Lori Drew MySpace Trial: Will There Be Justice For Megan?

Megan Meier's Mom, Tina Meier

There is no such thing as justice - in or out of court. ~Clarence Darrow, 1936

We wondered, will there finally be "justice" for Megan Meier in a Los Angeles Federal courthouse and the Lori Drew MySpace trial, as prosecutors rested their case Friday.

It was November of last year that DBKP first came across the story of Megan, of a cruel prank perpetrated upon her via the internet social site, MySpace.com., and its tragic aftermath.



According to the Los Angeles Times, Drew is accused of cyberbullying and setting up of a fake MySpace account in order to "deal" with Megan, a former friend of Drew's daughter, Sarah. A "plan" that was concocted by Drew, Drew's daughter, and an employee of Drew's, 18-yr-old Ashley Grills. A plan, that according to Lori Drew, was both "clever" and "funny", a plan that may have a hand in Megan's suicide.

It's been two years since the details of what actually occurred in the quiet town of Dardenne Prairie, located just west of St. Louis, have begun to emerge in the case against Lori Drew.





Dardenne Prairie is a short drive west of St. Louis on Interstate 70, across the multiple lane bridge built of steel and the broad expanse of the dark green waters of the Missouri river, to the smaller bedroom communities in St. Charles County. It's also the place where Megan Meier and Lori Drew's story riveted the nation.

Welcome to the City of Dardenne Prairie, the heart of the golden triangle in St. Charles County. Small and quaint, Dardenne Prairie maintains a rural flavor in a suburban setting. If you are considering moving your family or business to the St. Charles County area, you’ll find our City a great place to be. Our City boasts acres and acres of natural parks, beautiful residences, several thriving business plazas and an industrial park. With a new Downtown area, private high school and City Hall in the works, Dardenne Prairie is a wonderful place to live, work and play.

Megan Meier grew up in Dardenne Prairie, where subdivisions and strip malls dot the low rolling hills of lush green landscape and quiet, tree-lined streets just off the busy I-70 corridor that stretches from Baltimore, Md., to Cove Fort, Utah. The subdivisions come in different sizes, shapes, and status. Some come with covenants: rules and regulations for a fee, such as whether homeowners can or cannot put up a fence, or the "proper" color to paint a house. Some have their own pools and clubhouses, while others, only a few choices in floor plans and the style of houses built. It was in one these subdivisions, located in Dardenne Prairie, that Megan Meier grew up and then eventually took her own life just shy of her 14th birthday by hanging herself in her bedroom closet.

It was shortly after the start of a new school year and a new school when Megan asked her parents, Tina and Ron Meier, permission to set up another MySpace.com account. MySpace.com is a popular social internet site for teens, even though the site requires its members be 14 years of age. This wasn't the first time Megan had an account on the social site: Megan's Mom, Tina, had previously caught Megan and Sarah Drew with a MySpace page. The two had posted a photo of a "good looking" girl in order to "meet boys online". Megan's mom shut down the account. When Megan asked her parents for a new MySpace account, where she'd "be herself", her parents agreed, after all it was only a matter of a few months before Megan turned 14, and "all the other fifth grade kids were doing it", plus there'd be strict supervision by her parents: such as when she could get online and have access, while Ron and Tina would be the one who logged in.


Megan had attended Fort Zumwalt public schools before she began classes at her new school, Immaculate Conception, in Dardenne Prairie. She no longer attended the same school as Sarah. A "heavy-set" girl, Megan had dropped 20 pounds, and loved such activities as swimming, boating, fishing, dogs, and rap music. She also battled depression and thoughts of suicide since 3rd grade when she began seeing a therapist. You see, Megan had a problem with self-esteem. She thought she "wasn't pretty enough".

Megan had been off and on-again "best friends" with Sarah Drew. Sarah was the same age, and lived a few doors down. The same applied for Megan's family and the Drew's: both Tina Meier and Sarah Drew's families socialised together as they raised their families in the Midwest atmosphere of achieving the American dream.

Until the trial Sarah Drew had been shielded by the press, so there's no information as to the circumstances that ended the friendship between Megan and Sarah. One could surmise the relationship consisted of growing up together in surburia: of trips to Mid Rivers Mall and the movies, of riding the bus to school and sleep-overs at each other's houses. Of sharing confidences and of the trials and tribulations of being a preteen. One can also imagine the shifting and nefarious patterns of pre-teen relationships: of partnerships and groups which form and then dissolve faster than the super-charged thunderstorms that occasionally contain hail and tornadoes. Of the "coldness" between two "best" friends after a spat, that lasted as long as the ice storms that would cover the streets, electrical wires, and limbs of trees in winter. It was after one such "spat" that the plan to "mess" with Megan emerged. A plan, which eventually may have had a partial hand in Megan's death.

Megan had a hard time accepting who she was and felt she wasn't "pretty enough". At the time of Megan's death, she had been working on losing weight, changing schools, making new friends, and a new MySpace page on the internet and she was no longer friends with Sarah Drew.

"Mom! Mom! Mom! Look at him!" Tina Meier recalls her daughter saying.

Josh had contacted Megan Meier through her MySpace page and wanted to be added as a friend.Yes, he's cute, Tina Meier told her daughter. "Do you know who he is?"

"No, but look at him! He's hot! Please, please, can I add him?"

Mom said yes. And for six weeks Megan and Josh - under Tina's watchful eye - became acquainted in the virtual world of MySpace.

It was soon after Megan set up her MySpace account that she was "contacted" by a boy named Josh, which some claim was the catalyst which eventually drove Megan to take her own life.

Part of the reason for Megan's rosy outlook was Josh, Tina says. After school, Megan would rush to the computer.

"Megan had a lifelong struggle with weight and self-esteem," Tina says. "And now she finally had a boy who she thought really thought she was pretty."

Josh "told" Megan that he was "home-schooled". Megan's Mom, Tina, said it seemed "odd" that Josh never gave Megan his phone number. Josh claimed he lived the same area as Megan.

It was Sunday, October 15, 2006, that Megan's "relationship" with Josh changed. Before, he had shown an avid interest in being "friends" with Megan, on MySpace, a new Josh emerged:


Continue reading: Lori Drew MySpace Trial: Will There Be Justice For Megan? -pg 2

Lori Drew Pleads Not Guilty in Megan Meier MySpace Suicide Case

Megan Meier

Lori Drew, the infamous Mom next door and alleged villain in the Megan Meier MySpace Suicide story, plead not guilty in a Los Angeles Federal Court on June 17th to charges of conspiracy and accessing computers without authorization.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Drew plead not guilty in a "proceeding that last only a few minutes".

ALSO at DBKP.com: Megan Meier MySpace Suicide, Lori Drew: DBKP Library of Stories Over 40 DBKP stories and videos on the Megan Meier MySpace Suicide case--from DBKP: the place who coined "MySpace Suicide" and had the story first on the Net!

Drew was indicted on May 15 by a Los Angeles Federal Grand Jury. DBKP's Megan Meier MySpace Suicide: Lori Drew Indicted details Drew's alleged involvement in a case that stunned not only a bedroom community of St. Louis, Missouri, but the entire nation.

Megan Meier was about to turn 14 when she hanged herself in the closet of her room. Megan's parents, Tina and Ron Meier, allege that Megan's suicide was acerbated by the alleged antics of Drew, a long time neighbor and Mom of a former childhood friend of Megan.

Megan had opened a MySpace account shortly before her 14th birthday with the permission of her parents. Megan then met a boy named Josh on MySpace who said he was 16, new to her area, and interested in an online "friendship". The two spent several weeks communicating via MySpace until shortly before her birthday Josh began to post abusive comments about Megan's appearance and friends which culminated in an online fight. Megan committed suicide after a comment was posted by Josh which intimated the world "would be a better place" without Megan.

It was weeks later that the Meiers discovered that there wasn't any "Josh", that he was a fake online personality, and that the person behind "Josh" was a long time neighbor and friend, 46-yr-old Lori Drew.

Drew denies any involvement and blames a 17-yr-old employee, Ashley Grills. Grills, who tried to commit suicide after the circumstances surrounding Megan's death hit the news and the neighborhood, claims Drew was the instigator, that Drew wanted to "monitor" what Megan had to say about Drew's daughter. St. Charles County prosecutor's investigated and declined to press any charges. The Los Angeles Federal Prosecutor's office then stepped in and held Grand Jury hearings. Drew was indicted on conspiracy and unauthorized use of a computer.

The trial is scheduled for July 29.



By LBG

Image - Megan Meier

Lori Drew Indicted in Megan Meier MySpace Suicide Case

The infamous mother in the Megan Meier Myspace Suicide case, Lori Drew, has been indicted by a Los Angeles federal grand jury on one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain private information.

Drew's indictments come as a surprise to many as the local authorities where the case transpired, in O'Fallon, Missouri, and the FBI, declined to press charges after investigating the Megan Meiers Myspace case.

Back in December, St. Charles County prosecutor Jack Banas announced his office would not file charges against Drew because she hadn't "broken any laws".

Drew had admitted in a police report that she had "set up" a fake MySpace page to "monitor" what her daughter's ex-friend, Megan Meier, was posting about her daughter on Megan's MySpace page. Drew later recanted, claiming she wasn't involved, that the police report was filled with errors.

Banas had said that the St. Charles County prosecutor's office couldn't "prove" that Drew or Grills had meant their messages to be a form of "harassment" even though Megan's mother claims the messages from the fake 16-year-old "Josh" had grown increasingly mean, culminating in a final message posted the day Megan hanged herself in her bedroom closet, that the "world would be a better place without you".

Megan had set up a MySpace page with the permission of her parents. She had told her parents about "Josh", a boy on MySpace who claimed he was new to her area. For weeks the "two" exchanged messages until shortly before Megan was to celebrate her 14th birthday.

It wasn't until after Megan's death that her parents were informed by a neighbor that "Josh" wasn't a 16-year-old boy but a concoction made up by their neighbor, a woman in her forties with a daughter who was a former friend of Megan's, Lori Drew.

Drew claims she wasn't involved even though she filed a police report stating she was instrumental in devising the web page as a way to "keep tabs" on what "Megan was saying about her daughter". Drew then claimed it was all her 17-year-old employee, Ashley Grill's idea, that Drew had nothing to do with it.

DBKP has been following the MySpace Suicide story and finds it highly unlikely that Grills, an employee of Drew, would take it on herself to create a fake persona on MySpace in order to chat up a 13-year-old neighbor girl she was not acquainted with. Megan had been Drew's daughter's off-and-on again friend for years.

