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Speaker 1: Originals.

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Speaker 2: This is an iHeart original content warning. This episode discusses

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Speaker 2: cyberbullying and suicide.

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Speaker 1: I would always say, Meg, relationships online are not real

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Speaker 1: relationships because you truly don't know who the other person is. Right,

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Speaker 1: We can be whoever we want to be. You know,

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Speaker 1: there was a time where Josh put Meghan's picture on

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Speaker 1: his profile, like a big picture and said, this is

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Speaker 1: my girlfriend. And I looked at it and I was like,

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Speaker 1: whoa Meghan? Tell him to get that picture off of there.

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Speaker 1: I said, Meg, I don't know this. Something doesn't seem right,

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Speaker 1: and she was like, what do you mean, Mom.

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Speaker 2: I'm Joy McNeil. And this is main accounts the story

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Speaker 2: of MySpace episode six, Megan's story From the beginning, MySpace

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Speaker 2: was a social network open to experimentation. People with fake

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Speaker 2: identities who used it anonymously could participate on MySpace side

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Speaker 2: by side with users who logged in with their real

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Speaker 2: names and posted pictures of themselves. But there were a

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Speaker 2: number of reasons why someone wouldn't have wanted their real

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Speaker 2: name on MySpace. Valid reasons. Maybe you were a queer

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Speaker 2: kid in a small town and wanted to be able

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Speaker 2: to chat on MySpace with other queer people without getting

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Speaker 2: out it. Or maybe you had a stalker who would

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Speaker 2: further harass you if they found your MySpace profile. Or

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Speaker 2: maybe you just wanted to sign up for an account

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Speaker 2: with the name of one of the replicants and Blade Runner,

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Speaker 2: like one of the fixers on Friends who did because

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Speaker 2: it's fun and kind of funny. The fluid nature of

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Speaker 2: digital identity on my Space made the experience special, but

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Speaker 2: for a parrot with kids using MySpace, there were real

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Speaker 2: fears about impostors.

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Speaker 3: The story of Megan Meier created a nationwide furre. Just

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Speaker 3: shy of her fourteenth birthday, she became a member of

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Speaker 3: MySpace dot com. Megan had a history of attention deficit

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Speaker 3: disorder and depression, but she was elated when she met

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Speaker 3: sixteen year old Josh Evans online, a handsome stranger who

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Speaker 3: showered her with compliment.

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Speaker 2: The moral panic over online predators on MySpace was largely overblown,

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Speaker 2: but there was some truth to these fears. There were abductions,

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Speaker 2: There were musicians heading on fourteen year old, thirteen year olds,

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Speaker 2: even eleven year old fans. These stories ended up on

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Speaker 2: the nightly news and further stoked people's fears about who

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Speaker 2: was actually behind various MySpace profiles and one story, the

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Speaker 2: biggest scandal MySpace had faced yet showed how the use

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Speaker 2: of a fake account could result in circumstances confusing and

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Speaker 2: surreal and tragic beyond belief. The story of Megan Meyer.

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Speaker 1: Megan was from the moment she was born, the kid

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Speaker 1: that just moved NonStop and was always curious about things,

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Speaker 1: wanted to know about things. She had this amazing sense

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Speaker 1: of humor. She could make me laugh till I tears

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Speaker 1: rolling down my face. It didn't matter if I was

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Speaker 1: in the store, if I was driving, where I was at.

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Speaker 1: She was so funny. And you know, she loved scary movies.

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Speaker 1: She loved music, all kinds of music. She liked all

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Speaker 1: American reach, she loved bow Wow, she loved Beyonce, She

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Speaker 1: loved so many different artists back in the day. Hip

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Speaker 1: hop was definitely one of her biggest things she loved.

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Speaker 1: She had a kind of a mixture of where she

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Speaker 1: was very girly girly, but then she also could take

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Speaker 1: a worm off of a hook, where like I could

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Speaker 1: never do something like that. Her laughter to me was

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Speaker 1: like what I missed. One of the biggest things I

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Speaker 1: miss about her as her laughter.

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Speaker 2: Like many young girls in the aughts, Megan loved talking

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Speaker 2: on the internet. When she discovered MySpace, she instantly wanted

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Speaker 2: her own accounts.

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Speaker 1: When Megan started with wanting to have a MySpace account

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Speaker 1: was when she was going into eighth grade. And I

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Speaker 1: was a nervous wreck about it. And I also watched

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Speaker 1: the news. I watched twenty twenty and how to Catch

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Speaker 1: a Predator. So, you know, my fear was sexual predators.

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Speaker 1: On top of the fact that I had a kid

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Speaker 1: who had struggled for so long with her self esteem

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Speaker 1: and self worth that I was worried that they could

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Speaker 1: somebody could say something nice to Megan and you know,

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Speaker 1: get her to meet them at the mall or go

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Speaker 1: to the movies. Those are things that I was always

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Speaker 1: concerned with.

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Speaker 2: Megan first set up an account when she was staying

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Speaker 2: with a friend at a relative's house. They set up

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Speaker 2: a fake account together.

