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Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Heartbreak. There's no other way

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Speaker 1: to say it, heartbreak. A beautiful little boy, just thirteen,

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Speaker 1: commit suicide in the front yard Mommy and daddy inside

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Speaker 1: after a horrible online sex stortion scheme.

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Speaker 2: What is that? Now we all know what it is tonight?

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Speaker 2: What happened?

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Speaker 1: Joining us special guest, his mom, Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace.

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Speaker 1: This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.

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Speaker 3: Assumpter, South Carolina homeowner leaving for work think someone is

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Speaker 3: sleeping or passed out in the yard. He tells his

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Speaker 3: wife to lock the doors check on the children. As

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Speaker 3: he looks into what's going on and calls nine to

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Speaker 3: one one officers discover the person in the yard is dead,

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Speaker 3: killed by a gunshot to the ahead.

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Speaker 1: Oh gosh, when I hear it stated like that, all

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Speaker 1: I can think about are my own children.

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Speaker 2: This boy.

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Speaker 1: Oh if I could just explain how he was just

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Speaker 1: totally scrubbed in sunshine, so sweet, so smart, good grades,

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Speaker 1: everything the boy every parent would want to have. How

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Speaker 1: does this happen? I really want to thank you for

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Speaker 1: being with us tonight because this whole six stortion scheme

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Speaker 1: that is targeting our youth our little children is vast.

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Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, I understand, and new lawsuit

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Speaker 1: has been filed naming six hundred other cases joining me

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Speaker 1: and all start pedal what happened that morning inside the

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Speaker 1: family home.

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Speaker 4: Listen Timothy Barnett helping out around the house and is

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Speaker 4: taken to making his mom's cup of coffee every morning.

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Speaker 4: At six point fifteen, Betsy Hopman is surprised that Timothy

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Speaker 4: isn't already in the kitchen and pours her own coffee,

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Speaker 4: kissing her husband goodbye as he leaves for work. Moments later,

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Speaker 4: Jeffrey Hoptman calls his wife, telling her to lock the

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Speaker 4: doors and check on the children because someone's passed out

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Speaker 4: in their front yard. As he calls nine to one one,

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Speaker 4: Betsy Hopman goes from room to room, locating five of

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Speaker 4: six children.

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Speaker 1: Timothy is missing with me right now, Timothy's mom, Betsy Hoptman,

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Speaker 1: Miss Hoptman, thank you for being with us, Thanks for

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Speaker 1: having me inty, Betsy, I almost didn't want to even

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Speaker 1: play that sound, because you know, we have routines we

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Speaker 1: go through every morning. My daughter gets up super early.

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Speaker 1: I can hear her turning on the bath water. My

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Speaker 1: son sleeps late. I have to go wake him up

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Speaker 1: every morning and he jumps up and gives me a

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Speaker 1: big hug, and that is the normal routine. I'm just

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Speaker 1: thinking on what I just heard that every morning.

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Speaker 2: Is this true?

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Speaker 1: Your boy would come and make you a cup of coffee.

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Speaker 5: Most mornings, guess, ma'am. Every morning, almost every morning, he

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Speaker 5: would get up. He'd be the first one up, and

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Speaker 5: I'd walk into the kitchen and he'd be having my

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Speaker 5: tea kettle on for the French.

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Speaker 2: Press, Miss Hartman.

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Speaker 1: Before I go into the facts of this case, I've

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Speaker 1: just got to tell you we are so sorry about

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Speaker 1: your loss, about losing your baby.

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Speaker 2: I am so sorry. I appreciate that again with me

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Speaker 2: an all star pedal.

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Speaker 1: You know a lot of people haven't even heard the

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Speaker 1: word sextortion before and joining me in a few moments

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Speaker 1: is an expert in online safety to Tanya Jordan from

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Speaker 1: Bark But Betsy, tell me what happened that morning.

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Speaker 6: Sure, it was a morning like every other morning.

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Speaker 5: My husband and I got up with the alarm.

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Speaker 6: He went about his day, walk up the front door.

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Speaker 5: A few minutes later, I get a phone call saying,

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Speaker 5: lock the doors and check.

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Speaker 6: On my kids. So I go about the kids rooms

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Speaker 6: check on them.

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Speaker 5: They're all there except for Timothy. And I was like, okay,

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Speaker 5: well that's not abnormal. So I checked the bathroom to

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Speaker 5: see if he was in the bathroom.

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Speaker 6: He wasn't.

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Speaker 5: Checked the kitchen, where like I said, he normally got

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Speaker 5: up and turned on the kettle for my French press,

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Speaker 5: and he wasn't there.

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Speaker 6: So I walked up to the garage to see if

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Speaker 6: he was at our drink fridge.

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Speaker 5: Again, he wasn't there, and panic set in and I

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Speaker 5: realized when my husband told me to lock the doors,

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Speaker 5: something must have happened.

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Speaker 6: So I called my husband back and I said, what's

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Speaker 6: going on. He's like someone's.

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Speaker 5: Sleeping in her front yard and I said, I can't

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Speaker 5: find Timothy. And he walked me through the house again

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Speaker 5: and he's like, is he in the bathroom?

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Speaker 6: Is he in the pantry?

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Speaker 7: Is he in the kitchen?

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Speaker 5: I was like no, And at that point I realized

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Speaker 5: I woke up into every mother's nightmare.

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Speaker 1: Miss Houtman, it's so hard to hear what you're saying.

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Speaker 2: It's so hard to hear it knowing what happened.