Grills testified before a Los Angeles federal grand jury that it was Drew who suggested creating the fake page but that it was Grills who set it up. Grills also testified that Drew helped write some of the messages from "Josh".

Megan took her life in November of 2006, it wasn't until January 2008 that a Los Angeles federal grand jury began issuing subpoenas in what is now known as the Megan Meier MySpace Suicide Case.

Read more Megan Meier MySpace Suicide: Lori Drew Indicted at DBKP.com

By LBG

Image - Evil Wine
Source - LA Times - L.A. Grand Jury Issues subpoenas in Web Suicide Case
Source - ABC News - No Charges Filed in MySpace Suicide
Source - MSNBC - Mom Indicted in MySpace Suicide Case


Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page

Megan Meier Myspace Suicide: Subpoenas Heat up Cyber Battle Once Again

The Megan Meier MySpace Suicide story is heating back up again.

This time, it's fueled by subpoenas issued by a Los Angeles grand jury in the case and an appearance on Dr. Phil by Tina Meier and others.

The Megan Meier story, as anyone who's covered it knows, has had more twists and turns than a TV movie.

For a list of over 40 stories and videos by DBKP on the story since it broke on the Internet, see the Megan Meier MySpace Suicide Library. It begins with the first retelling of the original story by Steve Pokin, of the Suburban Journals until present day.

It follows the story of Megan Meier, her parents, Ron and Tina Meier, their neighbor, Lori Drew, the statements by Drew and her attorney, Jim Briscoe and others.

It also details the creation of the "Megan Had it Coming" blog, supposedly a creation of Drew, but in reality, the clever device of an Internet "troll".

It's last story was one chronicling the 'Increasing Victimization of Lori Drew' in the Mainstream Media.

NOT included is DBKP's last conversation with Drew's attorney, Jim Briscoe. That story was slated to go out with some other updates later this week.

Current events have caught up with us, however. That article will be coming out later today now.

Back to the subpoenas. From the LA Times:

In a novel approach, prosecutors are looking at charging a woman who posed as a boy and sent cruel messages to teen with defrauding MySpace.

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles has begun issuing subpoenas in the case of a Missouri teenager who hanged herself after being rejected by the person she thought was a 16-year-old boy she met on MySpace, sources told The Times.

The case set off a national furor when it was revealed that the "boyfriend" was really a neighbor who was the mother of one of the girl's former friends.

Local and federal authorities in Missouri looked into the circumstances surrounding 13-year-old Megan Meier's 2006 death in the town of Dardenne Prairie, an upper-middle-class enclave of about 7,400 people, located northwest of St. Louis.

But after months of investigation, no charges were filed against Lori Drew for her alleged role in the hoax. Prosecutors in Missouri said they were unable to find a statute under which to pursue a criminal case.

Prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, however, are exploring the possibility of charging Drew with defrauding the MySpace social networking website by allegedly creating the false account, according to the sources, who insisted on anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

The sources said prosecutors are looking at federal wire fraud and cyber fraud statutes as they consider the case. Prosecutors believe they have jurisdiction because MySpace is headquartered in Beverly Hills, the sources said.

It's still unclear who created the fictitious account. In a police report, Drew told authorities she, with the aid of a temporary employee, "instigated and monitored" a fake profile prior to Megan's suicide, "for the sole purpose of communicating" with the girl and to see what the girl was saying about Drew's daughter.

DBKP's Trench Reynolds had this to say.

Authorities in Missouri could not find anything to charge Lori Drew with but the U.S. prosecutors in L.A. have taken a different approach. They’re thinking of charging Lori Drew with fraud for creating the fake MySpace. And why is this happening in L.A. you ask.

The prosecutors believe they have jurisdiction because MySpace — the would-be victim — is based in Beverly Hills, the sources said.

The subpoenas were issued to MySpace and what the article says are “witnesses in the case.”

Here’s hoping that there can be some modicum of justice for Megan Meier.

Commenting on the Dr. Phil aspect, blogger Danny Vice had this to offer.

I've watched many news interviews on this case and at this point I'd have to say Dr. Phil really did the best job of covering the issues and legal dynamics of the case in comparison to any news report I've seen on this case to date.

The show certainly gained unprecedented access into the Meier's home, where the show was able to capture quite a bit of footage of the Meier home, the neighborhood and a fresh glimpse of the Drew family's home. (The camera man must have had his moxy on that day)

As was previously stated, a much more comprehensive article on the Megan Meier developments will appear later this afternoon.

We're waiting on new comments from Lori Drew's attorney, Jim Briscoe, as well as some comments from other sources.

As always with anything involving this case, it should prove interesting.

Megan Meier MySpace DBKP Suicide Library A complete listing of over 40 DBKP articles and videos on the Megan Meier MySpace Suicide story.

by Mondoreb
[image: stock]
Sources:
* Federal Grand Jury issues Subpoenas in Megan Meier Case
* The Weekly Vice
* Megan Meier UPDATE: The Case Fires Back Up as Subpoenas are Issued
* LA Grand Jury Issues Subpoenas in Web Suicide Case
* Was the Cyber Hoax a Case of Freedom of Speech or Harassment?
* It's Cyber Bullying to the 10th Degree





Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

MHIC: Final Round-Up

Reaction to Megan Had it Coming.

It was another cruel online charade. This was done at the expense of not only Megan Meier and her family, overall, it was set up by an opportunist who took full advantage of a very painful situation.

Was it a cruel and malicious power play? Was it an emotionally driven form of manipulation? You bet it was, on both counts.

--Maryannaville: Hoax: Read it and Weep

also what was beowolf posting that got deleted ? and what where the other things that got deleted? did beowolf ever exist? i is so confused

Enclopedia Dramatica: Megan had it coming

That's all the reaction we could find to the hoax this morning.

Expect more later as the blog may be used by those who argue the Internet is just too spooky a place without more regulations and laws. The attempt will be made to reinvent the Internet as a place where you can have as much fun as any trip to the post office or other government building.

In the "we need more laws" minds, more laws and tougher penalties for anything on the Internet will make them feel good about themselves.

It's already been used a few times as "proof" that Lori Drew is a victim.

MHIC, R.I.P.

by Mondoreb




DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Back to DBKP at Blogger Front Page

Lori Drew: The Increasing Victimization of Lori Drew

"Quick! Somebody get me the paint ball!"

Another post from another "good" blogger at aol.news, who also writes for the appropriately-named "Babble".

The only saving grace for her is that, Lord knows, she was probably just looking for a "fresh angle" to the now-familiar story of Megan Meier's suicide.

To set the tone and show that she's just as objective as the "tribal" people she's writing about, Ada Calhoun throws in "chilling", "shunning" and the aforementioned "tribal".

Lori Drew gets to be once again portrayed as an innocent victim, the Internet gets to be scary and Ada gets to act detachedly--dare we say it?--outraged.

'Megan' Blog Leads To More Attacks on Drews

Just when things seem to be slowing down with the Megan Meier story, that "Megan Had It Coming" blog shows up and (despite the fact that Lori Drew's lawyer has denied Drew wrote it) the outrage at the Drews escalates again.

Now on AOL News is this chilling report of the family's neighborhood, which has become almost "tribal" in its systematic shunning of the Drews: "It's like they used to do in the 1700s and 1800s. If you wronged a community, you were basically shunned. That's basically what happened to her," said Trevor Buckles, a 40-year-old who lives next door to the Drews.

The neighbors, who in the words of Drew's attorney, Jim Briscoe, are "afraid to approach the Drews out of fear", here are portrayed as Drew's tormentors.

Some of what's been done, according to the report: Last December, after neighbors learned of the Internet hoax, someone threw a brick through a window in the Drew home. A few weeks ago, someone made a prank call to police reporting that there had been a shooting inside the Drew's house, prompting squad cars to arrive with sirens flashing.
Someone recently obtained the password to change the Drew's outgoing cell phone recording, and replaced it with a disturbing message. Police would not detail the content.

Clients have fled from Drew's home-based advertising business, so she had to close it. Neighbors have not seen Drew outside her home in weeks.

Ada has left at least one of her readers wondering: which is it?

Are the neighbors "afraid to approach the Drews", as Jim Briscoe says?

Are the neighbors willingly staying away from the Drews in a shunning spree?

Or are the neighbors willingly approaching the Drews to attack them as Ada's post here relates?

Or, "none of the above", since neighbors haven't seen Lori Drew "in weeks"?

And what's a good Lori Drew victimization piece without a obligatory "Power of the Evil Internet" sighting.

Ms. Calhoun doesn't disappoint.

And that's nothing compared to the invective being hurled via the Internet, according to The Age:
As the story gain more attention, Internet avengers took matters into their own hands. They plastered photos of the Drews and Ashley, their addresses, phone numbers and email details over the internet including on sites like People You'll See in Hell and Rotten Neighbors. Local businesses that advertised in Lori Drew's coupon book business have also been harangued and targetted with boycott threats.

Just think: without a legal system, all such immorality would still be punished in this way, with social control. How lucky we are that we don't need to avenge all wrongs with bricks through windows and can use lawsuits instead. If only there were a law in place that could bring some justice for the Meiers, maybe the neighbors wouldn't feel such a need to take matters into their own hands. Then again, it's such an ugly story, maybe even the involvement of the court system wouldn't satisfy the angry mobs?

Well, Ada does say it's a "mob", but she shows considerable restraint in not using the hackneyed "vigilante".
Who started "Josh Evans" in the first place? Tell me again.
Here's a question or two for all the "Victimization of Lori Drew"-mongers plying their trade, wherever better journalistic theories are sold.

When is it "mob" actions--with or without the veneer of uber-offended sensibilities--and when is it people venting? Haven't we heard so much about "getting it out"?

Or is that just when they agree with the issue being discussed?

Fourteen months on, after the Megan Meier suicide, let's tote up that angry mob's despicable, dastardly dirty deeds.

In this corner: one brick, one paintball on the side of a house, one crank call, one cell phone jobbed, one set of tire tracks across the yard. The last were by the dead girl's father. Clue me in, Ms. Calhoun, is he part of your mob?

That was unclear.

In fact, no one outside the neighborhood even knew about Megan Meier and her suicide until a month ago. The Meier family told the neighbors to stay calm and "let the system work". It was when neighbors felt the system was jobbing them, the parents and the memory of a little girl and the circumstances surrounding her death, that the reactions got testy.

Try to work that into your story next time, "Weep for the Internet" writers.

In the other corner: one mother who "solely instigated and monitored" an on-going 6-weeks-long harassment of a 13-year-old girl. "Even when the conversations turned sexual, she didn't shut down the account".

Gee Ada, looks like your mob's gonna have trouble handling the Brady Bunch. We better get these people some proper pitchforks and torches, so they can do the job right. Whatcha say?