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Speaker 1: It made me realize that they can have access anywhere

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Speaker 1: like this is really scary, and you know, even putting

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Speaker 1: her a picture out there not knowing who the other

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Speaker 1: person was. So I tried explaining to Megan about, you know,

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Speaker 1: we need to get the shutdown. This is not okay

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Speaker 1: to put a fake picture out there. I understand that

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Speaker 1: you finally told them that this is really you, but

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Speaker 1: that's not the way it's going to work. Megan begged

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Speaker 1: me to not cut her off from these two boys

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Speaker 1: that she had talked to. I really had a hard

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Speaker 1: time because I needed to know that these boys were real.

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Speaker 1: So I told her I needed their phone numbers, their parents' number,

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Speaker 1: and I did talk to both of the parents.

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Speaker 2: Tina didn't want Meghan using my Space, still, she let

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Speaker 2: her daughter set up at account.

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Speaker 1: I knew Megan. If I didn't, Megan would find a way.

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Speaker 1: Believe me, she would have found the way.

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Speaker 2: Tina set some ground rules. The account was in Meghan's name,

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Speaker 2: but only Tina knew the password to it. Meghan could

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Speaker 2: only use MySpace on the shared computer in the living

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Speaker 2: room and never on a laptop alone in her bedroom.

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Speaker 1: And I even purchased this program that was called Watchwright

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Speaker 1: way back in the day, and it came in a

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Speaker 1: disc in the mail and it would monitor every instant

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Speaker 1: message in every website that she visited.

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Speaker 2: This meant that Tina monitored every time Megan logged into

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Speaker 2: my Space. She could see every friend request that Megan

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Speaker 2: got there was nothing Megan could do on this social

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Speaker 2: network without Tina's permission.

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Speaker 1: She told me that I was a warden of a prison,

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Speaker 1: that there was no other parent as strict as I was.

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Speaker 1: That it was pretty embarrassing. And you know, I said,

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Speaker 1: I get it. I do It's I'm not worried about you,

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Speaker 1: I'm worried about other people.

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Speaker 2: One day, Meghan got a friend request from a teenage

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Speaker 2: boy named Josh Evans.

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Speaker 1: And Meghan looked at me and she's like, Mom, can

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Speaker 1: I add him? He is so hot? So I said, Meg,

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Speaker 1: who is he? Is he a friend of a friend

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Speaker 1: or how do you know him? She goes like, Mom,

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Speaker 1: I don't know, He's just hot. Please. And I said, Megan,

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Speaker 1: here's the thing. I will let you out and if

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Speaker 1: there's anything negative, anything sexual, he is deleted immediately. And

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Speaker 1: she said, okay, I promise.

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Speaker 2: Tina was skeptical, but she let Meghan add Josh as

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Speaker 2: a friend.

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Speaker 1: The reason is is that I knew if I did

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Speaker 1: not allow her to add somebody, she was going to

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Speaker 1: do it behind my back. She would have went to

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Speaker 1: a library, she would have went to a friend's house.

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Speaker 1: She would have created a fake one again, I wouldn't

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Speaker 1: know about it because now she would know how to

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Speaker 1: erase all of her history. And I thought, at least

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Speaker 1: if I did it this way, I could monitor it

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Speaker 1: if there's any issues.

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Speaker 2: Josh and Meghan got close really fast. He told her

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Speaker 2: she was beautiful. It meant a lot to Meghan, who

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Speaker 2: had been insecure about her look since kindergarten. Josh even

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Speaker 2: put Megan's photo up on his top eight and called

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Speaker 2: her his girlfriend.

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Speaker 1: How do I know you?

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Speaker 4: You don't? I just thought you were pretty cute.

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Speaker 2: This worried Tina. She reached out to a friend of

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Speaker 2: Megan's who was good with computers, and asked whether Josh's

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Speaker 2: photo was real. It was real, the friend said, but

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Speaker 2: there's something creepy about it, and that really troubled Tina.

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Speaker 1: Me being the mom I was. I called the police

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Speaker 1: and I wanted to know, can I find out if

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Speaker 1: a MySpace profile is real or not? And they said,

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Speaker 1: you know, you need to go to call cyber crimes.

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Speaker 1: So then I called cyber crimes and they had said,

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Speaker 1: you know, has anybody tried soliciting is there? Or have

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Speaker 1: you met somebody any of the I said no, it's

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Speaker 1: just something doesn't feel right. Well, listen, lady, we don't

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Speaker 1: have enough people there to be able to monitor all

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Speaker 1: of these accounts because this was so brand new at

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Speaker 1: the time.

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Speaker 2: When Meghan was at school, Tina wrote to Josh on

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Speaker 2: MySpace using Meghan's account, which only she had the password for,

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Speaker 2: and she asked him to stop messaging her daughter. Meghan

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Speaker 2: was furious.

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Speaker 1: And she made me promise, Mom, that is embarrassing. Please

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Speaker 1: don't comment to anything until I'm home. I said, okay,

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Speaker 1: I will make the deal with you, because again I

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Speaker 1: was trying to keep this balance between her trust and

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Speaker 1: her not going and make creating a safe account where

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Speaker 1: I didn't know, but balancing it. So I said, I

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Speaker 1: promise I will not open I will not do anything

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Speaker 1: turn the notifications off that way, it will only be

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Speaker 1: opened up when you get home.

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Speaker 2: After the break, Josh and Meghan continue to grow close,

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Speaker 2: while the mystery of his identity turns into a threat.