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Speaker 1: I don't know how you have this strength to tell

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Speaker 1: this story.

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Speaker 2: How do you keep going?

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Speaker 1: How do you have this strength to tell other parents

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Speaker 1: about what happened tonight?

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Speaker 5: The only reason I can even have that is because

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Speaker 5: God allows me to have a voice that allows education

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Speaker 5: for other parents so that they're not sitting in my seat.

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Speaker 1: You get a call, there's somebody in the front yard.

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Speaker 1: Lock the door, go check on the children. You find

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Speaker 1: everybody but Timmy, Then what do you do?

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Speaker 6: Like I said, I walked through the house.

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Speaker 5: Making sure that he wasn't in his normal spot in

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Speaker 5: the morning, because, like I said.

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Speaker 6: He normally woke up before everybody else.

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Speaker 5: He wasn't, And at that point I knew, but my

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Speaker 5: husband told me not to come outside.

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Speaker 6: But the cops were.

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Speaker 5: There and a few minutes later, and it felt like eternity.

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Speaker 5: My husband walked in the front door, and he still

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Speaker 5: hasn't told me to this day what happened and who

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Speaker 5: he found in the front yard. But as soon as

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Speaker 5: I saw his face, you can hear me yell on

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Speaker 5: our ring doorbell, Cameron, because at that point my heart broke.

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Speaker 2: Did you learn your baby? Your little boy?

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Speaker 1: And I know you have I think three boys, but

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Speaker 1: I refer to both of my twins they're sixteen now

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Speaker 1: as my baby's When.

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Speaker 2: Did you learn you're sweet? Timothy?

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Speaker 1: This tastes like dirt in my mouth. Had committed suicide.

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Speaker 5: About six thirty six forty five in the morning on

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Speaker 5: April sixth of twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 1: How did you process not just losing your child, but

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Speaker 1: learning your child committed suicide.

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Speaker 6: I couldn't believe it.

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Speaker 5: I didn't want to believe it. It didn't make sense

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Speaker 5: to me because he was such a normal kid. He

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Speaker 5: was the kid that was the life of the party

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Speaker 5: and the one that always tried to make people happy.

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Speaker 5: He's the one who would come in and cut on

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Speaker 5: and make sure that mom was okay. And again, it

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Speaker 5: just it truly didn't make sense to me because we

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Speaker 5: had plans. He had asked me to take him to

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Speaker 5: Tennessee to Gatlinburg.

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Speaker 6: For his birthday, and I was like, yeah, we can

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Speaker 6: plan a trip.

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Speaker 5: You and me like because I like to make memories

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Speaker 5: instead of do gifts, And I was like, yeah, we

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Speaker 5: can most certainly do that, and we were planning it.

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Speaker 5: So it didn't make sense at all until I found.

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Speaker 6: Out what happened.

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Speaker 1: Guys, what do we know did happen? Why is this

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Speaker 1: beautiful boy who I keep saying it over and over.

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Speaker 1: There were no prior mental instabilities, there were no depressions.

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Speaker 1: He had never ever threatened suicide ever, never even intimated

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Speaker 1: anything about harming himself or anybody else. I'm telling you,

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Speaker 1: this is the boy every parent wants to have.

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Speaker 2: So why is this beautiful boy dead? What more do

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Speaker 2: we know? Listen?

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Speaker 8: Betsy Helptman meets her husband at the front door, hysterically

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Speaker 8: explaining she can't find Timothy. With tears in his eyes.

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Speaker 8: Jeffrey Helpman shakes his head at his wife and she screams.

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Speaker 8: The body in the front yardist Timothy dead of a

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Speaker 8: self inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Security cameras show

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Speaker 8: Timothy sitting in the family car in the driveway for

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Speaker 8: two hours the night before, frantically scrolling on a cell phone. Sumter,

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Speaker 8: South Carolina pde collect Timothy's phone in his school chromebook,

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Speaker 8: bowing to find out what drove the team to suicide.

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Speaker 1: And again, isn't it true, Betsy, that Timothy? I have

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Speaker 1: a nephew, Timothy, and I call him Timmy, even though

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Speaker 1: he's grown now. So I've now started calling your son

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Speaker 1: Timmy because I've read so much about him. Isn't it

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Speaker 1: true that your son Timothy had never gone through bouts

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Speaker 1: of depression, had never lost appetite, was never in prolonged

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Speaker 1: periods of sadness, to your knowledge, wasn't bullied at school,

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Speaker 1: none of the red flags.

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Speaker 2: We look for.

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Speaker 1: No bedwedding, no self mutilation, no slapping or bruising or

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Speaker 1: pinching himself, nothing to make you think he would ever

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Speaker 1: have committed suicide.

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Speaker 5: There were no extreme signs. I mean, he was a

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Speaker 5: thirteen year old boy, a thirteen year old boy that

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Speaker 5: was going through puberty.

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Speaker 6: What I classify him as a depressed child? Absolutely not.

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Speaker 6: But what teenager doesn't have the.

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Speaker 9: Normal Yeah, it's my place in life, the normal ups

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Speaker 9: and downs of going through middle school, entering high school.

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Speaker 1: He is just thirteen years old. I understand that that

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Speaker 1: night he was scrolling. And I've seen my daughter and

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Speaker 1: my son do this. They scroll and scroll and scroll

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Speaker 1: on their phones. So I'm like, what are you looking at?