I'll chip in. I'm a giver.

Historical note for Ada Calhoun: before the courts, in the West, we had vendettas and wergeld: blood money or life for a life. That's what kept down the mobs then, Ada.

As kings expanded their power over the surrounding countryside, various tribes, groups and peoples exchanged their demand for wergeld for the promise that the king's courts would mete out an impartial justice for all.

When the king's courts failed to mete out justice or consider a case, people sought their own justice in those areas, until the courts were able to hold up their end of the bargain again.

America's courts are far more extensive than the king's were. But the concept remains the same: when people feel the courts aren't doing their job, they start making noise.

Before the next drive-by journalist gets all gooey about this being more "Power of the Evil Internet": no one visited any violence on the person of any of the Drew's--either physical, emotional or spiritual. No one, outside the Drew's own neighborhood, did anything except make some phone calls to some advertisers.

Are suggestions that maybe the advertiser's money to Ad Vantage might have been better spent on something other than a fake MySpace account too much?

This increasingly insipid moral equivalency masquerading as meditative journalism is getting to be tiresome and formalistic.

If Ada Calhoun agreed that there was an injustice done to anyone other than Lori Drew--whom Ada seems to have taken under her wing--might she have called any actions on the Internet "activism" and "people getting involved"?

There has been plenty of outrage; disgust, shock and disdain have all made their appearance, too.

Calhoun would have us believe that it's mindless, undirected, primal, "tribal".

It's not.

It's directed at the story of a woman and her attorney scrambling to distance her from her actions. That might be understandable.

If only.

If only once, during these last 14 months, anyone had ever heard the words "I'm sorry" escape the lips of the one person Ada chooses to take under her journalistic protection, that outcry might have been muted.

If only.

There have been stories aplenty accusing Lori Drew of being a "helicopter parent".

I guess Ada's right: the "mob" ought to not expend all of its outrage on "Lori Drew, helicopter parent"

The "mob" might save a drop of that disdain for helicopter journalists.

by Mondoreb
[image:nicholdsoncartoons;dannyhaszard]



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Lori Drew, Megan Had it Coming: HOAX!!

Prankster Laughs While Dancing on Dead Girl's Grave

Something to tell the grandkids about, for sure.

The author of the Megan Had it Coming blog is revealed to be a smart-stepping prankster.

But it was getting too hot in the faux-blog kitchen.

The hoax-monger purports to "demonstrate the collective stupidity of thousands of Internet users who confuse replying to blogs for having actual intellectual discourse."

We're not so sure about all that.

It did demonstrate that the jokester had something on his hands other than the remains of a creepy masturbatory experience: time.

The comments and previous posts and comments have vanished from the site--to be replaced with the latest one, reproduced below: The Final Chapter.

Sunday, December 9, 2007 The Final Story It really hurts to do this, considering everything everone has been through, but I have to do it. I know there's been a lot of confusion about this blog and me, so I want to lay it all to rest. As you know, Mr. Briscoe has been working diligently to get this blog taken down despite my wishes. I understand that he's trying to protect the family, and I respect that. But, I don't want to be silenced. Not after everything I've gone through. I just want to say thank you to everyone who has been supportive (or at least fair) of my viewpoint. I will keep you all in my thoughts and prayers. It is because of you that I have found the strength to continue my struggle for real justice. And for all of you who continue to vilify me, I can only hope that you will one day open your eyes and see what you have done to an innocent human being. Your callous lack of remorse in your collective attempts to destroy this family disgusts me. But I won't be afraid of you anymore. For everyone who doubts who this is, and the truth of what I write, I want you to watch this video very carefully: In case this blog gets taken down, I will do my best to continue to fight for my side of the story here: Megan Had it Coming Posted by Megan Had It Coming at 9:26 PM

Little Baby Ginn and Mondo Talk to the Blog's Author--Sorta

Seeking discourse--first Little Baby Ginn, and then yours truly--went over to the MHIC blog, in hopes of meeting it's author.

He was still there.

So was Beowulf.

The author apparently was the sensitive sort: he lurked on the blog for awhile, erasing comments which critiqued his style, some rather hurriedly.

He particularly singled out Beowulf, who had hurt his feelings; and LBG, who kept posting "Where did Beowulf's comments go?" and "Why do you keep deleting me?"

What a letdown: he didn't delete any of mine. And the following wasn't half bad:

MONDOREB said... Hey beowulf: What do you call a guy who yells at a picture of a guy with a bag on his head? Give up? ****! stop it...you're killing me! December 10, 2007 12:02 AM

Beowulf, had it about right in his first of several comments the blog's author deleted:
"It was sloppily executed and crass for using a dead girl and her family. I give it a C-."

The blog's author, demonstrating his commitment to "actual intellectual discourse" promptly deleted it.

I gave it a 2. You couldn't dance to it

There was more, but it wasn't very exciting, so LBG and I left.

The blog's author?

Well, we don't know what he's doing now. Probably getting over that sad, empty feeling he experienced when he realized he was no longer Lori Drew. But he did pretend he was a girl, referring to the blog's author as "she".

We're not sure what that means: we're not shrinks.

Will the authorities catch up to him?

We'll see.

Now, we close the book on one twist in this exceedingly curvy tale.

* * *

Our main question at the moment is: Where was Blogger.com?

Where was Google?

The blog clearly violated several points on their Terms of Service. They were aware of this. They were the only ones aware of this, other than the blog's author.

Yet, they did not act.

The blog is still up and our Blog Clock is still running.

21 days 14 hours 55 minutes since the blog went up.

Maybe Google would like to issue another statement?

We'll wait.

by Mondoreb
[image:funnymanfilms]
Source: The Final Chapter



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Lori Drew, Megan Had it Coming: All Big Internet Stories Start as Local Ones

The Internet is a big place and stretches over the world.

It ties together people from America with those in England, France, China, Japan, Australia: in short, every nation on earth.

Although the big stories on the Internet often happen in New York, LA, Hollywood, London and other big cities, sometimes they originate in much smaller locales.

And they almost always start with a single individual who hears or sees something and tells someone else. Sometimes, that single individual is a reporter where that 'something' happened.

That's apparent after reading the latest from Steve Pokin, the journalist who reported the original Megan Meier story for the St. Charles Suburban Journal.

The Megan Meier story, her online harassment by "Josh", a fake boy created in the household of Meier's neighbor, Lori Drew and the subsequent uproar and outrage, swept over the nation a few days after the story appeared on November 11, 2007.

On November 18, a blog appeared with the name "Megan Had it Coming".

The blog's author claimed first to be "Kristen", then on December 3, the author published a post entitled "I'm Lori Drew".

For most of those who read and reacted to the Megan Meier story, this was a story with more twists and turns than a best-selling novel or TV movie. It inspired countless posts on countless blogs across the Internet, and in some cases, calls for justice for Megan Meier.

Particularly, readers of those blogs responded with an outpouring of comments, most of which were of the outraged variety.

For Steve Pokin, the saga of Megan Meier's MySpace Suicide and the subsequent happenings is different one: a local story. It happened to local people in a place with which he is familiar.

"Megan Meier--it's a local story for us," commented Pokin.

The people affected were local people. The businesses contacted were local businesses.

This is Steve Pokin's latest article, dated December 8, 2007.

POKIN AROUND: Who is 'Kristen'? And who, really, is 'Lori Drew'? Let the Investigation Begin

"I'm Lori Drew" is the introduction to a Dec. 3 posting on the inflammatory blog "Megan Had It Coming."

The blog's creation Nov. 18 was a painful and sad moment in a story with enough pain and sorrow for a lifetime.

Megan Meier, a 13-year-old who lived in Dardenne Prairie, took her life in October 2006 not knowing that Josh Evans, the 16-year-old boy who was mean to her on MySpace, was not real. Instead, he was created as part of a hoax played out by neighbors down the street and an 18-year-old girl.And now the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department, with its highly regarded computer forensics department, will try to find out who stooped so low.

"The matter is under investigation," Lt. Craig McGuire said. "Where that is going to lead us, we don't know."

Will it lead to Lori Drew? The real Lori Drew? The one in Dardenne Prairie?

Absolutely not, says James L. Briscoe, Drew's attorney.

"Someone claims to be her," Briscoe says. "It's not her. She has not done anything anywhere. So that makes it pretty simple."

Briscoe on Friday released a statement that, in part, said: "Any internet message that purports to be a member of the Drew family is being managed by an impostor and undoubtedly is being done for the purpose of further damaging the Drews' reputation."

Then who is it?

Some insider? Someone close to the story? Someone in the Waterford Crossing neighborhood?

Or will investigators discover this dismaying chapter was penned by someone a thousand miles away who'd read about the case and had no personal connection to it?

Will it be someone who, for whatever reason - maybe there wasn't anything good on TV that night - sat down at a keyboard to see how much anger, hate and sadness could be set in motion?

The debate in the blogosphere is whether this was really Lori Drew. Some argue it must be. There was so much detail, they say.

I read the posting and, for many reasons, I say it's not.

The "Lori Drew" post ends this way:

"The final word from authorities has come down that there will be no charges, so I don't have to remain silent. There's no point in hiding anymore. The internet has made it clear that mob revenge must prevail, even if there's no justice in it. So be it.

"Here I am internet. Come get me."

Can you imagine anyone in Lori Drew's position saying that?

I can't.

But if it's not Lori Drew, asks Randy Bierce, who in August created the blog "Death By 1000 Papercuts," why hasn't the real Lori Drew called Google and demanded that "Megan Had It Coming" be taken down?

"Lori Drew could have this blog shut down at the touch of the button," says Bierce, who blogs as Mondoreb and, at times, as Randy Richochet, in an office near Pittsburgh.

His blog has covered extensively the Megan Meier story, as well as the controversy surrounding "Megan Had It Coming."

Bierce says he and co-workers are split on whether the person posting as "Lori Drew" is really Lori Drew.

"The question is, 'Why would anybody in their right mind do that?'" he said. "But the reaction to the whole story is why would anybody do what she did in the first place?"

"Megan Had It Coming" falls within Blogger.com, which is owned by Google. A spokesman for Google on Friday responded to my questions via e-mail.

According to Google's Terms of Service, although negative and distasteful content is allowed, it is a violation to impersonate someone by using their real name. (Impersonating someone by using a nickname, handle or screen name is allowed.)

"When we are notified of the existence of content that may violate our Terms of Service, we act quickly to review it and determine whether it actually violates our policies," according to the Google spokesman. "If we determine that it does, we remove it immediately. We are currently reviewing an impersonation claim related to this blog."