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Speaker 2: Josh and Meghan continued to exchange messages for several weeks.

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Speaker 4: Lucky me and lucky you because you are my number one.

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Speaker 2: He was often evasive. Still, Josh was attentive and engaging

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Speaker 2: when he wrote to Meghan.

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Speaker 4: I went to the mall.

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Speaker 1: What mall did you go to? Maybe we can meet

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Speaker 1: and go to the mall or the movies.

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Speaker 4: Oh, I don't remember what.

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Speaker 2: But then, without warning, Josh's feelings changed.

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Speaker 4: I don't know if if I want to be friends

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Speaker 4: with you anymore, because I've heard that you are not

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Speaker 4: very nice to your friends.

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Speaker 2: Megan asked her mother, what could be going on with Josh.

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Speaker 2: Tina told her, you know, some people just have bad days.

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Speaker 2: It was confusing for Meghan, but she seemed to have

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Speaker 2: brushed Josh's comments off. Plus, Meghan was busy. She had

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Speaker 2: her fourteenth birthday party coming up.

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Speaker 1: The next day, Megan went to school. She was in

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Speaker 1: a great mood, handed at her invitations. I picked her up.

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Speaker 1: All of her friends were coming to her birthday party,

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Speaker 1: and then she asked to sign on to my Space.

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Speaker 2: Megan logged into MySpace to find more messages from Josh,

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Speaker 2: accusing her of being unkind to her friends.

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Speaker 4: I heard you're not nice to your friends, and I

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Speaker 4: don't want to be friends with you anymore.

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Speaker 1: Okay, how about no tell me who they are?

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Speaker 3: And yeah, so whatever, you know, you ain't too nice yourself.

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Speaker 1: Typically I always made sure, she signed off, but it

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Speaker 1: was raining really hard that day. I had to go

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Speaker 1: grab her sister and I left. I called Megan two

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Speaker 1: different times from the orthodonists office. Both times she was crying.

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Speaker 1: The last time she was sobbing where I couldn't even

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Speaker 1: understand her, and I said, please get off the MySpace.

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Speaker 1: I came home, Megan was still sobbing at the computer,

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Speaker 1: and I said, let me sit down. And I was

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Speaker 1: tired and frustrated as the mom I had been running

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Speaker 1: all day. My other daughter was crying because her braces

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Speaker 1: were tightened. Megan was crying because of this. There was

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Speaker 1: still dinner, homework, showers, all of that. And when I

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Speaker 1: sat down and looked at the computer, there were messages

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Speaker 1: that went from Josh to Megan to Josh.

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Speaker 2: Megan was defending herself, but Josha's messages were cruel.

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Speaker 4: Fat ass poor The world would be a better off

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Speaker 4: place without you in it.

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Speaker 1: One of her friends called the home phone, and Megan

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Speaker 1: picked it up and was crying and just said I

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Speaker 1: have to talk to you later, and she ran upstairs

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Speaker 1: to her room. I tried looking at a little bit

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Speaker 1: more of what happened, but I went upstairs into the

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Speaker 1: kitchen and her dad came downstairs and said, what is

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Speaker 1: going on? He started cooking dinner, and we were talking

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Speaker 1: about what was going on, and he didn't like anything

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Speaker 1: to do with her taking photos, anything on MySpace, anything

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Speaker 1: to do with any of that. Twenty minutes later, I

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Speaker 1: just had a horrible feeling that ran through my entire body.

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Speaker 1: I stopped in mid sentence and ran up to her room.

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Speaker 1: I opened the door and I found Megan hanging in

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Speaker 1: her closet. I screamed. Her dad came upstairs. I tried

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Speaker 1: finding the phone. The weird part of it was is

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Speaker 1: that as I was trying to dial at her home

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Speaker 1: phone to nine to one one, my younger daughter, Allison

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Speaker 1: was calling to see if dinner was ready to come

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Speaker 1: home because she was across the street. And I was

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Speaker 1: frantically screaming to hang up the phone, and I had

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Speaker 1: to run around and find my cell phone to call.

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Speaker 1: And as I was dialing and calling nine one one ron,

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Speaker 1: Megan's dad was giving her CPR and Alison ran home.

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Speaker 1: In the midst of all of it, the Megan was

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00:15:47,882 --> 00:15:54,082
Speaker 1: not breathing. The paramedics arrived. They got Megan's heart started

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Speaker 1: and got her to start breathing with assistant and there

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Speaker 1: was a small glimmer of hope of maybe maybe she's

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Speaker 1: going to make it through.

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00:16:10,922 --> 00:16:16,842
Speaker 2: Meghan was taken to the children's hospital. She couldn't be revived.

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Speaker 1: But going home, I couldn't go back to our house.

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Speaker 1: We went and stayed at my mom's house. And I

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00:16:27,162 --> 00:16:29,682
Speaker 1: think it was trying to figure out, like how how

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Speaker 1: does this happen?

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00:16:31,282 --> 00:16:36,962
Speaker 2: It felt unreal. Tina's grief was overwhelming, and as Tina

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00:16:37,002 --> 00:16:41,082
Speaker 2: began to ruminate on the circumstances leading up to Megan's death,

253
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Speaker 2: she kept going back to that one MySpace user, Josh Evans.