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Speaker 1: And they typically say TikTok. And I've snuck up on

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Speaker 1: them so many times to see what it is. And

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Speaker 1: it's always with my son, some crazy prank. Some boys

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Speaker 1: are are you know, trying to shoot a basketball from

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Speaker 1: a car driving by some crazy thing like that. My

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Speaker 1: daughter's looking at fashion or skin care, but they look

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Speaker 1: at it all the time. So Timothy was out in

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Speaker 1: the car the night before, just scrolling, is that right?

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Speaker 5: So the security cameras show him sneaking out of his

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Speaker 5: window about I want to say, two forty five three

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Speaker 5: o'clock and sitting in my car, and then you can

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Speaker 5: see him on his phone just scrolling through it. And

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Speaker 5: unfortunately the cameras aren't the greatest to see. We weren't

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Speaker 5: able to see what he was scrolling through or what

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Speaker 5: he was doing.

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Speaker 6: On his phone, but just that he was on his

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Speaker 6: phone scrolling.

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Speaker 5: And then at about five o'clock, five fifteen, he goes

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Speaker 5: off camera, and he comes back for a short few minutes,

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Speaker 5: and then he goes back off for the final time.

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Speaker 1: So you had no idea he was outside in the

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Speaker 1: car scrolling. And you know, there's something very comforting about

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Speaker 1: just sitting in the family car. I know when we

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Speaker 1: were drive home from school a lot of times in

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Speaker 1: the afternoon, we would sit in the car in the

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Speaker 1: driveway and listen to music and talk. It's just something

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Speaker 1: you know, your cocoon like in the car, and I'm

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Speaker 1: imagining him sitting in the car where nobody can see

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Speaker 1: what he's doing. He knows you're asleep inside, and he's scrolling.

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Speaker 1: Had he ever done that before? To your knowledge?

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Speaker 5: He did it once before from my understanding, But that's

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Speaker 5: not an abnormal thing, because, much like you, Nancy, when

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Speaker 5: I go on.

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Speaker 6: A trip anywhere, even if it was to the grocery store.

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Speaker 5: Or to go get gas, I sit in the car

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Speaker 5: for a few minutes and collect my thoughts because it's

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Speaker 5: that almost soundproof space where I can block everything and

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Speaker 5: anybody out. And Tim was a lot like mom where

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Speaker 5: he needed that clue, that sound proof space to process

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Speaker 5: his own thoughts.

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Speaker 2: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Why is a thirteen year

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Speaker 2: old little boy dead?

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Speaker 1: Why did a thirteen year old who had never threatened suicide,

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Speaker 1: never had mental instability or problems, no prolonged depressions, nothing,

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Speaker 1: Why did.

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Speaker 2: He commit suicide?

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Speaker 1: And what was he scrolling ceaselessly the night before, sitting

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Speaker 1: in the family car. What was so secretive he did

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Speaker 1: not want his parents to hear about. Joining me is

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Speaker 1: a very special guest who I've got to say is

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Speaker 1: one of the bravest ladies.

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Speaker 2: I know, speaking out so.

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Speaker 1: Other parents can learn from Timothy's death. But right now

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Speaker 1: I want to go to Titanya Jordan joining US online

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Speaker 1: safety expert, chief Parent officer of Bark Technology. It's an

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Speaker 1: online safety company that helps keep children, kids teens safe.

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Speaker 1: And I've got to tell you, my children know, the

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Speaker 1: whole family knows that.

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Speaker 2: I have Bark.

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Speaker 1: Bark is kind of an online program you download on

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Speaker 1: your phone and your children's phones and you sink them

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Speaker 1: and they're like a safety net that catches problems at

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Speaker 1: curse words of bullying. I don't really know how they

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Speaker 1: do it, but I will give you this brief anecdote.

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Speaker 2: My son is the goalie.

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Speaker 1: He's been a goalie forever in soccer, and when he

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Speaker 1: was about in the seventh or eighth grade, he made

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Speaker 1: this incredible save and he was really horizontal, went horizontal

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Speaker 1: to stop the goal and he did stop it, but

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Speaker 1: his arm went through the net and he got a

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Speaker 1: big bruise from the net and he took a picture

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Speaker 1: of it and he sent it to some of his

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Speaker 1: friends and went, look what I got saving a goal.

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Speaker 1: He was proud of the bruies. Well, Bark caught the

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Speaker 1: bruise and alerted me about self harm. That's how sensitive

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Speaker 1: it is. So that's what bark is Titania Snapchat. A

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Speaker 1: lot of parents think if you go on to your

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Speaker 1: child's scrolling history their Internet use, then you know what

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Speaker 1: they've been doing. That is not true. All of this

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Speaker 1: happened on Snapchat. Just very briefly explain what is snapchat.

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Speaker 1: What's a snap.

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Speaker 10: Snapchat is an app that was launched to send disappearing

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Speaker 10: photos and children do not need the ability to send

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Speaker 10: to appearing photos. It has now expanded to offer location sharing,

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Speaker 10: which is problematic. It's become rife with drug dealers and

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Speaker 10: now sextortion scams guys.

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Speaker 1: Very often, I'll be sitting with the twins and one

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Speaker 1: of them will start laughing.

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Speaker 2: I'm like, what what is it? And they go, it's

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Speaker 2: a funny snap from so and so. I'm like, let

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Speaker 2: me see it, and they go, it's already disappeared. Mom,

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Speaker 2: I can't show it to you.

