New Look at Case of Teen's Suicide Over Web Bullying
Authorities in Missouri initially said no laws appeared to have been broken by at least one adult allegedly responsible for an Internet hoax that reportedly bullied a 13-year-old girl into committing suicide a year ago. But now prosecutors are looking into the situation further following a public outcry after recent widespread publicity about the incident.
The controversy revolves around a fictitious Internet profile for a teenage “Josh Evans” and related romantic and abusive messages which a neighbor of Megan Meier is accused of sending, and which allegedly helped drive the girl to hang herself in her family’s home. They “could have violated a federal cyberstalking law, which prevents people from sending abusive or threatening messages,” writes ABC News, attributing the information to Perry Aftab, a cyberlaw expert who runs WiredSafety.
Jack Banas, a St. Charles County prosecutor, now says he will re-examine the case, according to ABC. As discussed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post, the local town council in Dardenne Prairie plans to introduce an ordinance tomorrow that would make such online harassment a misdemeanor.
“It’s not much, but at least it’s something,” says Mayor Pam Fogarty said of the proposed ordinance, according to ABC. “I think it’s absolutely horrible that an adult can do this to a child, much less the mother of a friend and there is nothing to charge her with.”
The family accused of involvement in the cyberbullying declined to comment for an earlier St. Louis Post-Dispatch story.