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Speaker 2: He deleted his account the night Meghan took her life.

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Speaker 1: And I couldn't figure out, like what happened? I was like,

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Speaker 1: is it a kid that was scared? Or was it

257
00:17:00,842 --> 00:17:07,482
Speaker 1: an adult? And now that the Josh Evans photo was gone,

258
00:17:08,362 --> 00:17:13,082
Speaker 1: I sat there for hours throughout the nights. You're out

259
00:17:13,122 --> 00:17:17,962
Speaker 1: the day searching, searching, searching for like who was this person?

260
00:17:18,322 --> 00:17:22,842
Speaker 1: Where did they go? What happened? And no matter what

261
00:17:23,362 --> 00:17:26,882
Speaker 1: I did, I couldn't find anything like it just all disappeared.

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00:17:37,562 --> 00:17:43,442
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving weekend, the family's first Thanksgiving without Meghan. Tina and

263
00:17:43,522 --> 00:17:46,482
Speaker 2: Ron Meyer were set to go to their grief support

264
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Speaker 2: group for parents who have lost a child to suicide.

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Speaker 2: It was just over a month after Megan passed. The

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Speaker 2: phone rang.

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Speaker 1: We got a call from a neighbor that I didn't

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00:18:01,162 --> 00:18:04,602
Speaker 1: know very well saying that she had to talk to

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00:18:04,642 --> 00:18:09,402
Speaker 1: me about Megan's death. And was kind of like taken

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00:18:09,522 --> 00:18:13,002
Speaker 1: back and almost a little bit frustrated, thinking, I really

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Speaker 1: don't know you. You're calling me in this weekend, I'm

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00:18:16,442 --> 00:18:18,442
Speaker 1: going to a grief support group. I don't know what

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00:18:18,522 --> 00:18:20,642
Speaker 1: to tell you. I don't want to sit there and

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Speaker 1: listen to you asking questions about Megan's stuff. And then

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00:18:24,242 --> 00:18:28,042
Speaker 1: we got another call, and this call was from a

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00:18:28,082 --> 00:18:30,602
Speaker 1: man that lived in our subdivision who was a counselor

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00:18:31,202 --> 00:18:33,802
Speaker 1: who did talk to Ron and I during these times

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Speaker 1: and said, Tina, it is really important for you guys

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Speaker 1: to attend this meeting. Do you have any other you know,

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00:18:42,162 --> 00:18:44,802
Speaker 1: your parents, anybody that can be their support you guys.

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00:18:45,642 --> 00:18:50,002
Speaker 2: It was confusing, but Tina and Ron knew this neighbor,

282
00:18:50,802 --> 00:18:54,242
Speaker 2: assumed he had the best intentions, and went to the

283
00:18:54,322 --> 00:19:01,042
Speaker 2: gathering while not entirely sure what it was about. When

284
00:19:01,042 --> 00:19:05,282
Speaker 2: the Meyers arrived, they saw acquaintances of theirs sitting in

285
00:19:05,362 --> 00:19:10,402
Speaker 2: chairs set up in a circle, and I.

286
00:19:10,362 --> 00:19:13,042
Speaker 1: Walked in and I said, so you're going to tell

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00:19:13,082 --> 00:19:15,442
Speaker 1: me that the Josh Evans account was fake? Is that

288
00:19:15,442 --> 00:19:20,962
Speaker 1: what you're going to tell me? And then they told

289
00:19:21,082 --> 00:19:25,922
Speaker 1: me that Lori Drew in our subdivision, her daughter created

290
00:19:25,962 --> 00:19:30,922
Speaker 1: this fake MySpace account as a hoax to be able

291
00:19:31,002 --> 00:19:35,362
Speaker 1: to trick Meghan. I don't know that I want to

292
00:19:35,402 --> 00:19:38,122
Speaker 1: be friends with you anymore because I've heard that you're

293
00:19:38,162 --> 00:19:39,682
Speaker 1: not very nice to your friends.

294
00:19:40,802 --> 00:19:44,962
Speaker 2: Laurie Drew wasn't even hiding her involvement in setting up

295
00:19:44,962 --> 00:19:48,162
Speaker 2: the fake account with her daughter and her daughter's friend.

296
00:19:49,522 --> 00:19:53,882
Speaker 2: Laurie told acquaintances that the Josh Evans account had been

297
00:19:53,882 --> 00:19:58,442
Speaker 2: a prank to retaliate for Megan. Once calling her daughter names,

298
00:19:59,122 --> 00:20:02,642
Speaker 2: she sounded, if not proud, in no way con trite.

299
00:20:03,562 --> 00:20:08,362
Speaker 2: Mind you, this is after the suicide thirteen year old Megan.

300
00:20:10,082 --> 00:20:13,402
Speaker 2: One of the neighbors found out because her daughter was

301
00:20:13,442 --> 00:20:18,002
Speaker 2: in extracurriculars with Lori Drew's daughter. That neighbor knew she

302
00:20:18,082 --> 00:20:20,482
Speaker 2: had to do something. Tina had to know.