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Speaker 1: To Betsy Hoptman, this is Timothy's mom, Betsy, when did

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Speaker 1: you find out about this horrible sixtortion scheme against Timothy

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Speaker 1: on Snapchat?

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Speaker 5: So? I found out Timothy passed away on April sixth,

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Speaker 5: and I found out from the Captain of investigations here

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Speaker 5: in Summer on October fourth.

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Speaker 1: Joining me now is Ashley Jones, investigative reporter and anchor

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Speaker 1: WIS News South Carolina. Ashley, thank you for being with us.

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Speaker 1: I want to go back to the day that Timothy

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Speaker 1: was killed.

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Speaker 2: Tell me what you know.

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Speaker 11: So from what I know as far as what Sumter

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Speaker 11: PD said in an incident report, on the morning of

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Speaker 11: April sixth, Timothy's father found his body laying outside in

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Speaker 11: the front yard and from there they called the Sumter

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Speaker 11: Police Department, who came out and began an investigation.

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Speaker 2: However, there was some I believe.

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Speaker 11: Discrepancies as far as Sumter Police Department actually doing the investigation.

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Speaker 11: There was something about they couldn't get into Timothy's phone

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Speaker 11: to figure out what may have happened. There was a

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Speaker 11: lot of back and forth.

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Speaker 1: Oh, Ashley, you know, it's amazing that you said that,

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Speaker 1: because you guys have already lived through this in South

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Speaker 1: Carolina with the Alex Murdoch trial.

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Speaker 2: Remember what all we had to get go through.

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Speaker 1: They had to bring in the Secret Service to unlock

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Speaker 1: a phone in order to place Alex Murdock at the

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Speaker 1: dog kennels where his wife.

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Speaker 2: And some were murdered at the time of the murder.

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Speaker 1: Remember that I sat through that Secret Service guy testimony

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Speaker 1: and it was very, very intricate about unlocking the phone. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so what is Timothy looking at for two hours and

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Speaker 1: then commit suicide in the front yard?

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Speaker 12: Listen, just before his death, Timothy changed the passcode to

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Speaker 12: his phone, so detectives focus on the task of unlocking it.

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Speaker 12: Betsy Hoptman tells detective Kelsey Wade that Timothy mainly communicated

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Speaker 12: over Snapchat, and Wade issues a subpoena for the teen's account.

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Speaker 12: Eleven weeks go by with no answers, despite Hoptomen calling

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Speaker 12: twice a week. Wade finally informs Hoptman investigators are submitting

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Speaker 12: a second Snapchat subpoena along with a subpoena for Timothy's

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Speaker 12: cash app activity.

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Speaker 1: Joining me in addition to Timothy's mom, Betsy is the

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Speaker 1: family lawyer Joe Cunningham, high profile lawyer in that jurisdiction.

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Speaker 2: Joe, thank you for being with us.

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Speaker 1: They have to send a second subpoena to Snapchat.

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Speaker 13: Why well, Nancy, what we know is that the first

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Speaker 13: subpoena that was sent to snap Apparently from Snap's response

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Speaker 13: was not comprehensive enough or detailed enough to provide a response,

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Speaker 13: so that required them to send a second one. And

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Speaker 13: since then this investigation has been handed over to the

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Speaker 13: federal agencies of the U. S. Attorney's Office, who is

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Speaker 13: now handling this.

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Speaker 1: So it's amazing to me that in light of Timothy's death,

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Speaker 1: you have to basically threaten Snapchat in order to get responses,

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Speaker 1: and you've got the mom, Betsy Houtman, basically begging to

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Speaker 1: get answers.

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Speaker 2: What was my son looking at? Betsy?

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Speaker 1: What was going through your mind when you're having to

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Speaker 1: call twice a week to get answers and still not

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Speaker 1: getting answers?

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Speaker 5: What were they doing to find out why my phone

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Speaker 5: killed himself? And unfortunately I was told it wasn't Sumpter's police.

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Speaker 5: Sumpter Police Department's job to find out why he did it,

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Speaker 5: just said he did it.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 2: That is amazing to me.

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Speaker 1: And I'm going to circle back in a moment, Betsy

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Speaker 1: about when you took the phone away from him for

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Speaker 1: a period of months, But right now I want to

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Speaker 1: focus on why the local police department told you to

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Speaker 1: just figure it out yourself. Imagine you being in Betsy's position.

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Speaker 1: You're trying and trying to find out the cause your

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Speaker 1: boy committed suicide, and he believed the answer is on

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Speaker 1: his phone. I want you to listen to this.

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Speaker 3: Five months after Timothy's death, Betsy Hopman gets a notification

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Speaker 3: on Life three sixty that Timothy completed to drive. Hopeful

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Speaker 3: that detectives crack his passcode, Hopman calls Detective Wade with

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Speaker 3: no response and drives down to the police station, refusing

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Speaker 3: to leave until she speaks with Wade. Hours later, two

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Speaker 3: unfamiliar detectives informer that Timothy's phone is equivalent to a paperweight.

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Speaker 3: They're closing the investigation and it isn't their job to

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Speaker 3: figure out why her son killed himself.

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Speaker 12: A month later, Betsy Hoptmann discovers Sumter PD unearthed dozens

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Speaker 12: of suicide notes addressed to family and friends. They also

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Speaker 12: found an extensive call and text record with an unsaved

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Speaker 12: phone number with a New York area code. The text

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Speaker 12: includes links to a second Snapchat account Timothy used. Messages

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Speaker 12: on that account revealed Timothy sent a stranger thirty five

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Speaker 12: dollars a day to prevent them from posting an explicit

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Speaker 12: photo of him online. One of Timothy's last messages begged

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Speaker 12: the stranger to stop reading. Quote please, I'm just a child.

