Trolls Among Us 2
80Tina Meier says justice was served
Megan Meier
Megan Taylor Meier November 6, 1992- October 17, 2006. Megan committed suicide after an internet hoax went terribly wrong. Cyber Bullying played a key part in her mental state. Megan was pretty much a normal teenage girl. She participated in many sports at school and her parents said that she loved spending time with her friends.
Megan Meier
"Josh"
Soon after Meier opened a MySpace account, she received a message from Josh Evans. They quickly became close online friends. They messaged one another on a daily basis. "Josh" supposedly had just moved to a nearby city where Megan lived and was home schooled. They also hadn't had time to get a phone yet.
On October 15, the messages changed drastically. "Josh" would message saying things like, " I don't know if I want to be friends anymore cause I heard you were mean to your friends." Other messages were sent and Megan finally told her mom about them and they argued over the vulgar replies that Megan sent back and that she didn't log off when her mother told her to.
Megan
The End of Megan's Life
On October 16, 2006 Megan ran upstairs to her room for the very last time. She was found twenty minutes later and all attempts to revive were in vain. She was pronounced dead the following day.
Megan Meier Story
The Local Investigation
Megan's parents were informed, six weeks after her death, that the mother of one of her friends, Lori Drew, was responsible for creating the Josh Evans account. Megan had a falling out with her friend prior to everything that went on. She reportedly did it to gain Megan's trust to see what she was saying about her daughter. She denied knowing anything about the offensive messages. The informant went so far as to say that Lori even laughed about what they did to Megan.
Lori Drew
Ashley Grills
It was over a year after Megan's suicide before the controversy was reported to the press. This was due to a request by the FBI, who were trying to keep the investigation quiet. They asked Megan's parents to not say anything about the investigation. Once the story broke it spread quickly to national and international news.
On Monday December 3, 2007 the prosecuting attorney stated that Ashley Grills, one of the Drew's temporary employees, wrote most of the "Josh Evans" messages to Megan, including the very last one. She said she wrote the last one to get Megan to stop communicating with "Josh."
Federal Investigation
In January 2008 a federal grand jury started issueing subpeonas to MySpace while considering pressing charges againt the Drews for federal wire fraud and cyber fraud. Ashley Grills was granted immunity for her testimony against Lori Drew.
On May 15, 2008, Lori Drew was indicted on one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization in order to obtain information to cause emotional distress. Each count carries a penalty of up to five years. Drew was also charged with violating the terms of use of MySpace.
Interview of Ashley Nicole Grills
After everything is said and done, Megan is still not with us. As I researched this story, I kept wondering why a grown woman would harass a young girl like that. It shows me that this world is indeed a sick world. Teenagers have enough problems to worry about than to have someone do this to them like Lori Drew did to Megan. Megan may have taken her life even if Drew hadn't done what she did, but that's not a reason to terrorize a teenage girl or boy .
I just hope and pray that Megan's parents are able to find peace. Please everyone, let's teach our children not to fall for things such as this. Let's educate them in the right way to use their computer.
All comments are welcome.
Megan's Parents
Lori Drew guilty on Three Misdemeanors
The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the charge of conspiracy and threw out three other felony charges against Drew. The jury found Drew guilty on three misdemeanor charges. Each charge carries a potential sentence of one year in prison plus up to a $100,000 fine.
Read more of the new story here.
Lori Drew and Daughter Sarah
- Trolls Among Us
In the spring of 2005, Mitchell Henderson, for some reason unknown to his friends and family, took a rifle from a shelf, went into a closet and shot himself in the head. He was a seventh grade student. At...
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Comments
It is very sad what happened to Megan. An adult never should have assumed a fake identity to find out why her daughter was no longer talking to Megan. On the most basic level parents should let kids figure out their own friendships and not get involved, unless it is to tell their child to back off from a toxic friendship. However, if a friend in school stops talking to another friend then parents need to accept friendships change over time. When I was in elementary school I had a friend who stopped talking to me, but my parents never would have imagined getting involved and asking her parents why. I just realized my real friends would always be there for me and I would not need to spend time on people who did not want to be my friends.
Thank you Sweetie for the read and comment. I appreciate your input also about friends and friendship. It is very good advice,
Thank you also torino for the comment.