303
00:20:21,322 --> 00:20:26,202
Speaker 1: The mom kept pressuring Laurie Drew to please come forward

304
00:20:26,322 --> 00:20:30,482
Speaker 1: and talk to us. She contacted a church, she contacted

305
00:20:30,482 --> 00:20:33,482
Speaker 1: the police department, contacted anybody and everybody and said, this

306
00:20:33,562 --> 00:20:37,042
Speaker 1: family needs to know what happened. And this was her

307
00:20:37,122 --> 00:20:41,522
Speaker 1: final solution to try to do something so that we knew.

308
00:20:42,362 --> 00:20:47,202
Speaker 1: And when we found out, I think there was calls

309
00:20:47,242 --> 00:20:50,362
Speaker 1: made to our other family, and I think they were

310
00:20:50,402 --> 00:20:52,962
Speaker 1: worried that Ron was going to go down and kill

311
00:20:53,002 --> 00:20:57,042
Speaker 1: them because these this family lived four houses down the street.

312
00:20:59,002 --> 00:21:02,642
Speaker 1: I think Ron was more in shock, where I was

313
00:21:03,842 --> 00:21:07,522
Speaker 1: so angry. All I thought about doing was going and

314
00:21:07,602 --> 00:21:10,842
Speaker 1: ripping them apart. That's all I wanted to do. And

315
00:21:10,882 --> 00:21:14,922
Speaker 1: when we drove back home, we had family and neighbors

316
00:21:15,042 --> 00:21:18,762
Speaker 1: kind of blocking the street so that we could not

317
00:21:18,922 --> 00:21:22,322
Speaker 1: go down to the Dreu's house, Lord Drew's house, and

318
00:21:22,362 --> 00:21:28,042
Speaker 1: we pulled in the driveway and everybody was hysterical. Our family,

319
00:21:28,722 --> 00:21:36,362
Speaker 1: our neighbors, everybody was sobbing, hysterical. Emotions were everywhere everybody.

320
00:21:36,602 --> 00:21:39,242
Speaker 1: From one person that would say no, don't go down there,

321
00:21:39,562 --> 00:21:41,922
Speaker 1: the other person would completely lose it and want to

322
00:21:41,922 --> 00:21:46,362
Speaker 1: go down there. And I tried running down there several

323
00:21:46,402 --> 00:21:47,922
Speaker 1: times and was held back.

324
00:21:48,922 --> 00:21:52,682
Speaker 2: The Myers and the Drus had been neighbors. They knew

325
00:21:52,722 --> 00:21:56,042
Speaker 2: each other. Tina and Ron were even hiding a food

326
00:21:56,082 --> 00:21:59,562
Speaker 2: small table in their garage for the drus so they

327
00:21:59,562 --> 00:22:03,082
Speaker 2: could surprise their kids with it at Christmas. Lourie Drew

328
00:22:03,242 --> 00:22:05,482
Speaker 2: had gone to Megan's wake and funeral.

329
00:22:06,002 --> 00:22:10,202
Speaker 1: This was also this same woman that when after Megan died,

330
00:22:10,242 --> 00:22:13,442
Speaker 1: we went and knocked on their door and told Sarah

331
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Speaker 1: because we wanted her to know, to try to make

332
00:22:17,362 --> 00:22:20,882
Speaker 1: sure she could be okay. The same family that invited

333
00:22:21,002 --> 00:22:24,722
Speaker 1: us to Sarah's birthday party to come down to their

334
00:22:24,722 --> 00:22:28,162
Speaker 1: house to sing and have a cake, which was three

335
00:22:28,242 --> 00:22:32,162
Speaker 1: days after Megan's birthday, to sit there and watch us

336
00:22:32,802 --> 00:22:37,682
Speaker 1: in absolute misery.

337
00:22:36,042 --> 00:22:39,202
Speaker 2: Tina and Ron thought about the foosball table that they

338
00:22:39,242 --> 00:22:40,842
Speaker 2: were holding for the jeruze.

339
00:22:41,722 --> 00:22:46,002
Speaker 1: We grabbed it. Sounds ridiculous now, but we grabbed the

340
00:22:46,042 --> 00:22:49,682
Speaker 1: foosball table and one of us had a sledgehamer, one

341
00:22:49,722 --> 00:22:53,602
Speaker 1: of us had an axe, and we destroyed the foosball table,

342
00:22:54,322 --> 00:22:56,962
Speaker 1: put it in the back of Ron's truck. The big

343
00:22:57,002 --> 00:23:00,802
Speaker 1: cardboard box. I spray painted Merry Christmas on it. We

344
00:23:00,922 --> 00:23:04,922
Speaker 1: drove down the street. We unloaded it all behind their

345
00:23:05,042 --> 00:23:12,482
Speaker 1: van and put the box there. Came back home and

346
00:23:12,602 --> 00:23:16,842
Speaker 1: Lourie Drew, her husband and Sarah Drew. They sent Sarah

347
00:23:17,362 --> 00:23:20,202
Speaker 1: in front of them, walked down the sidewalk with their

348
00:23:20,202 --> 00:23:24,162
Speaker 1: hands in the air of what's going on, what's happening?

349
00:23:24,842 --> 00:23:28,002
Speaker 1: And they had our neighbors went and told them if

350
00:23:28,002 --> 00:23:29,522
Speaker 1: they knew what was good for them, that they would

351
00:23:29,602 --> 00:23:34,042
Speaker 1: leave and go home. They sent them. Sarah Drew, the

352
00:23:34,202 --> 00:23:37,162
Speaker 1: fourteen year old now to our front door to knock

353
00:23:37,202 --> 00:23:42,762
Speaker 1: on our door to talk to us, and Ron told

354
00:23:42,802 --> 00:23:46,002
Speaker 1: her to go home, do not come back here again.

