you have an opinion worth listening to, according to Angel.
e/b/aumsworld said...
"It's disgusting how you think the true victims are to blame." -- I find it disgusting how you think she's above any blame whatsoever. Isn't suicide a cardinal sin in most religions? I bet someone's roasting in at least one of those hells right about now.
Here's another smart guy who has a good grasp on what we're saying. Way to pwn them!
Jeff said...
I find that this blog author has expressed my thoughts on this manner in a better manner than I have been able to: http://www.megansvigilantes.blogspot.com/
Jeff points out a good blog. I think you should all go read it.
e/b/aumsworld said...
would've had plenty of time if she'd, I dunno...SIGNED THE FUCK OFF LIKE HER MOTHER SAID TO! But no, she stayed online and kept bitching and whining about a bunch of meaningless tripe ON THE INTERNETS. On MySpace, no less. And now everyone's crying over what a "tragedy" this whole mess is simply because she was too lazy to get her ass OFF the computer. Jesus Christ, what a crock.
OMG INTERNETS! lolololololol
Katya said...
I can't believe how close minded you people are. If you had to deal with a psycho bitch you wouldn't think "oh I should try to get her some help" you'd think "wow this bitch treats me like shit. fuck her"
Maybe her parents should have seen that she had issues and gotten her help. Legally, they're supposed to be taking care of her.
Her friends tried and got sick of being treated like shit. It isn't their purpose in life to help. They shouldn't have to suffer just because someone else has issues.
U said it so much better than I did. That's exactly the point i wanted to make! thx!
It's sort of like that time I lost at Super Mario Kart because my friends cheated so I kicked them all out and then smashed my nintendo with a baseball bat. Only i was like 8 at the time. And I didn't blame them for what I did.
So there you go. Megan was a skank who had her myspace pwning coming and when the shallow bitch realized that her trophy bf was fake, and everyone knew it, she went WAYYYYYYY over the edge and killed herself.
No one's fault but Megan's.
Posted by Megan Had It Coming at 11:34 AM
The third post appeared on December 3 and was entitled "I'm Lori Drew". The post has drawn 2115 comments to it and is mostly an off-and-on running verbal battle between readers and the person claiming to be Drew.
Some have attributed some of the anonymous comments to the Drew-poster, also. The poster challenges the readers to come and get her, but to leave her daughter alone.
The third and final post is reproduced below.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 2116 comments
This from Fox News in St. Louis:it’s a new twist in the story of the internet hoax that ended in a tragic teen suicide. A new investigation is being launched in connection with the October 2006 death of 13 year old Megan Meier's of Dardenne Prairie in St. Charles County.
The sheriff and the prosecutor have confirmed they're now looking into a blog site which recounts in great detail the entire Megan Meier saga. St. Charles County prosecutor, Jack Banas, is calling on the department’s "cyber" crimes investigators to find out who's behind the site; the very title of which may offend you: "Megan Had It Coming". The title is followed by the statement, "I'm Lori Drew."
Drew's attorney, Jim Briscoe, did not respond to Fox 2's attempts to reach him for comment on the story.
But Drew's family did; her father telling Fox 2, Drew had nothing to do with the blog; the family welcomed the investigation.
Authorities say Meier's former neighbor, Lori Drew, Drew's daughter, and Drew's 18 year old employee, concocted a MySpace web page, under the name of a make-believe 16 year old boy, who befriended Megan on-line.
Authorities say the purposed of the hoax was to find out if Megan was saying things about Drew's daughter, a former friend of Megan's. Megan's mother also welcomes the investigation into the "Megan Had It Coming" blog site.
"That would be great," said Tina Meier. "I think hopefully it would make a stand … we can post that we are anybody in this world. We can say we are anybody. We can act as anybody, and it's ok. It's just absolutely ok. You can absolutely ruin somebody's lives."
As in the case of Megan. Authorities say she hanged herself after receiving a final message from the make-believe boy; a message which said the world would be better off without her.
In spite of the worldwide outcry to make someone pay, the prosecutor says he was unable to file any criminal charges under current law.
"When we go outside that and use our emotions to not look at a case, and not match it up to the facts and circumstances, that's when you end up with something like the Duke lacrosse case," said Banas.
Yet now more than ever he is duty bound to try to get to the bottom of the newest anonymous on-line attack in this case; this one appearing to victimize Lori Drew as much against Drew as it is Megan Meier.
Consider the new investigation part of Megan's legacy, even if it should end up helping protect the very people her mother says targeted Megan.
"I know that Megan's here and that she's helping me," Tina Meier said. "I will definitely make sure her life was not in vain."
She hopes that means testifying on behalf of tougher laws in the Missouri Legislature and Congress, too. She hopes that leades to laws that target not only those doing the cyber bullying and hurtful messaging, but also the web-sites that give them a forum.
Questions to ask:
If the authorities started their investigation yesterday, December 4th, why is it still up?
Why are comments still being posted to the blog, "Megan Had it Coming"?
Lori Drew says it isn't her. Is it? We don't know.