The "I'm Lori Drew" poster also claimed to be the same person who started the blog. The creator, in that first post, wrote in the persona of a teenage girl who called herself Kristen, acknowledging that Kristen was not her real name.

Kristen claimed she and Megan were "sort of friends," and she called Megan a "drama queen" just as likely to have killed herself for not getting enough to eat at dinner.

Predictably, others responded with shock and anger and accused "Kristen" of being the real Lori Drew.

It makes me wonder: Who writes this stuff? For what purpose? Just to do evil?

Bierce explained that "trolls" are people who have no connection to a story but post comments simply to pour gasoline on a burning controversy.

Bierce said his analysis of postings from "Kristen" and "Lori Drew" indicates that Kristen, after making that first entry, did not post for several days. That behavior is unlike a typical "troll," he said.

On the other hand, "Lori Drew" posted and responded for several hours until, apparently, he or she quit following an avalanche of response. This would more closely fit the "troll" pattern.

Bierce said he expects law enforcement to eventually ascertain who really posted as "Kristen" and who really posted as "Lori Drew."

Ron and Tina Meier, who are divorcing in large part because of Megan's death, support the investigation by the sheriff's department.

Ron said the blog puts his daughter in an untrue, negative light.

"I am just glad that they are looking into this stuff and treating it more seriously," he said. "I don't know if it's Lori Drew who did it. I believe not."

Tina Meier sees irony in that someone posing as Lori Drew could possibly be charged under a new Dardenne Prairie law created in response to Megan's death and the MySpace hoax behind it.

Tina wants the sheriff's department to pursue not only this case, but also all local cases where there's a complaint of cyberspace harassment, bullying or impersonation.

The real Lori Drew has not complained to law enforcement.

Jack Banas, the St. Charles County prosecuting attorney, said he asked the sheriff's department to investigate the blog after being questioned by a TV reporter.

"I have not talked to Mrs. Drew about this at all," Banas said.

He would not comment on what the possible violation might be.

"I'm not going to speculate on what crime it might be or what it might not be because I don't know until it is investigated," Banas said.

To read more Steve Pokin, Pokin Around, the first entries are on the Megan Meier/Lori Drew story.

The search box can also be used for finding earlier articles he did on the story.

The debate continues to rage over the Internet, among people hundreds and thousands of miles from Dardenne Prairie and O'Fallon and nearby St. Louis.

"After this dies down, we'll still be here covering what happens here", Pokin quietly said on Friday.

Megan Meier's story is known in countries the world over: DBKP alone has had readers from 131 countries read at least one story on Megan Meier and the subsequent story of Lori Drew, Megan's parents, and the Megan Had it Coming blog.

Meanwhile, Steve Pokin will continue to report on what remains for him, a local story about local people.

by Mondoreb
[image:insidesocial]



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Lori Drew, Megan Had it Coming: A Multitude of Statements

Latest statements concerning the "Megan Had it Coming" blog.

"My daughter had nothing to do with this. Everyone needs to leave her alone." --from "I'm Lori Drew" "Here I am internet. Come get me." --from "I'm Lori Drew" "I have not talked to Mrs. Drew about this at all." --Jack Banas, St. Charles County prosecuting attorney. Banas said he asked the sheriff's department to investigate the blog after being questioned by a TV reporter. "Someone claims to be her. It's not her. She has not done anything anywhere. So that makes it pretty simple." --Jim Briscoe, attorney for Lori Drew "We have not received an impersonation claim to date from the individual allegedly being impersonated." --Google statement 12/6/07 "Lori Drew could have this blog shut down at the touch of the button." --Mondoreb, DBKP "More than likely MHIC was posted by a group of people just looking for the attention and to see how many people they can get to fall for it." --Trench Reynolds [3] "When we are notified of the existence of content that may violate our Terms of Service, we act quickly to review it and determine whether it actually violates our policies," according to the Google spokesman. "If we determine that it does, we remove it immediately. We are currently reviewing an impersonation claim related to this blog." --Email from Blogger.com. about whether the Megan Had it Coming Blog is operated by a Drew impersonator (12/7/7) "The matter is under investigation. Where that is going to lead us, we don't know." --Lt. Craig McGuire, St. Charles (MO) Sheriff's Department "Jim Briscoe, said he has told Google, the blog host, that Drew did not write it. Google has said it will remove the blog if it finds Drew was not involved." --Harassment Law may Help Family who Taunted Girl PLEASE CONTINUE THE PRESSURE ON THE LAW MAKERS TO CHARGE LORI DREW! --from Exposing Online Predators and Cyberpaths 20 days, 18 hours, 39 minutes --Latest reading on DBKP Megan Had it Coming Countdown Clock [Time elapsed since MHIC blog was created] 3544 --Number of comments on "I'm Lori Drew" The real Lori Drew has not complained to law enforcement.[1]

The debates continues to rage.

That's where the matter stands on Sunday morning, December 9 2007.

by Mondoreb
[image:webekunst24]
Sources:
1- Who is "Kristen"? And who, Really is Lori Drew? The Investigation Begins
2- I'm Lori Drew - Megan Had it Coming
3 - Megan Had it Coming: Work of a Troll?




Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Lori Drew: The Mystery of the Megan Had it Coming Blog

The mystery of why the Megan Had it Coming blog is still up continues.

Another report of the evil blogosphere dogging a helpless victim.

We present another sighting of the "Power of the Evil Bloggers" and a statement released yesterday by Jim Briscoe, Lori Drew's attorney, concerning the Megan Had it Coming blog:

A blogger at a website claiming to be Lori Drew and commenting on the Megan Meier suicide case is an imposter, the Drew family said in a statement issued Friday by their attorney.

The statement says, "First and foremost, the Drew family mourns the death of Megan every day." The statement was the first public comment by Lori and Curt Drew on the death of 13-year-old Megan, although their lawyer has made statements on their behalf.

Friday's statement reiterates that Lori Drew was not aware of any mean or nasty comments made by anyone online against Megan until after Megan took her life. The negative comments that were sent occurred when Lori Drew was not home, and teenagers at other locations also made several negative comments.

"Lori Drew has been a high-profile target of extreme criticism for things she did not do," the family's statement says.

Bloggers have threatened the family and called for boycotts of businesses that advertised with Lori Drew's business. The statement says an "avalanche of criticism" forced her to discontinue a coupon book she had sold in St. Charles County for nine years.

The statement also says the Drews have not and will not participate in any blogs or other discussions online regarding Megan's death, and that anyone posting a message who claims to be a member of the Drew family is an imposter.

Jim Briscoe, the Drews' attorney, said he contacted the operators of a website where many of the messages have appeared and asked that the blog be removed. A company representative said it was reviewing the request. The blog included a defense of Lori Drew's actions and criticized Megan. St. Charles County authorities also are investigating who created the blog.

Megan's parents, Tina and Ron Meier, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Time on the DBKP Megan Had it Coming Blogwatch clock:

19 days, 22 hours, 51 minutes

Since the blog was created.

Only Lori Drew can shut it down. Why hasn't she done so?

Her lawyer says he's trying. If Lori Drew emails Blogger, and the email isn't the same as what was used to set up the blog, the blog would come down immediately.

What's the delay?

Why the hesitation in having Ms. Drew pick up the phone? Or write an email?

Or does she have the power to delete the blog already and not want to touch it, for obvious reasons?

We don't know the answers.

We're just asking the questions.

by Mondoreb
Sources:
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Drew Family Says Blogger is Imposter



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Lori Drew, Megan Had it Coming: MHIC Author a Troll?

[NOTE: DBKP has examined the 'Megan Had it Coming' Blog and its last post, dated December 3, "I'm Lori Drew". We don't know who is behind the blog--Lori Drew or Internet troll.

However, we've asked Trench Reynolds, who has covered MySpace crime for the last eight years, to give us his opinion.

He makes some good points. Some we agree with, others: we're not so sure. But, he makes several of his points so persuasively, we thought you readers should get a chance to see them and decide for yourselves.]

Hey everybody. My name is Trench Reynolds. Some of you may know me from my blogs about crime, TheTrenchcoat Chronicles and MyCrimeSpace. At the Chronicles I've been blogging since 2000 discussing school shootings and at MCS I talk about MySpace related crimes.

Mondoreb invited me to Death by 1,000 Papercuts (which is the greatest blog name ever) to express my thoughts on the Megan Meier story, specifically the 'Megan Had It Coming Blog'. As a lot of people have I've been following the story closely since it broke nationally. And just like most people I was horrified to read what happened to Megan Meier by people who were supposed to be adults.

When the identity of the Drews were made public by bloggers and commenters I decided that I would not post their names in hopes of not facilitating some kind of vigilante justice. Also I did not want to interfere with the investigation into whether or not criminal files would be charged.

It was after I made that post that someone posted a comment about 'MHIC'. It was also on that same post that someone by the name of 'ANONYMOUS' was leaving comments in defense of Lori Drew and was leaving comments similar to the posts on 'MHIC'.

I conferred with a blogging friend of mine who is a cybersecurity expert and we both agreed that ANONYMOUS and MHIC were the same person. Of course the Internet being what it is a lot of people automatically assumed that it must be Lori Drew without doing any investigation.

Now that's not a dig at DBKP because their own investigation seems to be thorough. However whenever a tragedy like this breaks there's always people willing to take advantage of the situation in order to get some attention. That's what I think is going on with MHIC.

Getting back to ANONYMOUS the e-mail address used to place the comments at MCS traced back to the MySpace of 16-year-old African-American girl from Michigan. It is possible that the address was a fake that coincidentally belonged to this girl's MySpace. However once I made that fact public the MySpace in question disappeared.

The second thing that leads me to believe that MHIC is a fake was the IP address of ANONYMOUS. Every time someone posts a comment at MCS I receive an e- mail that has their IP Address in it. IP addresses are used to trace back to someone's Internet Service Provider (ISP). Through this information I can usually ascertain the person's relative geographical location.

ANONYMOUS' ISP traced back to Louisville, KY which is roughly 260 miles from where the Drews and Meiers lived. IP addresses can be spoofed but if the person really wanted me to believe they were Lori Drew and had the knowledge on how to spoof IP addresses they probably would have made the address trace back to Missouri and not Kentucky.

Lastly, which may just be wishful thinking on my part, after everything that has be relayed in the media and on blogs I'd like to think that Lori Drew would not be that callous or stupid to entitle a blog 'Megan Had It Coming'.

Recently Lori Drew's lawyer said that she had nothing to do with the blog. Mondoreb himself poses the question if it's a hoax why is still up because of Google's imitation rules. My answer to that is I think it's not really a high priority for Google. Not only that if it was Lori Drew I think her lawyer would have advised her to take it down by now which can be done as easily as clicking on a button.