THIS IS SO SAD,,,BAD ENOUGH KIDS HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THEIR SO CALLED FRIEND BULLYING THEM BUT NOW SOME ADULTS ARE EVEN BIGGER BULLIES
SO true Silly. Glad you stopped by to read and comment.
I'm dumbfounded by this. Just don't know what to say, it's unbelieveable.
I understand Shirley. It is hard to digest.
Very sad and wholly unnecessary.
parents must be having a real tough time , Its so sad. Thats the negative use of the technology . Cant sat anything else its really sad.
Yes it is sad Paraglider. Thanks for commenting.
No doubt Megan's parents are having a rough time. Thanks for stopping by Adeshwar.
SirDent, what is wrong with people??? gosh, this just eats me up!! I am amazed how mean and cruel "memememe" we get!
Some people can only be happy by making others miserable. They are sick individuals for sure.
She is a grown woman!! How childish did she act?? Truly terrible event, thoughts to the family.
When I first heard about this, I thought it was the teenagers acting alone, but to know that grown men and women were involved makes this even more disturbing. May God have mercy on the parents of Megan Meir and I hope that more parents use this as a reason to be more mindful of the sites that their kids visit.
Oh my goodness! I hadn't heard about this. I send my most sincere condolences to Megan's parents, other family members and friends.
ProCW
What really irked me about this case was the unmitigated gall of Lori Drew to not only feign innocence in this matter, but to actually go to the Meiers house and offer condolences. She then asked them if it would be okay to store a foozeball table in their garage until Christmas, as a surprise for her family. When the Meiers found out about her involvement in the death of their daughter, Megan's mother totally trashed the foozeball table. Lori Drew then filed a complaint with the police department. Personally, she should have been grateful that Megan's mother didn't get medieval on HER and chose instead to take her grief out on an inanimate object.
its hard to believe that there are people that evil out there.
I appreciate all the comments. Sorry I'm unable to address each one individually.
Spryte, that is something I hadn't read about. GLad you were able to make it known to everyone.
SD - This particular story just hit a nerve with me. Megan reminded me so much of my youngest sister during her teen years...feeling unsure of her own worth, selling herself short at times and always looking for approval and reassurance that she was normal. That Lori Drew, through her teen-aged boy creation, told Megan literally...that she was worthless and the world was better off without her, broke my heart. I hope that this case draws enough attention to create legislation to prevent something like this from ever happening again. No teenager should ever feel like Megan did...and the world is definitely NOT a better place without them.
I understand what you're saying Spryte. Teens have it hard enough these days also without help from adults to push them further over the edge. I appreciate your comments deeply.
Some people just don't give a damn about the consequinces of theit actions...............
And then they plead ignorance or stupidity when caught.
Wonder how many other similar cases are out there, with just less visible results ?
And then we wonder about the numbers of depressed teens.......
Maybe some of us were actually privileged to have grown up in simpler times.....
My condolences to the family. May they find the strength to carry on until they can re-unite.
I am searching for information on others Grumpyjacksa. So far haven't found any others, but I will keep looking. Thanks for the comment.
I hate trolls. They should watch the Mr. Blobby show instead.
Yes they should watch your show. Thanks for the comment and suggestion Mr. Blobby.
wow i did not know that
I wonder if any of those pesky online trolls took Mr. Blobby's advice and decided to watch his show.
You know Sweetie, I tried to find his show but can't seem to find it anywhere. I hope he comes back with a link for us to watch it.
Oh I am sure he will :).
Thanks for the link Mr. Blobby.
I remember hearing about this when it first broke (came out).
I am actually glad that that bitch of a mother was found out. Heinus crimes like this are inexcusable.
If you read my upbringing, you'll note that I had to deal with my own fair share of manipulation, as a child. I'm a pretty levelheaded guy, but in instances like this, coupled with my own personal experiences....
Throw the book at her... The universe will make up for everything else...
Thanks for the comment R. Martin. I hope you are able to let the feelings go from your chidlhood.
This is not even trolling, this is something far worse. Lori, Sarah and Ashley are murderers.
This hub is still going strong and thanks for bringing more light to this issue. Hope you write new hub soon.