Is this blog breaking any laws? Is it a crime to leave it up?
If the MySpace account created by the original hoaxers drew no charges, how can this one, which has not led to any physical harm, to be any different?
The Drews, the Meiers and the authorities all are aware of this site; it only takes a second to shut it down. The prosecutor and the police are all aware of it.
And the big question is:
Who is behind this website?
And will the police even reveal the identity of the blogger if and when they find out who it is?
We are waiting for answers like everyone else.
By MondoReb and LBG
Source - Fox News 2: Authorities investigate blog
Source - Megan Had It Coming
MySpace Suicide Library:
25 stories and videos from the place who had it first on the Internet.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
[click on image to enlarge.]
A comparison of a few of the statements made by Lori Drew in November of 2006 and the statements made by Jim Briscoe, Drew's lawyer, on the Today Show earlier today.“Everything, as far as Mrs. Drew knew, was that all the communication was nice and polite and there was no harassing going on,” Briscoe said. “She did not create the MySpace account. She did not instruct anybody to create the MySpace account. She never made any communications through the MySpace account.”
--Attorney Jim Briscoe"She did not instruct anybody to create the MySpace account. She never made any communications through the MySpace account.”
--Briscoe
"Drew stated that in the months leading up Meier's daughter suicide, she instigated and monitored a "my space" account which was created for the sole purpose of communicating with Meier's daughter."
--From the police report above.
Are there any discrepancies between what Lori Drew stated in the police report in November 2006 and what her lawyer said in December 2007?
Or do they jive?
As always, we'll present both and let the readers decide.
Compiled by Mondoreb
[images: smokinggun]
Sources:
Lori Drew's Lawyer: Drew "Knew of Hoax, Didn't Stop It"
Smoking Gun - Megan Meier Police Reports
COMPLETE Megan Meier, Lori Drew, MySpace Suicide Coverage:
DBKP: Megan Meier MySpace Suicide Stories and Videos List
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
Part III on the continuing debate that broke out on the blog "Megan Had it Coming" between the blog's author--who first claimed to be "Kristen" and then yesterday published a post "I'm Lori Drew"--and readers who read and commented.
Is it really Drew? We don't know yet. We're still trying to find out though.
In the meantime, read and then decide.
--BREAKING: Drew's Lawyer: Drew Knew, Didn't Stop It-Video Report
Compiled by Little Baby Ginn
notes: Mondoreb
[Image:i.imdb.com]
Sources:
Comments - Megan Had it Coming - "I'm Lori Drew"
DBKP - Lori Drew or Internet Troll?
DBKP - A Conversation Between Lori Drew and Internet Commenters
DBKP - Lori Drew Author of 'Megan Had it Coming' Blog?
MEGAN MEIER, LORI DREW, MYSPACE SUICIDE LIBRARY:
DBKP MySpace Suicide Library
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
You are absolutely unbelievable. An absolute piece of work. I hope you spend the rest of your life alone and destitute.
December 3, 2007 11:29 AM
I hope someday you realize that you instigated this situation. Your post did nothing but convince people that you are ruthless and immature. You hurt someone. And she was so hurt that she ended her life. One of my family members committed suicide, and it is something that I will never cope with. It's not a car accident, it's not cancer....someone was so SAD and helpless that they took their own life. You need to realize that you pushed someone that was vulnerable!
December 3, 2007 11:29 AM
Having conversations that were sexual for a 13 year old? How is that monitoring for cyberbulling?
GODDAMN YOU I AM SO SICK OF THIS LIE! I didn't engage in anything sexual. Megan tried to initiate sex talk and I backed away from it. I NEVER ENGAGED IN ANYTHING LIKE THAT. So stop spreading this lie.
December 3, 2007 11:29 AM
It's not fair to put that on me. I didn't know Megan would kill herself. No one suspected Megan would kill herself. If you blame me then you have to blame Megan's parents, too. They were closer to Megan. THEY WERE HER PARENTS. And she still managed to kill herself. What does that say? Does it say they're bad parents, too? No. It says that no one could have predicted Megan's suicide. Not Tina, not Ron, not me.
Lori, a drunken driver does not intentionally set out to kill a carload of prom going teens. He is just driving home. That doesn't make him any less responsible.
December 3, 2007 11:29 AM
GODDAMN YOU I AM SO SICK OF THIS LIE! I didn't engage in anything sexual. Megan tried to initiate sex talk and I backed away from it. I NEVER ENGAGED IN ANYTHING LIKE THAT. So stop spreading this lie.
Heavy makeout sessions? Not a lie, honey. You may not want to see it this way...but it doesn't change what it was.
December 3, 2007 11:31 AM
Okay--place the suicide completely aside for now.
You baited and misled a depressed 13-year-old for weeks, eventually culminating in an emotional collapse.
Murderer? No, you're a torturer.
December 3, 2007 11:31 AM
Fine, you didn't mean to kill her? Do drunk drivers mean to kill people?
It doesn't matter if your malicious intent was to just make her miserable or to push her off the edge, you still did it. Show some regret you heartless woman.