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Speaker 1: Sextortion, That's what's happening. That is why this little boy

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Speaker 1: belt there was no way out and killed himself. Sextortion.

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Speaker 1: To Tanya jordan Bart.

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Speaker 2: Child safety expert, what is sextortion?

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Speaker 10: Sextortion is a combination of the words sex and extortion,

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Speaker 10: and extortion is using threats are forced to coerce someone

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Speaker 10: into doing something, and so in the case of sextortion,

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Speaker 10: a child, a person is threatened that they're nude photos

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Speaker 10: or videos will be released unless they provide valuables, money,

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Speaker 10: or release more sexual photos or videos too.

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Speaker 1: Ashley Jones joining us WIS News t in South Carolina, Ashley,

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Speaker 1: what was the threat on Timothy?

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Speaker 2: What was the sextortion?

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Speaker 11: Well, so from what we know is that this person,

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Speaker 11: whomever it was, was basically telling Timothy unless he sent

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Speaker 11: them thirty five dollars a day via cash app, then

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Speaker 11: they would post this nude photo of him online.

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Speaker 2: Oh my stars, Oh my stars.

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Speaker 1: To think this boy is gone because some evil person

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Speaker 1: is extorting a little child. To Joe Cunningham, the family lawyer.

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Speaker 1: What more do we know about the plot, who was

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Speaker 1: behind it?

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Speaker 13: Well, this is still under investigation by the US Attorney's Office, Nancy. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 13: what we know is this is not an isolate incidents.

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Speaker 13: A lot of these originate from the Ivory coast of Africa,

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Speaker 13: where people pose as young teenage girls and befriend teenage

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Speaker 13: boys and engage in a flirtatious manners soliciting nude pictures,

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Speaker 13: only to later on comeback, screenshot the list of their

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Speaker 13: friends and family members and extort them for money, otherwise

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Speaker 13: they'll release these particular pictures. This has become very common.

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Speaker 13: I want to thank you for shining a light onto

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Speaker 13: this because here's a statistic that your viewers need to know.

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Speaker 13: Snapchat did a survey a while back and said that

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Speaker 13: two thirds of gen Z teens or young adults, either

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Speaker 13: themselves or people they knew, had been victims of sex

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Speaker 13: stortion two thirds. So this is Unfortunately, it's non isolated incidant.

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Speaker 13: This is the worst case scenario though for any family

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Speaker 13: to have to go through.

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Speaker 1: Guys, it is by far not the first time a

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Speaker 1: teen boy or girl has been targeted in sex stortion.

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Speaker 1: For instance, in a case I recently investigated. I mean,

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Speaker 1: a superstar kid much like Timothy, is online chatting with

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Speaker 1: a beautiful girl his age and the girl gets the

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Speaker 1: boy to send a nude photo. Well, it turns out

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Speaker 1: the girl as not a young girl his age at all.

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Speaker 2: Listen.

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Speaker 14: Over the course of a short conversation, Samuel Ogashi, pretending

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Speaker 14: to be this young woman, persuaded Jordan to send a

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Speaker 14: sectionally explicit image of himself. Once Samuel Ogashi had that

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Speaker 14: sexually explicit image in his hand, he then turned to

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Speaker 14: extort Jordan de May for money, threatening to reveal the

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Speaker 14: image to Jordan's family and friends if he did not comply.

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Speaker 1: This kid, Jordan de Maay high school superstar, and you

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Speaker 1: are hearing the US attorney Mark taught and speaking.

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Speaker 2: Listen.

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Speaker 14: Jordan de Maay paid what he had, which was three

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Speaker 14: hundred dollars, but Samuel Gashi continued his threats, demanding more

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Speaker 14: from Jordan. A few hours later, Jordan told Samuel Ogashi

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Speaker 14: that he was now taking his life, and Samuel Ogashi,

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Speaker 14: responding through the Instagram persona of Danny Roberts, told him

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Speaker 14: do that fast, or I'll make you do it.

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Speaker 1: Jordan de Maay, who committed suicide after sixtortion. His father

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Speaker 1: spent to me and depth, listen.

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Speaker 15: If things happen, you know, it's not the end of

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Speaker 15: the world either. You know, Jordan's story is so tragic,

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Speaker 15: and this is something that probably would have been laughing

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Speaker 15: about in ten or fifteen years after he's graduated college

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Speaker 15: and gotten married and had kids and bought his first

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Speaker 15: home and you got a career job and did all

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Speaker 15: the things. You'd look back and kind of like that

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Speaker 15: was stupid, right, But in that moment, you can't. They're

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Speaker 15: not old enough to understand that. They're not developed enough

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Speaker 15: to understand.

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Speaker 4: Betsy Hotman takes Sumpter PDS findings to the FBI and

442
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:35,679
Speaker 4: Homeland Security. A federal investigation is immediately opened, and detectives

443
00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:38,520
Speaker 4: find that the cash app account Timothy sent money to

444
00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:41,840
Speaker 4: belongs to a woman in Los Angeles County. A suspect

445
00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:45,000
Speaker 4: has yet to be identified, but Timothy's family is encouraged

446
00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:47,800
Speaker 4: by how seriously the FEDS are taking their son's case.

