The MySpace Suicide - who is at fault?

The case began in 2006, when Forty-nine-year-old Lori Drew of O'Fallon, Missouri, allegedly conspired with two others in creating and maintaining a MySpace profile for a nonexistent 16-year-old boy named "Josh Evans." This account was used to flirt with and befriend a teenage girl, Megan Meier, who'd had a falling-out with Lori Drew's daughter. Lori Drew's daughter and Meier were reportedly friends for many years, but ended up having many misunderstandings and quarrels.

According to news reports the fake Josh Evans account was created on Sept. 20, 2006.The fake Evans presented himself as a lonely boy whose father had abandoned his family and the family was undergoing mental trauma. Evans claimed he was new to the area and was being tutored at home , and hardly had any friends. On the very same day the account was created, the fake Evans contacted Meier through MySpace showing an inclination to correspond with her and make friends with her.

The friendship began with Megan Meier accepting Josh as her friend and communicating with him.As their friendship grew 'Josh' began to get bolder and began flirting with her and in private Lori Drew began planning on humiliating the poor girl by luring her to a mall , where she and her co conspirators would tease with the private information she had shared on line with 'Josh', and finally tell her that there was no person called Josh.The entire episode was planned to humiliate her.
Drew took the help of her daughter, husband and a couple of her colleagues and friends who were all using the fake account at different times posing as Josh Evans and communicating with the unsuspecting Megan and getting her to share some very private information, which they intended to use later on.

And the final act was in sending her a mail telling her that Josh no longer liked to be friends with her as he found her silly.Another mail was sent to Megan Meier saying that the world would be a better place without her .
Megan Meier already in a state of mental trauma,( apparently she was being treated for this and this fact was known to Lori Drew as Megan's mother had confided in her) hanged herself in her bedroom at her home . She was taken to the hospital, where she died.

After learning about Megan's suicide Drew and her husband allegedly told her co-conspirators to delete the Josh Evans account, and Lori Drew herself deleted all evidence of the hoax from her computer.
After a long drawn out period, Lori Drew is now charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of unauthorized computer access for allegedly creating a fake MySpace account to inflict intentional emotional distress on Megan Meir.The case was filed in November 2008, after a lot of debate between the legal experts as to how to go about it.

I have personally felt distressed on reading the various accounts of this case.It is the worst kind of violation and abuse .
Teenagers are very sensitive and vulnerable and need to be handled with care.I feel that here the parents could have been a little more watchful in understanding the changing moods of the girl , especially when she already had some mental distress for which she was being treated .It always helps to offer some timely advice or even a heart to heart talk .I personally feel that maintaining a friendly and one to one relationship with your children can help you solve a lot of problems that normally arise during those growing years.

The use of internet creates its own problems among teenagers who become online addicts and have a social life that is more mercurial, and more crucial to their sense of status and acceptance.They tend to become loners and fall an easy prey for any kind of abuse on the net, where the abusers feel safe because of the anonymity it provides them.

I am utterly disgusted by the immature and irresponsible behaviour of Lori Drew.How can a mother do that to another child of thirteen? and the reasons are so flimsy, that her daughter had fallen out with the girl.Apparently the 2 families had been very friendly for a number of years until the two girls fell out with each other .And drew already knew about the delicate mental status of the girl, and knowing that to inflict such cruelty on the poor girl is unpardonable.I am sure that the defense will be using this piece of information about the girls mental delicate mental status to their advantage!!

Going by all the news media accounts, the woman not only did not feel any guilt for having committed the crime , but went all out to prove that she was innocent.I am glad that justice has prevailed and the woman has been charged, inspite of her pleading not guilty to all of the charges and continuing to maintain that she didn't write the messages that were sent to Meier.
Now that the trial has begun, i hope that the Prosecution puts up a strong case.There is talk that the existing law does not provide much an immediate solution .Myspace has been very supportive to the victims cause and issued a statement saying that it supports the prosecution of Drew.
Initially ,there has been also the view that they could find no law under which to charge Drew. Thankfully now they have overcome that hurdle and she has finally been charged.
I sincerely hope that all the people who conspired with Drew also get sentenced along with Drew ,for their role in this crime.