TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: megan-meier

  • No criminal charges in Megan Meier’s suicide

    No criminal charges in Megan Meier’s suicide

    Prosecutor: No Criminal Charges in MySpace Suicide:

    As expected, St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas announced at a press conference earlier today that there will be no criminal files charged in the harassment/suicide death of Megan Meier.

    “Their purpose was never to cause her emotional harassment that we can prove,” Banas said. “There’s a difference between what people think or what we may believe the reason was that they created this, it’s what we can prove and what a jury would believe.”

    Banas said statements from the neighbor and two teens who participated in the fictitious account couldn’t meet criminal standards for the state’s statutes on harassment, stalking or endangering the welfare of a child.

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation lead the investigation after the U.S. Attorney’s Office was contacted by the Meier family, Banas said.

    In a perfect world, there would be charges filed against the adults that caused Megan Meier to commit suicide. Then again, in a perfect world, adults wouldn’t descend into this kind of behavior then act like it wasn’t their fault.

  • Leonard Pitts Jr. on Megan Meier

    Leonard Pitts Jr. on Megan Meier

    Parents concoct ‘joke’ that leads to shame, anguish, death for teen:

    Leonard Pitts Jr. is one of the few newspaper columnists I respect. Hell, he might be the only one. In his latest column, he gives his take on the death of Megan Meier and his wishes for the Drews. In my opinion, it’s the best take so far on the situation.

  • No apologies to the Meiers

    No apologies to the Meiers

    MySpace hoax victim’s kin seek justice:

    This is an article about the interview Megan Meier’s parents gave on the Today Show yesterday. Where they say that the ‘adults’ who caused their daughter to kill herself have offered no apology. In fact, they’ve done quite the reverse.

    “They’ve absolutely offered no apologies,” Ron Meier told TODAY co-host Matt Lauer on Monday. “They sent us a letter in the mail, basically saying that they might feel a little bit of responsibility, but they don’t feel no guilt or remorse or anything for what they did.”

    Rather, said Tina Meier, the people are upset with her for going public with their story. Last week, while shopping, she ran into the woman who invented the hoax, Tina Meier said.

    “She asked me to stop doing all of this,” she told Lauer. “I told her that we would not stop, that we were going to continue for justice for Megan because we knew what they did.”

    The Meiers have not named the people because they do not want to identify their teenage daughter, who had once been a friend of Megan’s.

    Wow, how in the hell do you become that callous in your life to not apologize but to complain when you caused a girl to kill herself.

    And speaking of not naming them, I’ve decided to lift that restriction since the St. Louis Journal has. And it seems that Curt and Lori Drew are receiving just a modicum of karma for what they did to Megan Meier…

    One night last week, well after most of the families in this quiet community went to bed, a half-dozen police cars sped down Waterford Crystal Drive, lights flashing.

    A man, they were told, had been fatally shot inside a home.

    Neighbors opened doors, peered out windows and watched. As many as 15 deputies, they said, drew weapons and charged the home of Lori and Curt Drew.

    But there was no body lying in a pool of blood. No weapon in Curt Drew’s hand.

    The call was a prank, one of many at the Drews’ home this year. A lawn job. A brick through a window. Threatening phone calls. Paintball attacks.

    The neighborhood is angry.

    But now it’s not just the neighborhood, most of the country is angry.

    Thanks to Dan Fan for the last link.

  • Megan Meier’s tormentors named

    Megan Meier’s tormentors named

    Blog Readers Out Anonymous Adults that Newspaper Refused to Identify:

    According to this article from Wired, readers of some blogs, not this one, that read the story about Megan Meier have published the names of those responsible for her suicide.

    The St. Charles Journal wrote in the story that it decided not to name the woman and the other adult involved in the incident out of concern for the woman’s own teenage daughter. The two adults haven’t been charged with any crime.

    But readers of various blogs that posted the story were furious with the paper’s decision. By matching certain details in the article with property records, they found the name and address of a woman who they believe created the Josh Evans persona, and published her details online.

    Was the paper right to protect the woman’s identity? Were the bloggers right to publish a name and address that may or may not be correct?

    Even though I think the people involved with Megan’s death are scumbags and I hope eventually they are prosecuted and sent away for a long time, this is nothing more than a blatant case of vigilantism. I also want to add that I will not post their names here.

    Let the law do its job, people. By publishing their names, you’re jeopardizing the chances of justice being served.

  • Charges possible but not likely in MySpace suicide

    Charges possible but not likely in MySpace suicide

    Prosecutor To Review MySpace Suicide:

    The St. Charles, Missouri County Prosecutor, Jack Banas, is saying that there may be criminal charges for the MySpace suicide death of Megan Meier, but he also says it’s unlikely.

    The county prosecutor says he never saw the complete case file. He doesn’t want to give anyone false hope, but he says it’s not yet case closed.

    “Me personally, I’ve never seen anything on this case,” says St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas. He says from what he’s heard he knows hearts are broken, but he doesn’t believe laws were.

    Banas never saw the report but wants to see all the evidence now, but based on what he’s heard he believes what happened was cruel, but not criminal.

    I’m not holding my breath over this one, but I pray to God that Prosecutor Banas can find something to charge the people responsible for Megan Meier’s death.

  • Girl commits suicide over MySpace hoax

    Girl commits suicide over MySpace hoax

    ‘My Space’ hoax ends with suicide of Dardenne Prairie teen:

    This one is so heart-wrenching as a parent that I’m at a loss for words.

    Megan Meier was a 13-year-old girl who had some problems, but things were turning around for her. That was until she got a friend request from someone claiming to be, in Megan’s words, a hot 16-year-old boy by the name of Josh.

    The two remained friends on MySpace for a while, then all of a sudden, Josh started sending disparaging messages to Megan. Comments like “I don’t know if I want to be friends with you anymore because I’ve heard that you are not very nice to your friends.”

    Then MySpace bulletins started circulating about her that said things like, “Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat.”

    It bothered her so much that Megan Meier took her own life.

    That’s not even the worst part.

    Worst Part #1: Josh never existed and this was all done by adults.

    Worst Part #2: No criminal charges are being filed.

    As usual, I’m not paying justice to the story. Please go and read the entire article.

    And to the people who did this to Megan Meier, I’ll just leave you with that I hope you rot in hell.

    Thanks to Belch for the link.

    Now I’m going to go listen to the song Danny Boy to cheer myself up.