447
00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:51,960
Speaker 4: Both Betsy Hotman and Jamie Barnett have criticized Sumter pd

448
00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:56,040
Speaker 4: for closing their investigation, but the parents' focus lies on

449
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:57,840
Speaker 4: finding justice for Timothy.

450
00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:00,720
Speaker 2: Joining me, is Timothy's mom? Howkman?

451
00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:05,240
Speaker 1: So getting fed up with no answers from the local PD,

452
00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:10,240
Speaker 1: you take your case to the FBI and they take

453
00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:10,520
Speaker 1: it on.

454
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:11,320
Speaker 2: Is that correct?

455
00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:12,200
Speaker 6: Yes, Miam.

456
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:17,520
Speaker 5: I called the national Hotline for Missing and Exploited Children

457
00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:24,840
Speaker 5: myself after I found out from Captain Lloyd Timothy was

458
00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:28,480
Speaker 5: sex started because it took them so long to.

459
00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:31,000
Speaker 6: Even do anything.

460
00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:42,040
Speaker 2: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

461
00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:50,480
Speaker 1: Joining me right now is special guest, former detective cyber Crimes, detective,

462
00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:56,240
Speaker 1: child crime expert, and president of b Sure Cyber Training.

463
00:28:56,560 --> 00:29:00,640
Speaker 1: You can find them at Besureconsulting dot com. Rich with

464
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:03,800
Speaker 1: Stocky Rich. Thank you so much for being with us.

465
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:08,520
Speaker 1: Explain to me what you should do to protect your

466
00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:13,080
Speaker 1: child and how we can crack this case and determine

467
00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:16,000
Speaker 1: who started Timothy.

468
00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:20,680
Speaker 7: Nancy, It's unbelievable everything that I'm hearing today, because you

469
00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:24,520
Speaker 7: know why, it's typical every week I get calls from

470
00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,400
Speaker 7: parents and law enforcement all over the country. I teach

471
00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,280
Speaker 7: about three hundred thousand children. I teach about four thousand

472
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:35,760
Speaker 7: cops and police departments are ten years behind cybercrime investigations.

473
00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:38,560
Speaker 7: So what happens is when I go talk to kids

474
00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:41,160
Speaker 7: in schools, I tell them when no one is allowed

475
00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:44,040
Speaker 7: to make you feel bad about yourself online, no one

476
00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:46,040
Speaker 7: is allowed to make you do something you know you

477
00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:49,239
Speaker 7: shouldn't be doing. If you're sitting here watching me and

478
00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:52,239
Speaker 7: suffering in silence because this is happening to you, I

479
00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:55,320
Speaker 7: can make your pain stop. Because when it comes to

480
00:29:55,360 --> 00:30:00,000
Speaker 7: social networking and gaming online, Nancy, no one online is anonymous.

481
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:04,080
Speaker 7: No one. Now, these Yahoo boys who are out doing this,

482
00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:07,920
Speaker 7: we can track them, but they have no fear because

483
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:12,000
Speaker 7: they know US law enforcement. Local law enforcement doesn't have

484
00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:16,160
Speaker 7: the training to take to track this stuff. And I

485
00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 7: will tell you over the three hundred thousand students that

486
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:23,160
Speaker 7: I have worked with across the country this year alone, Nancy,

487
00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:26,440
Speaker 7: I had thirty five students come to me after the

488
00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:30,760
Speaker 7: presentation telling me this is happening to me. I had

489
00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:34,400
Speaker 7: to start twenty eight criminal investigations through the Internet Crimes

490
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:37,280
Speaker 7: against Children Task Force across the country.

491
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:40,920
Speaker 1: Rich I'm trying to think of ways to help parents,

492
00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:43,600
Speaker 1: and Betsy is speaking out today.

493
00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:44,680
Speaker 2: If you had to give.

494
00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:48,239
Speaker 1: Parents one piece of advice to protect their children from

495
00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:52,080
Speaker 1: six stortion schemes like this one, what would you tell them?

496
00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:54,400
Speaker 7: There are actually three things Nancy. The first one is

497
00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:56,600
Speaker 7: you need to be monitoring your kid's devices.

498
00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:59,760
Speaker 1: If we're talking about Snapchat, which is what Betcy Howton's

499
00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:03,680
Speaker 1: tell about today, those images disappear immediately.

500
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:07,760
Speaker 7: They don't actually Snapchat has them for thirty days.

501
00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:10,880
Speaker 2: But how is a parent supposed to know that? You say, parent,

502
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:11,440
Speaker 2: you look.

503
00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:15,240
Speaker 1: At the phone, but on the phone it disappears. No

504
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,760
Speaker 1: parent knows to call Snapchat has says, hey, what has

505
00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:21,040
Speaker 1: my son been looking at in the last two days.

506
00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:24,440
Speaker 2: That's not gonna happen. Give me something I can hold

507
00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:24,760
Speaker 2: on to.

508
00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:27,920
Speaker 7: Parents need to keep their children's phones out of their devices,

509
00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:31,360
Speaker 7: out of their rooms at night. That's number one. And

510
00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:34,760
Speaker 7: then what happens. Parents don't know about Snapchat and they

511
00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:38,000
Speaker 7: need to be checking their my eyes only in Snapchat.

512
00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:43,440
Speaker 7: This is a private cloud based service that Snapchat has

513
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:46,920
Speaker 7: called My Eyes Only, and most of our children are

514
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:51,479
Speaker 7: hiding their most horrible pictures of themselves and others in

515
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:55,080
Speaker 7: it now. Number one, Nancy. Number one is that parents

516
00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:59,840
Speaker 7: need to have the access code to their kid's device

517
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,800
Speaker 7: and spot check that that's something you can hold on to.