December 3, 2007 11:32 AM
You not only victimized a girl who is the same age as your own daughter, you victimized someone who you KNEW was suffering from mental illness. What's wrong with you???? You are a child abuser...I just have to wonder how innocent your daughter really is, was she being bullied by other CHILDREN, was she an innocent victim, or does she take after you? Kids have a way of working out their differences for themselves, it's a part of growing up....are you going to fight all her battles for her, pick her husband for her, sleep with him too? You are a dangerous woman and no child should ever be allowed near you...including your own! The high school called Mrs Drew, they want their robe back..your youth is over, you can't get it back living through your daughter!
December 3, 2007 11:32 AM
One of my family members committed suicide, and it is something that I will never cope with. It's not a car accident, it's not cancer....someone was so SAD and helpless that they took their own life.
I'm very sorry for your loss, but you have to understand that Megan suffered from clinical depression for which she took medication. Her depression wasn't psychological, it was chemical. That means there is truly no way to know WHY she killed herself. Maybe it was the final myspace comments. Maybe it was her own mother ignoring her. Maybe she skipped her medication recently. Maybe that FDA warning that anti-depressants can have suicidal effects on children and teens should have come out a couple of months earlier. You can't place blame on others when someone commits suicide.
December 3, 2007 11:33 AM
Lori, a drunken driver does not intentionally set out to kill a carload of prom going teens. He is just driving home. That doesn't make him any less responsible.
Bingo.
Do you want the world to stop hating you?
Apologize, instead of defending yourself through pointing the blame at a 13-year-old. Apologize to the Meiers. Admit that you were wrong, horribly, terribly wrong, and that had you acted like an adult, none of this would have happened.
That's a start.
December 3, 2007 11:35 AM
You baited and misled a depressed 13-year-old for weeks, eventually culminating in an emotional collapse.
DID YOU NOT READ THE PART WHERE I TRIED TO LET HER DOWN EASY? You don't know it was an emotional collapse. No one can know why Megan killed herself. Maybe it was the myspace comments. Maybe it was the cold reaction from her own parents. Maybe it was her medication. YOU DON'T KNOW SO STOP PUTTING IT ON ME.
December 3, 2007 11:35 AM
Lori, you are delusional. You've spent six weeks trying to come up with a way to justify your sociopathic, vindictive behavior, and this is the best you can do?
Lame. Just plain lame.
It's all lies; delusional lies that you tell yourself so that you can sleep at night. You're mad at the world? Is that what you said? And to retaliate against the world, you right a blog called "Megan Had It Coming" and you call the child a slut?
Lame, lame, lame.
You really are a child predator. They always blame the victim, too. "That two year old SEDUCED ME. I had no choice but to molest her."
Megan was posting annonymous stuff through OTHER PEOPLES blogs? But you JUST KNEW IT WAS HER?? She's a demon seed....she's a slut...she's a BAD GIRL!
You are a deviant.
Have a shitty rest of your life. And your little dog, too.
December 3, 2007 11:35 AM
Letting her down easy would have been to just say, sorry, can't be friends anymore, or sorry, I'm moving away, or to just delete the account altogether. Instead, you had to be mean about it.
I don't think you intended to let her down easy at all.
December 3, 2007 11:36 AM
You can't be this stupid....really.
December 3, 2007 11:37 AM
a drunken driver does not intentionally set out to kill a carload of prom going teens. He is just driving home. That doesn't make him any less responsible.
This isn't like driving drunk. It's not even close. I worked to PROTECT MY DAUGHTER FROM A CYBER BULLY. There's was no way to know that Megan would kill herself. None. Not even the Meiers could predict or prevent it and they were HER PARENTS.
I'm not a murderer.
December 3, 2007 11:37 AM
What could have possibly possessed you to start this blog? I realize that you have serious mental problems, but where is your husband or your lawyer?
Is there no function adult in your life who is there to tell you how entirely ill-advised this blog is?
December 3, 2007 11:37 AM
First!
December 3, 2007 11:37 AM
I'm very sorry for your loss, but you have to understand that Megan suffered from clinical depression for which she took medication. Her depression wasn't psychological, it was chemical. That means there is truly no way to know WHY she killed herself. Maybe it was the final myspace comments. Maybe it was her own mother ignoring her. Maybe she skipped her medication recently. Maybe that FDA warning that anti-depressants can have suicidal effects on children and teens should have come out a couple of months earlier. You can't place blame on others when someone commits suicide.
You admit you knew she was depressed. How sad for you.
Lori, you aren't helping. Say sorry to them! Say sorry to your family. Say you are sorry to Ashley.
It is wrong, and she is gone. You didn't delete the account after it got sexual. You didn't do it. You didn't walk away. You kept going.
You are modeling this behavior for your very impressionable daughter. Teach her to own up to her mistakes. Be a good mom, and show her how you can take responsibility for her words and deeds. Be a good mom, and show your daughter the right way to do it.
December 3, 2007 11:38 AM