In Dardenne Prairie, Mo, there was a girl named Megan Meier. She was 13 years old. She's
described as a "bubbly, goofy" girl who loved spending time with her friends, watching movies and fishing with her dad.
She'd also been on medication for depression.
In 2006, she was contacted by someone calling himself Josh, and presenting himself as "a cute teenage boy," on MySpace. They struck up a web-friendship that continued for more than a month, until he ended it, saying he'd heard she was cruel and not nice to her friends.
Then messages from his account began appearing, saying things like,
"Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat."
Megan Meier hung herself that very day. Her father said he found a message the next day from Josh, which he said law enforcement authorities have not been able to retrieve. It told the girl she was a bad person and the world would be better without her, he has said.
Now-
"Josh" never existed. "Josh" was a fictitious identify created by "a former friend" of Megan's
and her family, including two adults. It's said they knew about Megan's fight with depression.
Six weeks after [Megan] died her parents discovered that Josh was created by a neighbor down the block, an adult woman whose own daughter had once been Megan's friend. This woman knew of Megan's depression, says Tina Meier.
According to a police report filed by the woman down the block, she created the account to check to see what Megan was saying, if anything, about her daughter. According to the police report, the woman, her daughter and an 18-year-old part-time employee monitored the Josh Evans account.
Megan's family are seeking prosecution, however the case reportedly does not fit into any current law.
Aldermen in Dardenne Prairie, a community of about 7,000 residents about 35 miles from St. Louis, have proposed a new ordinance related to child endangerment and Internet harassment. It could come before city leaders on Wednesday.
This story moves me for a number of reasons. I'm on anti-depressant medication, as most of you know. I had people I thought were my friends suddenly "turn" and start mocking me when I was a kid, and I still remember acutely what that's like.
But the story, as I see it, is not about web sites, though that's an understandable knee-jerk reaction. Just as the knee jerking the other way, to resist any sort of regulation of the internet, is also understandable.
I don't have a firm position on this. If a law could be passed that would prevent anything like this from
ever happening again, my heart tells me that would be a good law. But I don't know what the legislation would be.
And anyway, the method used doesn't concern me as much as this cold-splash-of-water reality:
Grown-ups went out of their way to be cruel to a
13-year-old child. To spy on her, after gaining her trust under false pretences.
It doesn't matter what kind of prosecution, if any, gets brought. Actions like that leave a stain on the soul of all humanity.
That may sound a tad melodramatic. But I believe absolutely that it is true.
Goodnight, Megan.
