Notes

A rival’s mother invented a fake male persona on MySpace to antagonize Megan Meier, who killed herself after the “Josh Evans” character told her, “The world would be a better place without you.”
Ever since the age of eight, this girl from the American heartland had expressed a desire to kill herself. Although—or because?—she was plied with antidepressants and antipsychotics, the urges continued.

At age 13, she was approached on MySpace by a “Josh Evans” who claimed he lived in a nearby town and didn’t have a phone. They formed an online “relationship,” and Megan seemed enchanted by him.

But gradually Josh turned on her. He said he’d heard rumors she was “not very nice” to her friends and that he had second thoughts about staying friends with her. Josh made some of their private exchanges public. His final message to her:

Everybody in O’Fallon [Missouri] knows who you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a shitty rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you.

Megan’s response:

You’re the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over.

Twenty minutes later she was found hanging by a belt in her bedroom closet.

As police investigated the case, it became evident that “Josh Evans” never existed. His account was a phony one that had been set up by Lori Drew, mother of a female schoolmate of Megan’s who lived a mere four doors down from her. Lori fabricated the “Josh Evans” persona to harass Megan and extract gossip from her. She and an 18-year-old girl named Ashley Grills alternated sending messages as “Josh.” Lori Drew originally denied creating the account, then later admitted it while trivializing it as a “joke.” It was later revealed that Ashley Grills had sent the final “The world would be a better place without you” message.