Since civil charges are likely against the Drews I think since the blog is still up that the odds are in favor of MHIC not being written by Lori Drew.

More than likely MHIC was posted by a group of people just looking for the attention and to see how many people they can get to fall for it. In the end I could be wrong but that would mean that Lori Drew is really that stupid and callous and if she is I weep for humanity.

So what do you think?

Is 'Megan Had It Coming' the work of Lori Drew?

Or an Internet troll?

[Check out other Trench Reynolds reports on the MySpace Suicide story, as well as MySpace and school crime at TheTrenchcoat Chronicles and MyCrimeSpace. Crime buffs need to drop by for the latest.]




Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

MySpace Suicide: The Megan Meier Story

MySpace Suicide: The Story Of Megan Meier
BACKGROUND: Our original video released on November 17, 2007. Tells the story up to that point. Over 40,000 views to date at all locations.

by Mondoreb




Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Lori Drew, Megan Meier: Megan Had it Coming Blog Watch

Some times to keep in mind and ponder for 'Megan Had it Coming' blog-watchers.

Time Elapsed Sine the Megan Had it Coming Blog published its first post on November 18, 2007 at 1:01 pm.



Time Elapsed since the following post appeared on the "Megan Had it Coming" blog.

[at 4:53 am EST December 7, 2007]: 11 hours 30 minutes]


K said...

FOR ALL OF YOU OUT HERE THAT THINKS THIS ISN'T LORI DREW,I HATE TO BREAK THE NEWS TO YOU BUT IT IS.I TALKED TO A FAMILY MEMBER WHO SAID THAT WHEN LORI WROTE THIS SHE THOUGHT PEOPLE WOULD BE UNDERSTANDING ONCE THEY HEARD HER SIDE OF THE STORY,SHE DIDN'T EXPECT TO GET THE BACK LASH THAT CAME AND IS STILL COMING.SHE HAS DECIDED TO LET PEOPLE VENT AND IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO HER FAMILY THEY WILL HAVE SOMEWHERE TO START(THIS BLOG LIST).

December 6, 2007 5:24 PM

NUMBER OF COMMENTS on 'Megan Had it Coming' BLOG [4:35 am EST 12-07-07]: 2845

Blogger.com, which houses the blog and lists "impersonation" as one of the things banned from the site, said it has no information that would call into question the authenticity of the "Megan Had It Coming" site.

"We take violations of Blogger's policy very seriously as such activities diminish the experience for our users," a spokesman for Google, Blogger's parent company, told FOXNews.com.

"Once we are notified about a blog that impersonates a person, we act quickly to remove it. We have not received an impersonation claim to date from the individual allegedly being impersonated."

As we said before, we'll wait and see what happens.

Meanwhile, the numbers accumulate.

by Mondoreb
[image:dkimages]
Sources:
Megan Had it Coming, Lori Drew: What Her Lawyer Says, What Google Says
Megan Had it Coming Blog Still Going Strong

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Lori Drew, Megan Had It Coming: What Her Lawyer Says, What Google Says

More questions concerning 'Megan Had it Coming'

Two statements about the 'Megan Had it Coming' blog were quoted by Fox News. We present both, as well as some questions at the end.

Lori Drew, who signed a police statement in 2006 that she was the instigator of the fictitious Internet boy named "Josh Evans", and was involved in the MySpace hoax in the minutes before Megan Meier's suicide: her attorney, Jim Briscoe's statement:

"I can categorically say that she did not write it," Briscoe told FOXNews.com. "She has not said anything on the Internet, on any blogs, on any Internet sites." Briscoe said that Drew, a neighbor of the Meiers, has purposely remained silent in the media and online during the investigation and since. "That's part of why she's remained silent, so there's no confusion about that," Briscoe said. "Anything that's on the Web is not true. She hasn't done anything. She doesn't know anybody who's done it — anybody who's doing it or has done it."

And now a statement from Google, parent company of Blogger.com, which hosts the 'Megan Had it Coming'.

Blogger.com, which houses the blog and lists "impersonation" as one of the things banned from the site, said it has no information that would call into question the authenticity of the "Megan Had It Coming" site. "We take violations of Blogger's policy very seriously as such activities diminish the experience for our users," a spokesman for Google, Blogger's parent company, told FOXNews.com. "Once we are notified about a blog that impersonates a person, we act quickly to remove it. We have not received an impersonation claim to date from the individual allegedly being impersonated."

Questions we'd like to ask:

* Why is the blog still up?

* If it is true, as Mr. Briscoe maintains, that Lori Drew is not the blog's author, why hasn't Ms. Drew shut it down?

* If Lori Drew is not the author of the 'Megan Had it Coming' blog, she can have it shut down in a heartbeat by contacting Blogger. This has not happened.

Blogger.com says, they have "no information that would call into question the authenticity of the "Megan Had It Coming" site."

* Blogger.com has information on who created the blog. What does that tell us?

These are the questions.

We're patient. We'll wait for the answers.

What do you think?

by Mondoreb
Source: MySpace Mom Linked to Missouri Teen Suicide Being Cyber Bullied Herself

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Myspace Suicide: 'Megan Had It Coming' Blog Still Going Strong

It's still chugging along, the vile little blog that could, "Megan Had It Coming."

It's been 48 hours since the news article reported that the St. Charles Prosecutor, Jack Banas, had begun an investigation into who was running the twisted little website. The comment section is still rolling along, over 2351, and still growing.

Curt Drew issued a denial that it wasn't him nor anyone in his family, which includes the infamous Lori Drew, the current Queen of Internet Hoaxers. The Drew's attorney, Jim Briscoe couldn't be reached for a comment. Megan Meier's mother welcomed the investigation.

Was it really Lori Drew, as the poster claimed in the last thread, "I'm Lori Drew?"

To believe it was Lori Drew was to believe that this person was capable of extremely cruelty. The poster wrote a long diatribe, part blame the victim, Megan, part blame Megan's parents, part blame the cops and schools for allowing Megan the "monster bully" to roam the neighborhood streets and back alleys of MySpace. And none of the blame for Lori Drew.

If this is/was a fake, an imposter, a Lori Drew impersonator, they took a stand and stuck to it. Never deviated from their story, stayed on point. Tried to paint a picture of Lori Drew as the victim. The one whom the cops, the schools nor Megan's parents would help in the matter of the horrible little Megan. So fake or real Lori Drew did what she had to do. She set up the MySpace to teach Megan a lesson, to give Megan a dose of her own medicine.

Megan Had it Coming said...

Neither can I, but you get my point. If Megan had simply not chosen to kill herself, this would be a non-story. Another case of a bully getting what's coming to him/her. That's why I named this blog the way I did. My part was to teach a bully a lesson. Megan's part was to kill herself for some unknown reason that I'm unfairly being blamed for. [1]

The person who wrote the diatribe was believable as someone who was angry over the "alleged" treatment of her daughter at the "monster" Megan's hands. This led readers to actually believe this story about Megan. Many wrote that even though "Megan was bully" Lori had no right to act like one too. Thus buying into the story that Megan was, indeed, a bully.
Any stories about Megan being a bully and monster have come from a very unreliable source.

Megan Had It Coming said...

I disagree. You weren't there, and you couldn't have known what my daughter went through. This was much much more than two kids having a falling out. My daughter cried over this many times, and was wounded deeply by Megan's theater of attack. And when I found out that Megan was up to her old tricks, she stopped being an innocent 13 year old in my eyes. Megan was a predator and I treated her as such. [1]

Unless you were in my shoes you can't know what it was like. So take your judgment elsewhere because it doesn't work here.

The person who claimed they were "Lori Drew" hung in there and shot back replies to comments. Telling the readers that they had no idea what Lori and her daughter went through. This part was convincing. Someone knew how to mimic a mother's concern for her child.

Megan Had it Coming said...

How old was your daughter? Was she part of the popular crowd? Did she even have to deal with school-wide shame?

You're not even in the same league as what my daughter almost went through. Burn in hell yourself, bitch. [1]

The readers reacted to the "Lori Drew" statement of "innocence" in the manner of the MySpace hoax and Megan's suicide. "Despicable, monster, bitch, and more, much more." Many wrote that they knew the site was most likely a hoax but also took the opportunity to write their "thoughts" about Lori, to Lori, on the blog. And whoever set up that site was one sick f#$#k.

The fake or real Lori, at this point no one knows for sure who this person is, whoever they are, they know enough details about this case to get by, played the part well. The "angry" mother who wanted to teach Megan a lesson about bullying. The claim that the police report was wrong, the fault of the police. This was the real Lori Drew's contention too. The police report, now in the public domain, told the tale of a woman, Lori Drew, distraught over the treatment by the Meiers after Megan's suicide and her "anger" that they would not "meet" with her to "learn the truth" about what happened. How Lori had set up a fake MySpace account, how it had gotten "sexual." It's no wonder Drew now claims the police report is wrong because it damns Lori. It's the opposite of what Lori Drew's attorney and the St. Charles prosecutor claimed to of happened, of Lori's "participation" being only peripheral.

The fake or real Lori bemoans that she acted as a "responsible" parent and when the commenters chided her she slapped them down, telling one to burn in hell. She grew impatient with the readers inability to "understand" why she had to do what she did to Megan. Megan's suicide had nothing, nothing to do with her. Blame Megan's mother, it said. Blame Megan's medication. Megan was a bully. Megan was going to humiliate my daughter. God, you people are morons.

Megan Had It Coming said... YOU PEOPLE STILL ARENT LISTENING!!!!! [1]

The outrage from the readers was understandable. The comments about this person, whoever they are, being a sociopath, spot on.

And so, 48 hours after the authorities said they were investigating this blog, it's still there, open for business. We wondered, since the person who wrote the blog claims they are Lori Drew, and the real Lori Drew claims she is not involved, then why hasn't the blog owners, Bloggers, closed it down? After all it fits their criteria, of impersonation. The blog has been brought to the attention of the owners, Bloggers, to the cops, to Lori Drew, to the county prosecutor, to the news organizations. And yet, it still rolls on, collecting comment after comment.

We want to know who is behind this blog, specifically, that it is not Lori Drew. We want to know how the blog has managed to keep going even though it fits 3 out of 4 of the criteria as an offensive blog according to Bloggers, the ones who gave this site out to "Megan Had It Coming."

Megan Had it Coming said...

You don't know that. Nobody knows why Megan took her life that night except Megan. Was it MySpace? Was it the boyfriend? Was it the medication? Was it something else?

You can't put the responsibility or the blame on me when you can't verify or possibly know what was going through Megan's head that night.

