Teenager Comes Clean in Myspace Suicide Hoax

Last year in Missouri; a story involving a 13 year old girl Megan Meier, began to get national media attention. Megan's parent were seeking justice. They claimed that Megan took her life after being befriended and then harassed by an "imaginary" person on myspace. I watched as the teary eyed parents made their plea for justice, claiming that their daughter's death was the result of a cruel hoax cooked up by a neighbor Lori Drew(an adult), and carried out by that adult neighbor and several teens, and that criminal charges should be made. I have been paying attention to this story because I am curious as to how far they go with this one. If you aren't familiar with the details you can catch up at ABC News, or just Google "Myspace Suicide Case"

This morning I watched an exclusive interview on ABC News, where Ashley Grills, one of the teenagers , involved with creating the phony myspace character that was used to first befriend and then later harass the deceased girl, confessed to the role she played in the conspiracy and that the whole thing was done with both the approval and participation of the adult neighbor Lori Drew. She expressed her remorse and the reasoning behind why the fraud began in the first place. Supposedly the initial idea was to create the phony character (Josh Evans) on myspace and become friends with Megan Meire to find out if she was bad mouthing the daughter of Lori Drew. The last message she sent to Megan included the phrase "...the world would be a better place without you." Shortly after reading that last message Megan was dead.

Ashley admits that the idea to create the phony account was hers and that she accepts the responsibility for her actions, I can't help but wonder why it took so long for her to come forward. Even still after hearing her talk about what took place I still am not so sure that their irresponsible and thoughtless behavior is the sole cause of Megan's death.

As disturbing as all of the details are in this case, I have yet to hear anyone dig deeper into the story. Most of the outcry has been in support of the Meires and everyone is crying out for charges to be brought against the Drew's for their role in the young girl's death. It is always sad and depressing to hear of a young person dying, especially when they take their own life, but is the "myspace hoax" really the cause of the young girl's death and worthy of criminal charges, or is it just an irresponsible, poorly thought out adolescent scheme that became a contributing factor in Megan's suicide?

I truly sympathize with the Meire family, having experienced the loss of a child myself there is no pain like it. However I hope that in an attempt to deal with the grief, and try to make sense of this loss, that we don't overlook the fact that there are always multiple causes into why things happen. Was it a cruel thing to do, to create an imaginary character to first become friends with and then turn on and harass young Megan...without a doubt YES! I guess I have been watching because I want to see if anyone will ask some of the questions that have been bugging me, questions like:

The Megan parents sated that Megan struggled with depression and self image issues, so why did allowing their daughter to become close friends with a person they knew nothing about, because he had a cute picture and seemed nice? Am I the only person who realizes that the people on myspace and other social sites aren't always what or who they seem. I deny 3 friend request to every 1 that I approve on myspace continually.

What was it about this Josh character that convinced the Megan's parents that he would be a good influence or have a positive effect in their daughter's life? Maybe I am still old school, but what happened to asking questions like where does he live, who's his mama nem, why does he want to be your friend, what school does he attend?

Since their daughter had a history of depression, why leave her alone for twenty minutes after arguing with her and seeing that she was obviously distraught? I struggle to understand this one because there is no such thing as kids running off upset and slamming doors, depressed or not.

What are we teaching our kids in schools these days that has them so wrapped in up virtual social networks and other people's opinion? Whatever happened to "liking the skin your in" and loving yourself or "sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me?"

What was missing and how fragile was this young girl that an unknown (imaginary) stranger could come along and first make life seem so much better, and then turn right around and jerk the rug right from under her feet sending her spiraling into despair? I struggle with this one also, isn't 13 a bit young to be all wrapped in what some young boy (in this case a make believe boy) you've never met thinks about you.

If "Josh" had been a real person, would this still have happened and would we be talking murder charges?

I have a ton more questions, but I will just stay tuned and keep watching to see how it turns out. I have to be honest there are some things I can't relate to in this story. Maybe it's because of my age, maybe it's just cultural. I just hope that people don't get all riled up and emotionally charged and then run off creating more laws to supposedly protect the world from cyber-bullies, instead of using this tragedy to remind us that the real defense is in teaching our children to be secure with who they are and not depend on other people to give or take away their value and self worth. The world is a different place, bullies no longer just troll the cafeterias and playgrounds anymore, they are on line in chat rooms and forums and social networks like myspace. Will passing new laws stop them...or protect children from them...I hate to say it, but I don't think they will.

What do you think?