Nikki Catsouras: Her Family Relives Her Death Due to Gruesome Pictures

Nikki Catsouras died in a tragic car accident on Halloween night 2006. After taking the keys to her father's Porsche, Nikki Catsouras clipped a Honda and slammed into a concrete toll booth while driving at a speed of nearly 100mph. Nikki Catsouras died on impact and was nearly decapitated. A truly horrifying tragedy for the family to deal with, however, thanks to the internet and malicious people, the family has been reliving their daughter's death for nearly 3-years now.

Not only have photos of Nikki Catsouras's accident have been distributed over the internet. They have been emailed to the family with captions such as "Whoohoo Daddy! Hey Daddy, I'm still alive." The ghastly photos of the crime scene displayed a disturbing picture of the young girl. So disturbing, the coroner would not even allow the parents to identify the body.

The leak of the pictures has lead back to two California Highway Patrol Dispatchers, Thomas O'Donnell and Aaron Reich. According to Newsweek.com, one of the dispatchers was suspended without pay for 25 days and the other quit for reasons not connected to the pictures. Also stated by Newsweek, Reich's attorney, Jon Schlueter said his client sent the images to relatives and friends to warn them of the dangers of the road. "It was a cautionary tale," Schlueter says. "Any young person that sees these photos and is goaded into driving more cautiously or less recklessly-that's a public service."

As cold hearted as the comment by Reich's attorney may sound, a California Superior-Court Judge agreed. The Judge stated, "No duty exists between the surviving family and defendant," the opinion reads, because privacy rights don't extend to the dead. "It's an unfortunate situation, and our heart goes out to the family," says R. Rex Parris, the attorney representing O'Donnell. "But this is America, and there's a freedom of information."

Using a 2004 case as precedent, the Catourases have filed an appeal. The Catsourases told Newsweek that their other daughters aging from 10 to 18 have not yet seen the pictures. However, protecting them from the grisly images it is becoming more difficult for the family with their continued circulation on the internet. The family now waits for the June 1 deadline for the ruling on their appeal.

For the time being it seems the only way for these pictures to be hidden from view, is for people not to click on links displaying the pictures. For each click the sites get, the better their Google ranking becomes and the more prominent they become. Let's help the Catsourases lay their daughter to rest by not searching for the grisly pictures.

Bennett, Jessica. Newsweek. 25 Apr 2009. 6 May 2009 .