I'm getting really tired of defending this point over and over. Please, people, just get it. [1]

Source - 1 -Megan Had It Coming

By LBG
Image - [leonardovitale.it]



Back to Front Page.

Megan Meier, Lori Drew: St. L P-D Believes Bloggers Are the Real Culprits

Post Dispatch tackles important issue

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has fingered a culprit in the Megan Meier story.

And the guilty parties are--surprise!--bloggers.

The traditional press, ever mindful of mouthing ethics that fall far short of what they actually practice, is again pointing a finger at their Internet brethren.

Joel Currier, the P-D writer seems upset that readers, upon reading Megan's story, became upset. The Post-Dispatch can hardly direct their ire at readers, having lost over 10,000 of them over the last year, so bloggers are not only handy, but also a logical target.[1]

Besides, bloggers most likely don't read the Post-Dispatch anyway.

Why's Joel so upset? We'll let him explain.

Rage against Curt and Lori Drew of Dardenne Prairie continues to explode on the Internet — targeting the couple and people who did business with them.

Bloggers want justice for Megan Meier, 13, and vengeance against the Drews, whom they blame for Megan's suicide last year.

Dozens of names and phone numbers of businesses that advertised in Lori Drew's coupon book have been posted online with demands to boycott their establishments.

Many of the companies have canceled their advertising contracts with Drew and received letters saying Drew is folding her coupon business.[2]

So: there are people upset with the Drews. This is unpardonable. Joel quotes a few of the merchants, who are upset at being contacted by people learning of their association with Drew's Ad Vantage advertising company.

He then moves on to Drew's lawyer to support his thesis. The reporter in Mr. Currier surely knows that someone's attorney may not be the final word in objectivity.

Doesn't he?

Jim Briscoe, the lawyer representing the Drews, told the "Today" show on Tuesday that Lori Drew has had to close her advertising business and her daughter has dropped out of school after the publicity and investigation into Megan's suicide. Briscoe also said it was not clear whether the Drews would be able to continue living in their Dardenne Prairie neighborhood, four doors down from the Meier house.

Drew "absolutely, 100 percent" did not know that Internet messages to Megan had become nasty, Briscoe said. Drew did not write any of the MySpace messages that preceded Megan Meier's suicide in October 2006.[2]

One admires Jim Briscoe. His job of presenting Lori Drew as a sympathetic figure is not an easy one. But he gets paid to do that job.

Joel Currier gets paid to do another job.

And today he earned his pay decrying the reactions of readers--of bloggers. He quotes another harried small businessman.

Stein Hunter, 49, the owner of the Crooked Tree Coffee Shop in St. Charles, says he sees irony in the way people are using the Internet to harass business owners in order to get back at the Drews.

"The issue is harassment," Hunter said. "And they are harassing people."

An expression of opinion is many things to many people. To Mr. Hunter, it's harassment; it must certainly seems like it to him. But then, Mr. Hunter brews coffee: he doesn't report the news.

Another expression of opinion in the Post-Dispatch came from Currier's colleague, Jeff Gordon, sportswriter, about the Cardinal's Scott Rolen. "Rolen's gotta go," writes Gordon today. But no piece on whether Rolen agrees with that opinion or feels harassed. Or whether his livelihood might be affected.

And Rolen didn't conduct a six-week hoax on a 13-year-old girl; all he's apparently guilty of is pouting and frowning.

There's more of the same from Joel Currier in his story; anyone wanting to read it can check out the article; it's listed at the end of this post.

One could do a simple check--we did--to find that most of the phone numbers, personal information and posting of advertisers came from readers of blogs, not the blogs themselves. Whether in comments tagged onto the end of posts, in forums or in emails, readers were almost universally outraged.

Why were readers outraged?

That was simple enough to check also. They were upset that a 46-year-old woman would concoct an elaborate scam on a 13-year-old girl suffering from depression. They were upset that, in Drew's own words, "she, with the help of a temporary employee named "Ashley", constructed a profile of 'good-looking' male on 'myspace'".

They are upset that when "the communication became 'sexual for a 13-year-old', Drew--again in her own words--continued the fake male profile despite this development.[3]

They became upset at a traditional press, which had long published the names and personal information of anyone targeted in frivolous lawsuits or cases where people were arrested for offenses, large and small(and later the charges were dropped), clammed up when it came to an Internet hoaxer.

And now, those same readers appear to be upset when reporters attack the one vehicle they had for expressing their anger: the Internet and the bloggers who chronicle there.

This isn't the first time this has happened. It's one of the reasons that TV ratings and circulation figures continue to tumble for the gatekeepers in the traditional media: poor and unresponsive customer service.

One suspects this won't be the last time.

by Mondoreb
[image:stlbrianj]

Sources:
1-FAS-FAX Numbers from the Audit Bureau of Circulation
2-Internet Fury Mounts in Megan Case
3-What Lawyer said in 2007, What Lori Drew said in 2006



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Myspace Suicide, Lori Drew, Megan Meier: 'Megan Had It Coming' Blog Being Investigated By Local Authorities

It's been confirmed that the authorities are investigating the "Megan Had It Coming" Blog.

It’s a new twist in the story of the internet hoax that ended in a tragic teen suicide. A new investigation is being launched in connection with the October 2006 death of 13 year old Megan Meier's of Dardenne Prairie in St. Charles County.

The sheriff and the prosecutor have confirmed they're now looking into a blog site which recounts in great detail the entire Megan Meier saga. St. Charles County prosecutor, Jack Banas, is calling on the department’s "cyber" crimes investigators to find out who's behind the site; the very title of which may offend you: "Megan Had It Coming". The title is followed by the statement, "I'm Lori Drew."

DBKP has monitored the blog since its beginning. Only three posts since it began over two weeks ago. The latest claimed the author was Lori Drew.

What did Drew's attorney have to say about that?

Drew's attorney, Jim Briscoe, did not respond to Fox 2's attempts to reach him for comment on the story.

But Drew's family did; her father telling Fox 2, Drew had nothing to do with the blog; the family welcomed the investigation.

Authorities say Meier's former neighbor, Lori Drew, Drew's daughter, and Drew's 18 year old employee, concocted a MySpace web page, under the name of a make-believe 16 year old boy, who befriended Megan on-line.

Authorities say the purposed of the hoax was to find out if Megan was saying things about Drew's daughter, a former friend of Megan's. Megan's mother also welcomes the investigation into the "Megan Had It Coming" blog site.

"That would be great," said Tina Meier. "I think hopefully it would make a stand … we can post that we are anybody in this world. We can say we are anybody. We can act as anybody, and it's ok. It's just absolutely ok. You can absolutely ruin somebody's lives."

As in the case of Megan. Authorities say she hanged herself after receiving a final message from the make-believe boy; a message which said the world would be better off without her.

The blog appeared on November 18th at 1:01 PM with the first post entitled "Set The Record Straight." This was when the story of Megan Meier's suicide and the hoax behind it was first reaching most of the country.

In that first post, the person claimed to be using a fake name, that of "Kristen." "Kristen" claimed to be a former classmate of Megan's.

There have been three posts on the "Megan Had it Coming" Blog. The first on November 18, when the story was first sweeping across the country.

The first post was entitled "Set the Record Straight" and it's reproduced below.

Sunday, November 18, 2007
Set the record straight

I want to set the record straight about Megan Meier. I'm calling myself Kristen because if i don't want to give out my real name.

Megan and I were sort of friends. I always saw her at school and sometimes on myspace when her mom would let her on. I need to talk about what she was like because everyone has this picture of this innocent girl who had this horrible thing done to her. That's sorta true but not totally.

Megan was a total drama queen. Yeah i know it was depression or whatev but it was hard to be her friend for very long because she would always lose it and turn into a psycho. That's why Lori Drew's daughter stopped being friends with Megan. Let's call her laura. Every other day Megan would have some crisis and you could see her freaking out down the hall or screaming at someone for stabbing her in the back or not listening to her or whatever then she would go cry to Laura unless it was her pissing her off. You couldn't say anything to megan without her taking it the wrong way.

Yeah she was kinda fat. But she made it seem like everyone was out to harpoon her or whatev. I saw her out with her mom one day at tri sports and she was being a total basket case complaining how all the sports gear made her look fat. You could tell that her mom had been putting up with her daughter for a looooooong time and kinda tuned her out. I would, too.

Oh one other thing about Megan is that she was soooooo shallow. She totally threw herself at any boy who would give her the time of day and then totally lose him for stupid reasons. She was hot for this one boy in our math class and she was trying to be a flirt but she was being totally slutty at him until sara this other girl she talked to said she didn't think he was very hot and boom! suddenly megan wasn't intrested in him anymore and called him a loser in front of everyone. It was that kind of stuff that made people not like Megan. Megan could be really mean and hurtful.

Oh and if you ever disagreed with her or didn't go in with whatever she was talking about she totally pulled this poor me thing and got all defensive. she was a total psycho and everyone knew it. And she knew that everyone knew it and she went even more crazy! Like when she talked about liking Usher and someone else called her a getto bitch and she screamed at the top of her lungs NO IM NOT!!!!! You couldn't help but laugh at her because she was soooooo nuts!!!

So yeah it's to bad Megan killed herself but it's not suprising. I mean if she didn't have enough to eat at dinner that could have set her off and made her kill herself. And killing yourself over a myspace boy? come on!!! I mean yeah your fat so you have to take what you can get but still nobody should kill themselves over it. Oh wait unless your Megan the psycho who goes crazy over every little thing and acts like it's the end of the world. Think about it Megan was "drove" to suicide because from her perspective a boy she liked suddenly asked her about her school reputation and said he wasn't into it? How crazy do you have to be?

Oh and I don't think Lori Drew is so evil as everyone says. Megan was a total bitch to everyone around her especially Laura so if I was her mom I would be mad at Megan too and I would check up on her to see what shit she was spreading about my daughter. And Megan totally talked shit about everyone, including Laura. After she told Laura off, she went around to all her friends to get everyone on her side as if it was this huge divorce or somethingcalling Laura a slut and a bitch so whatev. So yeah Laura's mom checked up on Megan to see what was up and give her a taste of her own medicine. And it's not like Laura's mom did this whole campaign like you see on the news. She was pretending to be this nice guy for six weeks and then said two mean things in one day and that was it. It's not like Megan thought some mean adult was coming after her. All she knew was that some boy who would totally make her think she's hot shit at school cuz she couldn't shut up about him she totally showed him off like a trophy so all the other girls would be jealous and then oops her awesome boy toy was fake!! She was like totally busted on that one. And she had it coming with all the shit she did.