355
00:23:46,602 --> 00:23:52,002
Speaker 1: Go home. Laurie Drew then called the police department to

356
00:23:52,682 --> 00:23:58,482
Speaker 1: file charges against us for destruction of personal property. And

357
00:23:58,682 --> 00:24:04,002
Speaker 1: at that time is when Louri Drew told the police department,

358
00:24:04,362 --> 00:24:07,922
Speaker 1: the police officer, and the police report why all of

359
00:24:07,922 --> 00:24:11,722
Speaker 1: this was happening. That she created a fake account to

360
00:24:11,802 --> 00:24:14,482
Speaker 1: gain Megan's confidence to find out if Megan was talking

361
00:24:14,482 --> 00:24:18,122
Speaker 1: about her daughter behind her back, and that that is

362
00:24:18,162 --> 00:24:19,282
Speaker 1: the sole reason.

363
00:24:20,322 --> 00:24:23,722
Speaker 2: Laurie Drew confessed. But it didn't change the fact that

364
00:24:23,762 --> 00:24:30,042
Speaker 2: Meghan was gone and her loss had major repercussions. Losing

365
00:24:30,082 --> 00:24:33,922
Speaker 2: Meghan took a toll on Tina and Ron's marriage. They

366
00:24:33,962 --> 00:24:39,362
Speaker 2: had been high school sweethearts. The trauma changes relationships, people

367
00:24:39,402 --> 00:24:43,002
Speaker 2: don't always grieve the same way. They separated in two

368
00:24:43,042 --> 00:24:47,722
Speaker 2: thousand and seven, and in addition to the grief, Tina

369
00:24:47,802 --> 00:24:50,562
Speaker 2: felt incredible rage toward the DRUS.

370
00:24:51,282 --> 00:24:54,242
Speaker 1: I would literally go back home and pray at night

371
00:24:54,522 --> 00:24:56,162
Speaker 1: to give me the strengths to not go down to

372
00:24:56,242 --> 00:24:58,962
Speaker 1: hurt them, because I would see them driving on the streets,

373
00:24:59,402 --> 00:25:02,682
Speaker 1: taking their kids to school, acting like life was just

374
00:25:03,402 --> 00:25:07,122
Speaker 1: normal again. And when I you know, I don't hide anything.

375
00:25:07,282 --> 00:25:10,722
Speaker 1: I am very transparent. There were when I talk about

376
00:25:10,722 --> 00:25:13,882
Speaker 1: losing your mind. When I saw them drive down the street.

377
00:25:14,322 --> 00:25:16,282
Speaker 1: I would try to run them off the road, like

378
00:25:16,562 --> 00:25:20,002
Speaker 1: literally tried to run them off the road everything inside

379
00:25:20,002 --> 00:25:23,402
Speaker 1: of me. You could feel normal for a second, and

380
00:25:23,442 --> 00:25:26,242
Speaker 1: then I would see them and it would take over me,

381
00:25:26,362 --> 00:25:30,322
Speaker 1: this rage of how dare you just go on about

382
00:25:30,322 --> 00:25:31,682
Speaker 1: your life when you've done all of this?

383
00:25:33,882 --> 00:25:37,682
Speaker 2: What Laurie Drew did to Megan was beyond Tina's imagination.

384
00:25:39,042 --> 00:25:42,682
Speaker 2: It felt like a crime. It had to be a crime,

385
00:25:42,762 --> 00:25:47,362
Speaker 2: Tina thought. She reached out to lawyers and spoke with

386
00:25:47,402 --> 00:25:48,002
Speaker 2: the FBI.

387
00:25:50,282 --> 00:25:54,762
Speaker 1: The hope was at that time that if there was

388
00:25:54,842 --> 00:25:56,682
Speaker 1: not going to be vengeance and they were not going

389
00:25:56,722 --> 00:25:59,682
Speaker 1: to feel the pain, then there needed to be justice,

390
00:25:59,962 --> 00:26:02,962
Speaker 1: something needed to be done, because I didn't want another

391
00:26:03,002 --> 00:26:03,962
Speaker 1: family going through this.

392
00:26:04,442 --> 00:26:07,482
Speaker 2: The FBI got a hold of every message from the

393
00:26:07,562 --> 00:26:11,842
Speaker 2: Drew households to the Meyer household. They were treating the

394
00:26:11,922 --> 00:26:17,682
Speaker 2: circumstances around Megan's staff seriously, but the investigation went nowhere.

395
00:26:19,242 --> 00:26:23,122
Speaker 1: They felt no one could prosecute it. And I thought,

396
00:26:24,042 --> 00:26:27,522
Speaker 1: what are we supposed to do now? And I remember

397
00:26:27,882 --> 00:26:33,922
Speaker 1: the one FBI agent who was phenomenal. He said, Tina,

398
00:26:34,322 --> 00:26:38,562
Speaker 1: don't give up, don't give up. Get the laws changed.

399
00:26:39,202 --> 00:26:41,442
Speaker 1: I thought, okay, great, how do you do that?