518
00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:07,560
Speaker 7: And if at any time a child changes their device

519
00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:11,520
Speaker 7: because they're hiding something, you know something wrong. So imagine

520
00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:15,040
Speaker 7: in this case, if the parent knew the access code

521
00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:17,880
Speaker 7: to the phone, we could have unlocked that phone and

522
00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:21,600
Speaker 7: trace that within hours of where it came from. And

523
00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:23,959
Speaker 7: that's what I trained my law enforcement osters to do.

524
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:27,560
Speaker 1: Well, here's the thing, though, Betsy, you knew the code,

525
00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:32,760
Speaker 1: and you had actually found long before a naked photo

526
00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:36,560
Speaker 1: of a woman. Any No, we're not having this, and

527
00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:41,160
Speaker 1: you talked to him, You reprimanded him, you counseled him

528
00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:43,880
Speaker 1: about it. You took the phone away for a period

529
00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:47,120
Speaker 1: of months, and you gave it back. You knew his code,

530
00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:49,720
Speaker 1: you didn't know he had changed his code. That would

531
00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:52,400
Speaker 1: be like twenty four to seven monitoring on your child

532
00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:55,280
Speaker 1: to find out if they sneak off to the closet

533
00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:57,720
Speaker 1: and in three minutes changed their code to their phone.

534
00:32:58,000 --> 00:32:58,520
Speaker 6: Exactly.

535
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:04,880
Speaker 5: I mean I got on Snapchat myself because my fourteen

536
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:07,520
Speaker 5: year old niece at that point was like.

537
00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:09,280
Speaker 6: Auntie, get on Snapchat.

538
00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:11,600
Speaker 5: It's got a lot of filters and we can snap

539
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:14,240
Speaker 5: back and forth and whatnot.

540
00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:17,959
Speaker 6: I never imagined.

541
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:24,880
Speaker 5: Sending anything because as an adult, I knew when you

542
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:28,640
Speaker 5: send us stuff on the internet, it never quote unquote.

543
00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:31,080
Speaker 6: Truly goes away.

544
00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:38,040
Speaker 5: So Timothy was on Snapchat because that's what kids these

545
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:38,600
Speaker 5: days do.

546
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:43,640
Speaker 1: That's what they all do, Betsy, all of the preteens

547
00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:47,080
Speaker 1: and teens and a lot of adults are on Snapchat.

548
00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:52,720
Speaker 1: Nobody is on Facebook at that age, and many many

549
00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:53,719
Speaker 1: other platforms.

550
00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:58,480
Speaker 2: Text me yes exactly and joining me. I don't want

551
00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:02,200
Speaker 2: to forget about this. Cunningham is with us, and that

552
00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:03,920
Speaker 2: is Betsey's family lawyer.

553
00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:07,680
Speaker 1: I've got in my hands a big fat lawsuit.

554
00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:08,920
Speaker 2: What is it?

555
00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:13,480
Speaker 13: Joe pre file a lawsuit against Snap for wrongful death

556
00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:18,600
Speaker 13: for the damages that Betsy's family has gone through and

557
00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:23,200
Speaker 13: suffering this unimaginable loss. And the basis of that lawsuit

558
00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:26,160
Speaker 13: is negligence. Is negligence per se. But it's also centers

559
00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:30,359
Speaker 13: around Snap putting out a defective product. They've put out

560
00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:33,880
Speaker 13: a product, as you mentioned, that has the images disappeared.

561
00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:37,480
Speaker 13: Now anyone can imagine what the anticipated use of a

562
00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:42,320
Speaker 13: product like that actually will be. And it's welcomed predators

563
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:47,480
Speaker 13: onto their platform and without the proper guardrails in place,

564
00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:50,480
Speaker 13: the monitor to make sure that people are of age

565
00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:55,320
Speaker 13: or getting on but also to prevent predators from accessing

566
00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:57,240
Speaker 13: the website and communicating with children.

567
00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:01,520
Speaker 3: The day after a winning football game, Marcus fifteen spends

568
00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:04,640
Speaker 3: the day inside playing video games with his friends. Just

569
00:35:04,719 --> 00:35:08,160
Speaker 3: after eleven am, a pretty girl messages Braiden on Instagram.

570
00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:11,360
Speaker 3: In the two exchange flirtations messages for about five minutes.

571
00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:14,560
Speaker 3: The girl request they moved the chat to Google Hangouts

572
00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:17,160
Speaker 3: and sends Braiden lude photos, asking for photos of him.

573
00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:20,440
Speaker 3: In return, Braiden is hesitant, but caves and sends several

574
00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:24,480
Speaker 3: explicit photos. The girl then reveals herself as a scammer

575
00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:27,799
Speaker 3: and threatens to release the photos unless Braden sends them

576
00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:32,279
Speaker 3: eighteen hundred dollars. By eleven twenty eight am, Braden took

577
00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:33,040
Speaker 3: his own life.

578
00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:39,040
Speaker 1: This boy, just fifteen commits suicide after a sixtortion plot. Guys,

579
00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:41,920
Speaker 1: I've got so many files here on my desk of

580
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:48,319
Speaker 1: children committing suicide after sextortion. To Betsy Houtman joining us,

581
00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:53,160
Speaker 1: this is Timothy's mom. Did you have any idea how

582
00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:59,000
Speaker 1: widespread SI extortion on even preteens? I know you heard

583
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:03,000
Speaker 1: me talking about to Todd, who was just twelve, sex

584
00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:05,680
Speaker 1: stortion plots on our preteens and teens.