So nobody in the news talks about what Megan the bitch was like so now you know. Oh and don't bother trying to figure out who I am. Unlike Megan, I DO have a boyfriend and he knows computers and he totally covered my tracks.

Posted by Megan Had It Coming at 1:01 PM

The next post came almost a week later on November 26 and was entitled "Who's at Fault". It included some information on bi-polar sufferers and comments which generally took a pro-Lori Drew outlook.

The second post is reproduced below:

Monday, November 26, 2007
Who's really at fault?

When the grief counselor came to our school last year and spoke to us, she said over and over again that Megan's death was the fault of nobody but Megan. No matter who was feeling guilty, or who thought they should have known something or said something or not said something or whatev. She said it was a tragedy, but something like "there's no way to predict when or why a depressed person would end her own life. In the end no one but Megan can be held responsible for Megan's suicide." She sent us to this site too: http://www.healthyplace.com/communities/bipolar/related/suicide_8.asp

My boyfriend showed this to his older brother. He's in college and really smart. He said there were some really good comments and we should repost them so people can see. So here:

BlondeHrtBreakr said...

So let me get this straight...Megan was old enough to get on MySpace, create a fake profile to attract guys, but yet she's not old enough to take a few insults in one SINGLE afternoon? Come on. If you go as far as to get online and flirt with "boys", you should be able to take a little rejection without HANGING YOURSELF. The parents who tricked her were being rude, yes, but if I were them, I would not feel guilty. You don't MAKE someone kill themselves. That is utter garbage. Megan was old enough to make her own choices. She made a CHOICE to get online and impersonate someone else....she made a CHOICE to talk to a 16 yr old boy she DID NOT KNOW....and she made a CHOICE to kill herself. All piss poor choices. You people talk as if this was a 5 or 6 year old girl who didn't know better....please. She knew what she was doing. She got fooled this time! SHE IS NOT THE VICTIM. Quit speaking about her as if she was.....So ignorant!
Good answer!

A. Addolorata said...

At 13 years old I had a blog on teenopendiary.com, somewhat similar to myspace.com. As any other 13+ year old I wrote my fair share of angst, and I had various comments, including ones that told me to kill myself, that I was worthless, etc. I've had people tell me to kill myself, and yet I'm still here. At 13, I was smart enough to simply step away from the computer. I mentioned earlier that I had made a suicide attempt, but the attempt was made due to reasons well beyond what someone said on the internet.
Smart girl you rock!

Jeff said...

Lori didn't tell Megan to hang herself. Lori didn't put the belt around her neck, didn't fasten it to the closet. The evidence is scant that it was indeed Lori who sent the message that Megan allegedly found so hurtful.

Yet, there is an internet mob which insists that despite all these facts, Lori is guilty of the murder of Megan Meier. The internet mob has repeatably harassed Lori Drew, to the point where the police have expressed concern. The internet mob has also demanded the prosecution of the author of this blog for unnamed crimes. This is bullshit, and of course I stand against it.
Jeff is one of the most level headed people here. I think you should read his comments where he debates a psycho mommy bitch (probably Tina) and hands her ass to her! Right on!

JennaD said...

This case has only been tried in the court of public opinion, mostly by people who only have the knowledge of what they have read on the internet or heard on a sensationalized TV show in order to make money.

Every story has two sides and if you don't think so - then I hope you are never tried and convicted in your own court.
This is why I tried to bring the second side to the story. But hey whatev, people don't want to hear it.

Angel said...

It's quite obvious you don't know what you're talking about. Did you even know Megan? If not, you have no opinion worth listening to
Oh really, Angel? Did any of YOU people commenting here condemning her and me even know Megan? Well, if not, none of you have an opinion worth listening to, according to Angel.

e/b/aumsworld said...

"It's disgusting how you think the true victims are to blame." -- I find it disgusting how you think she's above any blame whatsoever. Isn't suicide a cardinal sin in most religions? I bet someone's roasting in at least one of those hells right about now.
Here's another smart guy who has a good grasp on what we're saying. Way to pwn them!

Jeff said...

I find that this blog author has expressed my thoughts on this manner in a better manner than I have been able to: http://www.megansvigilantes.blogspot.com/
Jeff points out a good blog. I think you should all go read it.

e/b/aumsworld said...

would've had plenty of time if she'd, I dunno...SIGNED THE FUCK OFF LIKE HER MOTHER SAID TO! But no, she stayed online and kept bitching and whining about a bunch of meaningless tripe ON THE INTERNETS. On MySpace, no less. And now everyone's crying over what a "tragedy" this whole mess is simply because she was too lazy to get her ass OFF the computer. Jesus Christ, what a crock.
OMG INTERNETS! lolololololol

Katya said...

I can't believe how close minded you people are. If you had to deal with a psycho bitch you wouldn't think "oh I should try to get her some help" you'd think "wow this bitch treats me like shit. fuck her"

Maybe her parents should have seen that she had issues and gotten her help. Legally, they're supposed to be taking care of her.

Her friends tried and got sick of being treated like shit. It isn't their purpose in life to help. They shouldn't have to suffer just because someone else has issues.
U said it so much better than I did. That's exactly the point i wanted to make! thx!

It's sort of like that time I lost at Super Mario Kart because my friends cheated so I kicked them all out and then smashed my nintendo with a baseball bat. Only i was like 8 at the time. And I didn't blame them for what I did.

So there you go. Megan was a skank who had her myspace pwning coming and when the shallow bitch realized that her trophy bf was fake, and everyone knew it, she went WAYYYYYYY over the edge and killed herself.

No one's fault but Megan's.

Posted by Megan Had It Coming at 11:34 AM

The third post appeared on December 3 and was entitled "I'm Lori Drew". The post has drawn 2115 comments to it and is mostly an off-and-on running verbal battle between readers and the person claiming to be Drew.

Some have attributed some of the anonymous comments to the Drew-poster, also. The poster challenges the readers to come and get her, but to leave her daughter alone.

The third and final post is reproduced below.

Monday, December 3, 2007
I'm Lori Drew

It's time I dropped the charade. Yes, I made this blog. Yes, I'm Lori Drew.

My daughter had nothing to do with this. Everyone needs to leave her alone. None of you can possibly know her involvement, and none of you can possibly know what she's gone through. She's just a kid. She doesn't deserve these brutal verbal attacks. Please stop.

Now that Mr. Banas has made public the announcement that there will be no charges filed against me or my family, I feel it is time to speak out about this tragic affair. I cannot count on any media organization to fairly represent my story, as they have grossly misrepresented and sensationalized the story so far. So, I must present my case here, on the blog that has been my only outlet.

You don't understand what the last two years have been like, living in this town, dealing with these people. When we came here, the Meiers seemed like a great family with whom we could form a friendship. Tina sold us our house and our little girls became fast friends. It was typical. Sleepovers and vacations and events in the community. The girls were inseparable.

We knew Megan and we liked having her around, at first. But as the months went on, we saw a change in our daughter. She was increasingly disturbed and defensive. We thought the effects of puberty were taking hold. But, we soon realized the negative influence was Megan. Megan had her bright and perky side, but she also had her dark side. We knew that she suffered from depression, so we tried to be supportive and patient. We talked to Ron and Tina about our concerns, but they would have none of it. Their precious Megan couldn't be the problem -- and they said we should feel bad for even suggesting it of a poor, mentally ill child.

It only got worse from there. Megan found out that we had gone to her parents and she worked to drive a wedge between our daughter and us. We fought back the only way we knew how: we supported our daughter and explained to her what we thought. She agreed with us, and that's when the fallout started.

When Sarah stopped going along with Megan's antics, Megan took it especially hard and lashed out. She called my daughter every nasty name in the book, swore to never be friends again and stormed out. Then a few days later they were friends again, Megan would try to manipulate Sarah, Sarah wouldn't buy it, and Megan would become furious again. Then came the MySpace attack. Not the one you're reading about in the news, but the one that started this whole thing.

After the final break-up in their frienship, Megan coordinated a MySpace attack on my daughter. Since she didn't have access to MySpace herself, she had to work through friends. I wasn't too surprised because I knew that Megan was grounded from MySpace the previous year after she made a fake profile with a friend to go prank and bully a classmate they didn't like.

Fortunately, that prank didn't go far, and neither did her latest attempted prank on my daughter. But the damage was done to my child, and I knew what kind of child Megan was, depression or not.

Now I had nothing but sympathy for Megan's condition. But my sympathy has limits. When you come after my daughter and try to hurt her like that, my patience wears out. This troubled child was no longer able to poison my baby in person, so she decided to reach out on the Internet to do it instead. Like any parent, when you see the ill-behaved child next door causing trouble for your family, you want to wring the neck of the parents who let it happen. But, as Megan's parents made it clear earlier, they were not about to come down on their precious Megan. I had no recourse with them. And, forbidding the children from seeing each other was not effective because Megan could simply harass my daughter online.

Then, my daughter heard that Megan was lobbying her parents to get her MySpace back. I was instantly terrified. That little monster was a tremendous poison for my daughter as-is. I didn't want to think about what kind of damage she would do if she had total access to the internet. I talked the situation over with people I knew and trusted, who told me to be very afraid. Teenage bullying was rampant on MySpace, and there were very few, if any, legal options for people being harassed. Everyone's advice was: if you're harassed, your only option is to delete your profile and run. It won't stop people from saying bad things about you, but at least you won't have to see it.

I wanted to hide my daughter away from all of this, and delete her MySpace, but she begged and pleaded with me to let her stay. I know it's MySpace and it's a social hub for teens today and I didn't want my daughter to be the only one without, so I relented.

Instead, I worked with a couple of people I knew to create a profile so I could keep tabs on Megan. They helped me add pictures and graphics and music so it would look like a boy that Megan would want to talk to. We didn't totally know what we were doing with the Josh Evans persona, or where it would lead, so I kept it quiet. We did our best to shmooze Megan into opening up. I complimented her pictures and said how great she was. I very gently asked her about her school life and her friends hoping that if she was planning any attack on my daughter that we would be one step ahead of her and could take this evidence to her parents, show them what their daughter is up to so they would finally take action.

A couple of weeks went by and Megan was buying it. We were surprised at how she could be so nice to "Josh" and still have an undercurrent of negativity when she talked about school friends. We wanted to make sure she wasn't going to try anything to get back at Sarah, so we kept the account going. When Megan started talking about being in love and wanting to do boyfriend/girlfriend stuff with "Josh" I got concerned. How do we keep going for information AND figure out a way to let her down gently once we were convinced nothing was going to happen? What if we let her down, and she regressed and came after my daughter anyway? I was becoming very confused and concerned then. Megan was unpredictable and I absolutely did NOT want her harassing my child. I didn't know what to do, so I kept going. I played down her innuendo. Anytime she became explicit, "Josh" backed off and kept the compliments above board.