400
00:26:42,162 --> 00:26:45,722
Speaker 2: Around this time, Tina got in touch with a journalist

401
00:26:45,842 --> 00:26:49,642
Speaker 2: in Saint Louis. He started working on a story about

402
00:26:49,682 --> 00:26:50,442
Speaker 2: Megan's death.

403
00:26:51,162 --> 00:26:54,162
Speaker 1: I thought, this finally is going to get Lori Drew's

404
00:26:54,202 --> 00:26:56,802
Speaker 1: name out there right, This finally is going to get

405
00:26:56,842 --> 00:26:59,522
Speaker 1: everybody to see because in between this time, it's about

406
00:26:59,522 --> 00:27:02,442
Speaker 1: a year, there were people that thought that we just

407
00:27:02,522 --> 00:27:05,562
Speaker 1: were trying to blame people for Megan's death, like we

408
00:27:05,562 --> 00:27:08,722
Speaker 1: were trying to put blame on somebody else, and really

409
00:27:08,722 --> 00:27:11,562
Speaker 1: it must have been us. And I wanted to like

410
00:27:11,722 --> 00:27:16,042
Speaker 1: clear Megan's name. I wanted people to know, and he

411
00:27:16,122 --> 00:27:19,682
Speaker 1: refused or his publisher refused to release Lori's Shrew name.

412
00:27:19,922 --> 00:27:23,122
Speaker 1: I was not happy, and I told him how unhappy

413
00:27:23,162 --> 00:27:26,042
Speaker 1: it was about it. You know, I get why they

414
00:27:26,042 --> 00:27:28,602
Speaker 1: have to do certain things through protection of children, and

415
00:27:28,882 --> 00:27:32,322
Speaker 1: I get all of that now, but I was not happy.

416
00:27:32,722 --> 00:27:35,802
Speaker 1: But the reality is that one newspaper article that went

417
00:27:35,842 --> 00:27:39,882
Speaker 1: out got the attention of a blogger out of state.

418
00:27:40,482 --> 00:27:43,362
Speaker 1: The blogger out of state contact at the journalist and

419
00:27:44,402 --> 00:27:48,402
Speaker 1: started pushing this out. And all of the things that

420
00:27:48,442 --> 00:27:53,042
Speaker 1: I ever wanted to be able to do to the Drews. Everybody,

421
00:27:54,002 --> 00:27:58,562
Speaker 1: they all did this. I mean they people that found

422
00:27:58,602 --> 00:28:01,322
Speaker 1: out about this and read about it and heard about

423
00:28:01,322 --> 00:28:05,962
Speaker 1: it because now it's you know, in newspapers and on blogs.

424
00:28:06,082 --> 00:28:09,642
Speaker 1: And that was even before the big viral, you know,

425
00:28:09,682 --> 00:28:13,002
Speaker 1: where everything went viral. You know, we had new stations

426
00:28:13,122 --> 00:28:16,002
Speaker 1: and national media and all of that were starting to

427
00:28:16,042 --> 00:28:18,842
Speaker 1: come about wanting to hear about the story. You know,

428
00:28:18,922 --> 00:28:22,282
Speaker 1: back then, when a local news station we called them

429
00:28:22,282 --> 00:28:25,882
Speaker 1: about the story, they said, we don't do suicide, especially

430
00:28:25,922 --> 00:28:27,402
Speaker 1: on youth. We don't do those stories.

431
00:28:28,122 --> 00:28:32,722
Speaker 2: Megan's death and what happened on MySpace was being discussed

432
00:28:32,762 --> 00:28:37,642
Speaker 2: all around the world. Tina was regularly speaking with the media.

433
00:28:39,282 --> 00:28:42,842
Speaker 2: One day in January of two thousand and eight, over

434
00:28:42,882 --> 00:28:46,842
Speaker 2: a year after Megan passed, Tina got a call from

435
00:28:46,842 --> 00:28:47,882
Speaker 2: a reporter.

436
00:28:50,562 --> 00:28:54,762
Speaker 1: And they said, are you aware about the indictment of

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00:28:54,842 --> 00:28:58,002
Speaker 1: Lori Drew? And I said, like what, I have no

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00:28:58,122 --> 00:29:01,842
Speaker 1: clue what you're talking about. They said, well, a federal

439
00:29:01,882 --> 00:29:04,042
Speaker 1: grand jury indicted Lori Drew.

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00:29:04,962 --> 00:29:07,482
Speaker 2: It was the first Tina had heard about the indictment.

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00:29:08,322 --> 00:29:11,442
Speaker 1: And I said, okay, I don't know anything about it.

442
00:29:11,602 --> 00:29:13,322
Speaker 1: So I got off the phone and one of the

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00:29:13,322 --> 00:29:17,482
Speaker 1: producers from the Today Show called and said, Tina, can

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00:29:17,522 --> 00:29:19,682
Speaker 1: you get on a plane in an hour. I'm like,

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00:29:20,962 --> 00:29:24,762
Speaker 1: I am back over at my old house. I am

446
00:29:24,762 --> 00:29:28,282
Speaker 1: in the process of cleaning out Megan's room. It was

447
00:29:28,922 --> 00:29:32,882
Speaker 1: horribly hard to do. My hair is in a ponytail,

448
00:29:32,922 --> 00:29:34,682
Speaker 1: I'm in sweatpants, and you want me to get on

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00:29:34,722 --> 00:29:35,242
Speaker 1: a plane.