Good point one point. I wrote this while writing another hub about trolls. Thanks for visiting my hub and commenting.
Thank you also Sweetie for another comment. I am currently working on 5 new hubs, (it was 4 until today I got an idea for another one) I just need to get busy researching and writing.
I am taking my time writing several hubs also :). Guess what, Marisue gave me a great idea about my next hub.
My daughter underwent something similar to this. Her best friend posed as two other people by texting my daughter. At times one of the characters would threaten and argue with my daughter. My daughter was afraid for her own safety-laying awake at night. When I confronted the other mother, the whole ugly truth came out and it broke my daughter's heart. I have had to switch schools and block phone numbers, my space accounts, etc to stop this girl from still contacting my daughter. This girl is only 14 years old-imagine her as an adult!! This is a scary world at times!
Hi SirDent,
I just want to say, can we all now put to rest the idea that "kids will be kids" and people grow up and change? I hear this all the time ("Oh, he/she was just a kid then...all kids do that.") All kids do not bully or try to hurt others (I didn't). And people for the most part do not change much, apart from a real meeting with God. This despicable woman Lori was obviously an unsavory child that grew up to be an unsavory, immature adult. I am a mother. If my daughter thought another girl was talking about her, I would tell her it doesn't matter and encourage her to seek people with good hearts, explain what is and isn't worth her time, etc. What a horrific woman that poor Megan had the misfortune of becoming entwined with. This story is just heartbreaking.
I agree Crowler. Kids are not disciplined as they used to be. They are allowed ot do what they want more times than not and they grow up into adults who try the same thing.
I love 4chan's /b/ room, its creative humour without any censorship.
I do however find it devastating when "trolls" act it out to such sucessfull levelsthat they case personal injury etc.Internet however, is not, a playground for kids and I would never allowa 13 year old to roam around on it for free, I know enough of whats out there!
ninus, I have never been to 4 chan /b/. Humor is ok as long as it is only humor. I appreciate your comment more than you know.
They were talking about this on FOX News earlier today. I didn't get to hear all of it. They were talking about the things the grownups said to her acting like they were that boy she liked and how he supposedly said that the world would be better without her in it. We allow our son on the computer, but only if we are in the room with him and we have the American Family Filter on it. Still, we watch it closely. So many people hid behind names and fake pics on here. There's much much evil in this world. Kids can be cruel, but I wonder if some of that is a learned behavior from parents. Just look at the age of the ones who did this to this poor child. We, as parents, need to take more of a active part in our children's lives. And too, on places like this on the net, there needs to be supervision and actions taken when things are seen that are troll-ish. There are trolls here on hubpages. But, I hope we as adults recognize who they are and don't give them much thought or time and realize their comments are only to intimidate and hurt others. They take whatever opposing view the writer of the hub has. Thanks for showing how horrible these people are and to draw our attention to keeping and eye out for them. Good job!
A part of me would love to see Lori Drew serve the full term on each misdemeanor she was found guilty of. Thanks for the comment ASU.
This story to me is still unreal. How anyone with a conscience can do what they did is beyond me. As a mother, it's beyond comprehension. They would not want for me to be on their jury.
I have been following this story and the mother that caused the entire issue, should have gotten prison time. From the get go she was an incompetent parent and should not have acted so childish in the first place. It is such a sad story and as a parent our little boy will not be seeing myspace for years I am still shocked and beside myself over this young girl's life. :(
I agree ASU. What they did was incorrigible. We must allow the law to work it out even if we don't like it.
AEvans, I appreciate your input here. She most likely will get some prison time. There is a possibility so far of three years in prison and 300 thousand dollar fine.
I appreciate the comments.
Lori Drew did this due to the fact her and her Daughter Sarah are ugly pigs
Wow, reading this I felt a pit in my stomach. I'm a teenage senior girl in high school, so I understand the harshness to today's world on our level. But this! To see an adult tear down a girl mercilessly? The parents are stronger than I would have been. I just thought about my younger sister, and how rough of a time she is having in middle school. If something like that ever happened to her, I dont know what I would do if I knew who tore her down like with Megan. I send my deepest sympathy to the family.
torino70 says:
2 years ago
that is about the saddest, most terrible thing i could ever think that would happen to someone.