Then I found out that Megan's parents were actively monitoring the account! Everything that had been going on, they were witness to. This troubled me deeply: were they not concerned when their 13 year old daughter wanted to have heavy duty make out sessions with a 16 year old boy? Hello!

I had "Josh" friend other people that Megan knew all the while so that if anyone else knew of anything that was going to happen, we'd have that much more chance of staying ahead of the game. One of the girls we friended even figured out that the profile was fake. We let her in on it, and asked what she wanted. Turns out, she wasn't friendly with Megan, either, so she wanted to help. I gave her access to the account.

It wasn't long after that that we saw what was being said on other accounts: Megan was still mad at Sarah and was very quiety spreading cruel rumors. She kept it off her own MySpace because she knew that kind of stuff would get her grounded off it again. I was furious! Not only was Megan obviously not going to stop until she had her revenge, but now there was no way to get any evidence about it.

That's when I decided I would have to teach Megan a lesson and give her a taste of her own medicine.

I decided that I would shut down the Josh account, and not be nice about it. Megan's feelings be damned, and to hell with her consequence! I was going to protect my daughter no matter what. So I sent the break up e-mail to Megan saying that Josh didn't want to be friends because Megan was very cruel to her friends. Naturally, Megan freaked, and I tried to keep the messages short and sweet. As a last resort bargaining chip, I figured that if she really loved Josh then maybe he could pressure her into stopping her lies. But it didn't work, and the situation devolved lightning fast.

Megan was screaming at Josh for answers on who he had been talking to: she wanted to know who ratted her out so she could take out revenge on them, too. I shared Megan's messages with everyone involved and encouraged everyone to stand up against her and not take her crap anymore.

Instead, once the word got out about Megan, so did all her romantic replies, as well as a few secrets and the MySpace crowd ganged up on her.But I didn't realize that this group would react that way. I expected a certain amount of bullying, and I was OK with it. I wanted Megan to get a taste of what she had been dishing out this whole time. But I didn't want it to go as far as it did. It's true that the slut and fat references came out of what I shared. And by the time I was done with work on that day, the bullying against Megan had progressed pretty far. I had heard about the "better off without you" message and that's when I told everyone to cool it. Megan had been punished enough, and I was satisfied that she would think twice before bullying or manipulating anyone again. I don't know who wrote that "better off without you" message.

That night I saw the ambulance lights at the Meier house, and then I saw them take Megan out on a stretcher. I was stunned and horrified. I wasn't sure what had happened, and when they had said Megan tried to kill herself, I didn't believe it. Yes, Megan suffered from depression, but she was always laughing and smiling when we were on vacations, or at sleep overs. After the shock wore off, I panicked: what if Megan ended her life after what happened on MySpace? It seemed ridiculous. When kids were bullied, they went to their rooms and cried -- even the depressed ones. They didn't hang themselves.

I was distraught over the event, so I instructed the key people involved to stay quiet to protect themselves against any counter-bullying, and I deleted the Josh profile. I kept the truth from the Meier family because there was simply no reason to come forward. Their little girl died the next day at the hospital. Their lives were destroyed. What good would it do to inform them that their daughter's MySpace boyfriend was a fake? They wouldn't believe that their daughter was a MySpace bully and a real life manipulator when she was alive, so why add to their grief now? I stayed quiet. I went to the funeral to pay my respects to this troubled child who took herself to a tragic end. We mourned the loss of a girl who once was a good friend. We all tried to get on with our lives.

Little by little rumors of the cause of Megan's suicide spread. Of course the Josh break-up was mentioned, as was the MySpace bullying. People talked about the need to stop MySpace bullying. There were a couple of news reports, but it never went anywhere.

Until six weeks later when one of the girls involved decided to link me to the issue. When Megan's parents found out that the Josh account was me, they focused all of their rage and pain and guilt at me. Instantly, what had been a mysterious suicide with no definite answers became a personal vendetta.

Just like Megan, her parents showed their dark side and scared the holy hell out of me when they dumped our smashed foosball table on our driveway. Instantly I knew we were dealing with unbalanced people. Aggravated by their child's death and their own culture of anxiety, I very much feared for my family. I made sure to report the incident to the police so the Meiers would know that we would stand up for ourselves and that the police were watching, should they choose to do something rash.

A little bit after that, I decided to try to diffuse the situation and confront the parents. I would lay out everything I knew, all the intent, and everything I thought. If they didn't want to accept the truth about their daughter, then there was nothing else I could do. But I would at least try. Unfortunately, Tina & Ron would have none of it. They wouldn't talk to us, they wouldn't deal with us. Ron pretty much came unglued when we made one last attempt. They had nothing but raw hatred for us, and they wouldn't listen. That's when I realized it was hopeless.

The police investigation was especially frightening. We cooperated as best we could. I provided my statement, but I was not satisfied with the officer who took it. He got most of the details wrong, and he left out intricacies that I've explained here. When I tried to get the report corrected, an officer at the desk said she was familiar with our case, and flat out refused to allow us to amend our statement. That was the beginning of the backlash. That it came from a police officer truly shook us.

The investigators asked both us and the Meiers to remain quiet about the issue while they conducted their work. They warned us of small town mob violence and undue media attention. We agreed and went on with our lives. We heard almost nothing for nearly nine months. Our lives seemed to be getting back to normal, despite the family down the street that still grieved visibly and had devolved into fights and separation. I truly felt bad for them. They lost their baby, and now they were tearing themselves apart because the pain wasn't getting any better. I made sure to kiss and hug my Sarah every night and tell her how much I loved her. We actually grew closer from it.

Then the investigation was over. No charges would be filed. We were relieved. It felt like a weight had finally been lifted from us. But not so for Tina & Ron. They had focused their rage on us and blamed us for everything. I could understand their pain and their guilt, but I had had enough of their accusations. One day I did snap and told Tina to "give it a rest." Looking back, it was insensitive to say. But, you have to understand that for months we had been dealing with a family that didn't want to listen to our side of the story and only called for us to "be gone." Like I said, my sympathy has limits.

After the investigation, Tina made it clear she wasn't going to let this go. We weren't sure what to expect, but we had grown to be dismissive of her and her incoherent ranting. Then came the newspaper article, which instantly painted us as hoaxers who were out to make Megan kill herself.

You see, this is why I now have an extreme distrust for any media: they paint the story in whatever way gets the most readers. Everyone from Pokin to Andersoon Cooper has painted this story as if we set out to destroy Megan, as if her suicide was a foregone conclusion of our actions. But it's not. We didn't know Megan was going to do what she did. If we knew it was going to end like that, I wouldn't have started this whole thing. I had no intention for Megan to be so drastic. I wanted her to learn a lesson so she could be a better person. I didn't want her to die.

Then Sarah Wells outed me. Then the hate and harassment and threats poured in. Even against my daughter. First there were dozens of calls, then hundreds, then there was national news, and everyone went crazy.

That's why I started this blog and posted as "Kirsten." I was so angry at the world for being so unfair, especially when it came to my daughter whom I had sworn to protect from all of this. I took a low blow at Megan's memory because I desperately wanted the world to at least get a glimpse of the truth.

But that's all over now. The final word from authorities has come down that there will be no charges, so I don't have to remain silent. There's no point in hiding anymore. The internet has made it clear that mob revenge must prevail, even if there's no justice in it. So be it.

Here I am, internet. Come get me.

Posted by Megan Had It Coming at 8:02 AM 2116 comments

This from Fox News in St. Louis:

it’s a new twist in the story of the internet hoax that ended in a tragic teen suicide. A new investigation is being launched in connection with the October 2006 death of 13 year old Megan Meier's of Dardenne Prairie in St. Charles County.

The sheriff and the prosecutor have confirmed they're now looking into a blog site which recounts in great detail the entire Megan Meier saga. St. Charles County prosecutor, Jack Banas, is calling on the department’s "cyber" crimes investigators to find out who's behind the site; the very title of which may offend you: "Megan Had It Coming". The title is followed by the statement, "I'm Lori Drew."

Drew's attorney, Jim Briscoe, did not respond to Fox 2's attempts to reach him for comment on the story.

But Drew's family did; her father telling Fox 2, Drew had nothing to do with the blog; the family welcomed the investigation.

Authorities say Meier's former neighbor, Lori Drew, Drew's daughter, and Drew's 18 year old employee, concocted a MySpace web page, under the name of a make-believe 16 year old boy, who befriended Megan on-line.

Authorities say the purposed of the hoax was to find out if Megan was saying things about Drew's daughter, a former friend of Megan's. Megan's mother also welcomes the investigation into the "Megan Had It Coming" blog site.

"That would be great," said Tina Meier. "I think hopefully it would make a stand … we can post that we are anybody in this world. We can say we are anybody. We can act as anybody, and it's ok. It's just absolutely ok. You can absolutely ruin somebody's lives."

As in the case of Megan. Authorities say she hanged herself after receiving a final message from the make-believe boy; a message which said the world would be better off without her.

In spite of the worldwide outcry to make someone pay, the prosecutor says he was unable to file any criminal charges under current law.

"When we go outside that and use our emotions to not look at a case, and not match it up to the facts and circumstances, that's when you end up with something like the Duke lacrosse case," said Banas.

Yet now more than ever he is duty bound to try to get to the bottom of the newest anonymous on-line attack in this case; this one appearing to victimize Lori Drew as much against Drew as it is Megan Meier.

Consider the new investigation part of Megan's legacy, even if it should end up helping protect the very people her mother says targeted Megan.

"I know that Megan's here and that she's helping me," Tina Meier said. "I will definitely make sure her life was not in vain."

She hopes that means testifying on behalf of tougher laws in the Missouri Legislature and Congress, too. She hopes that leades to laws that target not only those doing the cyber bullying and hurtful messaging, but also the web-sites that give them a forum.

Questions to ask: If the authorities started their investigation yesterday, December 4th, why is it still up? Why are comments still being posted to the blog, "Megan Had it Coming"? Lori Drew says it isn't her. Is it? We don't know. Is this blog breaking any laws? Is it a crime to leave it up? If the MySpace account created by the original hoaxers drew no charges, how can this one, which has not led to any physical harm, to be any different? The Drews, the Meiers and the authorities all are aware of this site; it only takes a second to shut it down. The prosecutor and the police are all aware of it. And the big question is: Who is behind this website? And will the police even reveal the identity of the blogger if and when they find out who it is?

We are waiting for answers like everyone else.

By MondoReb and LBG
Source - Fox News 2: Authorities investigate blog
Source - Megan Had It Coming

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