585
00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:10,000
Speaker 2: Did you have any idea how rampant it is?

586
00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:10,640
Speaker 12: No?

587
00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:15,080
Speaker 6: Ma'am, I definitely didn't. One of the only reasons I

588
00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:17,080
Speaker 6: ever heard of sextortion was.

589
00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:23,080
Speaker 5: A few short months after Timothy passed when South Carolina

590
00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:29,360
Speaker 5: and stated Gavin's Law where our representative Guffy his son

591
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:33,600
Speaker 5: back in I believe August of twenty twenty two took

592
00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:39,320
Speaker 5: his life because of it too. And South Carolina now

593
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:40,960
Speaker 5: it's an aggravated felony.

594
00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:43,000
Speaker 6: If in fact a minor hurts.

595
00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:46,480
Speaker 5: Themselves or commits suicide because of sextortion.

596
00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:50,759
Speaker 1: Well, you're absolutely right. Take a listen to South Carolina Rep.

597
00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:51,600
Speaker 1: Brandon Guffey.

598
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:55,040
Speaker 16: Gavin was being blackmailed. That was all the information that

599
00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,880
Speaker 16: I knew was that he was being black now, but

600
00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:03,120
Speaker 16: what happened was Gavin was he got caught up in sextortion,

601
00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:06,680
Speaker 16: and this is a major crime. They took looks like

602
00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:10,680
Speaker 16: Hunter Biden headlines and put pictures of Gavin and put

603
00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:15,120
Speaker 16: my name and his name on the headlines, and we're

604
00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:18,560
Speaker 16: threatening to release it. And it was pictures to this

605
00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:20,680
Speaker 16: girl that he was talking to online.

606
00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:27,919
Speaker 1: That boy is dead because of sextortion. Betsy, I've got

607
00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:33,000
Speaker 1: to ask you something. Do you feel Timothy's presence with

608
00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:34,200
Speaker 1: you always?

609
00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:38,800
Speaker 6: When he first gotten allowing Sancy.

610
00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:44,319
Speaker 5: He bought me a horror like a stuffy stuffed heart

611
00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:49,440
Speaker 5: from the dollar tree. And now I'll find leaves that

612
00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:52,759
Speaker 5: are shaped in hearts on my doorset or when I'm

613
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:55,319
Speaker 5: cleaning the pool, one will drop in front of me.

614
00:37:56,480 --> 00:38:00,600
Speaker 6: I'll find hearts randomly on sidewalks. I know that my

615
00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:01,760
Speaker 6: son's with us.

616
00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:09,280
Speaker 1: Betsy, what is your message? Your message to other parents

617
00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:10,760
Speaker 1: out there today?

618
00:38:11,080 --> 00:38:15,120
Speaker 5: Have those tough conversations, Be open to those tough conversations,

619
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:23,839
Speaker 5: and just remember that the Internet isn't something that we

620
00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:28,360
Speaker 5: had back then. And unfortunately I was naive enough to

621
00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:33,759
Speaker 5: not think that predators. Well I knew that there were

622
00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:37,359
Speaker 5: predators out there, I didn't think that there were predators

623
00:38:37,360 --> 00:38:38,200
Speaker 5: so bold that.

624
00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:41,759
Speaker 6: Would want to hurt a thirteen year old.

625
00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:45,120
Speaker 2: And there are, Betsy.

626
00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:51,560
Speaker 1: Somehow, some way, we're going to find who did this

627
00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:56,920
Speaker 1: to Timothy. Somehow, some way, they're going to be brought

628
00:38:56,920 --> 00:39:02,120
Speaker 1: to justice. And I want to say thank you for

629
00:39:02,239 --> 00:39:07,600
Speaker 1: speaking out tonight. I know I am speaking to my

630
00:39:07,680 --> 00:39:10,840
Speaker 1: twins tonight about this. I've done it before, I'm doing

631
00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:15,160
Speaker 1: it again, and I beg all the parents to spread

632
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:21,399
Speaker 1: Betsy's message. If we can just save one child from

633
00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:27,120
Speaker 1: six stortion. It's all worth it, Betsy, Thank you, godspeed friend.

634
00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:34,960
Speaker 1: We remember police Officer American Hero Jamal Mitchell, Minneapolis, Minnesota,

635
00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:39,600
Speaker 1: thirty six. He was trying to assist what he thought

636
00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:43,960
Speaker 1: was a wounded victim when he was shot multiple times.

637
00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:49,880
Speaker 1: Officer Mitchell survived by fiance Tory, their children Cohen, Jalen,

638
00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:57,880
Speaker 1: Caden and Mason. American Hero police Officer Jamal Mitchell. Thank

639
00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:01,080
Speaker 1: you to our guests for being with us. Thank you

640
00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:06,319
Speaker 1: for joining us tonight and every night, but especially thank

641
00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:12,279
Speaker 1: you to Betsy sharing her son Timothy's story. You know

642
00:40:12,320 --> 00:40:15,640
Speaker 1: how hard that was for her to talk in her

643
00:40:15,719 --> 00:40:19,640
Speaker 1: effort to help just one child. Nancy Gray signing off,

644
00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:20,600
Speaker 1: good night friend,