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00:29:35,602 --> 00:29:38,922
Speaker 3: If it did happen to her, then some have said,

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00:29:39,162 --> 00:29:40,482
Speaker 3: you'd have to prosecute a lot of.

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00:29:40,482 --> 00:29:42,842
Speaker 1: People, because a lot of people create these phony sites

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00:29:42,882 --> 00:29:46,402
Speaker 1: for very It isn't reasons, So is it really fair? Well,

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00:29:46,442 --> 00:29:50,202
Speaker 1: you know what innocent reasons. I don't see any innocent reasons,

455
00:29:50,202 --> 00:29:52,682
Speaker 1: and I think that what it would do is. People

456
00:29:52,722 --> 00:29:55,962
Speaker 1: would shut them down pretty quickly, and I think it

457
00:29:56,002 --> 00:29:58,162
Speaker 1: would be a good statement for people to say, you

458
00:29:58,202 --> 00:30:01,442
Speaker 1: know what, this is not okay. Making any type of

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00:30:01,482 --> 00:30:05,362
Speaker 1: a false MySpace account or Facebook account or any account

460
00:30:05,962 --> 00:30:09,002
Speaker 1: is not okay. You're you're still defrauding somebody, whether you're

461
00:30:09,002 --> 00:30:12,202
Speaker 1: finding out if it's a cheating boyfriend, girlfriend, whether you're

462
00:30:12,242 --> 00:30:15,522
Speaker 1: doing it as a joke to play with somebody, any

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00:30:15,562 --> 00:30:18,322
Speaker 1: of those things. To falsify it, you're doing it under

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00:30:18,922 --> 00:30:21,402
Speaker 1: You're doing it in a way that's not truthful, and

465
00:30:21,522 --> 00:30:24,442
Speaker 1: it doesn't need to be done. I remember my aunt

466
00:30:24,602 --> 00:30:26,642
Speaker 1: when I would be like, I can't do another interview,

467
00:30:26,682 --> 00:30:29,322
Speaker 1: I cannot do another TV show, I cannot do this

468
00:30:29,322 --> 00:30:33,402
Speaker 1: any more. I'm exhausted. She would say, Tina, what if

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00:30:33,442 --> 00:30:36,242
Speaker 1: there's another Megan out there? What if there's another you

470
00:30:36,522 --> 00:30:37,042
Speaker 1: out there.

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00:30:38,042 --> 00:30:41,122
Speaker 2: Megan would have been thirty years old this year. The

472
00:30:41,162 --> 00:30:45,202
Speaker 2: foundation Tina set up in her honor, the Megan Meyer Foundation,

473
00:30:45,522 --> 00:30:48,682
Speaker 2: is still going strong. But this was just the beginning

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00:30:49,242 --> 00:30:53,042
Speaker 2: of the media firestorm. There was a trial and Laurie

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00:30:53,162 --> 00:30:57,722
Speaker 2: Drew was eventually acquitted, but what happened next set in

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00:30:57,802 --> 00:31:02,162
Speaker 2: motion events that would lead to My Spaces event will collapse.

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00:31:02,962 --> 00:31:06,122
Speaker 2: More on this in the next episode of Main Accounts.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to Main Accounts, The Story of MySpace

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00:31:10,722 --> 00:31:16,042
Speaker 2: and iHeart original podcast Main Accounts. The Story of MySpace

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00:31:16,442 --> 00:31:20,122
Speaker 2: is written and hosted by me Joanne McNeil. Editing it's

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00:31:20,162 --> 00:31:24,522
Speaker 2: sound design by Mike Coscarelli and Mary Do Original music

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00:31:24,842 --> 00:31:29,722
Speaker 2: by Elise McCoy, Mixing and mastering by Josh Fisher. Research

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00:31:29,762 --> 00:31:34,282
Speaker 2: and fact checking by Austin Thompson, Jocelyn Sears, and Marissa Brown.

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00:31:34,962 --> 00:31:39,562
Speaker 2: Show logo by Lucy Kintania. Special thanks to Ryan Murdoch,

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00:31:39,922 --> 00:31:43,922
Speaker 2: Grace Views and the head Frasier. Our associate producer is

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00:31:44,002 --> 00:31:47,842
Speaker 2: Lauren Phillip, Our senior producer is Mike Coscarelli, and our

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00:31:47,882 --> 00:31:51,722
Speaker 2: executive producer is Jason English. If you're enjoying the show,

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00:31:52,002 --> 00:31:53,962
Speaker 2: leave us a rating and a review on your favorite

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00:31:54,002 --> 00:31:59,122
Speaker 2: podcast platform Sadly, my MySpace page is no longer around,

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00:31:59,322 --> 00:32:01,602
Speaker 2: but you can find me on Twitter at Joe Mick.

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00:32:01,922 --> 00:32:05,642
Speaker 2: Let us hear your MySpace story and check out my

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00:32:05,682 --> 00:32:10,682
Speaker 2: book Lurking Main Accounts. The Story of MySpace is a

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00:32:10,722 --> 00:32:12,802
Speaker 2: production of iHeart Podcasts.