2006年10月,14岁的中学生Megan Meier遭遇网络暴力,因不堪忍受网友的恶毒辱骂在家里自杀身亡。而事后,人们发现,此事的“主谋”竟然是受害者之前的朋友兼邻居及其母亲Lori Drew,还有年轻的Ashley Grills。
美式发音 适合泛听
We turn to that MySpace suicide story that made headlines all across the world. For the first time we hear from someone deeply involved in this case. Deborah Roberts has an exclusive interview with the young woman who says that she created the fake MySpace page to trick a 13-year-old St. Louis girl, who eventually killed herself.
Deborah: While authorities investigated, Lori Drew denied involvement pointing the finger at this woman, 19-year-old Ashley Grills, as the 1)mastermind of the fake account.
Who said, “Let’s go online”?
Ashley: That was me and her daughter.
Deborah: And then you created the character.
Ashley: Yes.
Deborah: Ashley says she found a photo of a good looking teenager, and named him Josh Evans. Josh then contacted Megan. It was a 2)prank, she says, to find out if Megan was gossiping about the Drew’s daughter. The fake friendship went on for weeks with Josh flirting with Megan.
And did everybody take turns writing at some point?
Ashley: Um, basically, yes.
Deborah: So you go on and you’re typing and you’re going back and forth and it’s fairly innocent. Then it starts to get nasty.
Ashley: Mm hmm.
Deborah: Nasty messages.
Ashley: Yes.
Deborah: Then there’s finally a really nasty message.
Ashley: Mm hmm.
Deborah: Do you remember it?
Ashley: Yes.
Deborah: What did it say?
Ashley: “Our world would be a better place without you.”
Deborah: Who wrote that?
Ashley: I did. I was trying to get her angry so she would leave him alone and I could get rid of the whole MySpace, yeah.
Deborah: So you wanted to end it.
Ashley: Yeah.
Deborah: By now, Ashley says, she was feeling guilty about the trick.
So this message you sent out…and then something terrible happens in the Meier household.
Ashley: Yes.
911 Operator: What is going on there?
Mrs. Meier: My daughter…just…hung…herself!
Deborah: It was October 16th, 2006, when the Meier’s world was shattered.
What did you think? What did you feel?
Ashley: I thought it was my fault.
Deborah: So what goes through your mind when you hear that a teenage girl, that you all just played a joke on, has committed suicide?
Ashley: A lot of things, like it was my fault, I shouldn’t have said what I said.
Deborah: What kinds of things did you hear from people?
Ashley: They would tell me to kill myself and save everybody the trouble.
Deborah: People said they don’t understand it: How could this have happened? Who could be so cruel? What do you want people to know about you?
Ashley: That I’m not heartless, I do know what I did and I take responsibility for it every day.
我们现在来看看在全球成为头条新闻的聚友网自杀事件。现在,我们首次有机会听听陷入此事的人的心声。黛博拉·罗伯兹与一名少女进行了独家专访,她自称创立了聚友网的那个虚假网页来哄骗一名13岁的圣路易斯女孩子,最终导致她自杀。
黛博拉:当局在调查此事时,劳莉·德鲁否认自己与此事有关,并指称19岁的阿什利·格里尔斯是设立这个虚假网页的主谋。
是谁说“我们到网上做这事吧”?
阿什利:是我和她女儿说的。
黛博拉:然后你们就虚构了那个人物。
阿什利:是的。
黛博拉:阿什利说她找了一张男孩子的照片,样子挺不错,并给他起了个名字叫“乔希·埃文斯”。随后,乔希与梅根联系。她说,这原本是一个恶作剧,目的是想知道梅根有没有在背后议论德鲁的女儿。这段虚假的友谊维持了好几个星期,期间乔希对梅根进行挑逗。
是不是所有人都轮着写点什么?
阿什利:嗯,基本上是的。
黛博拉:就这样事情进行下去,你不停地打字,与对方来来回回地交谈,一切都无伤大雅。然后,事情变得恶毒起来。
阿什利:嗯。
黛博拉:恶毒的信息。
阿什利:对。
黛博拉:随后,终于发了一条很恶毒的信息。
阿什利:嗯。
黛博拉:你还记得吗?
阿什利:记得。
黛博拉:那条信息是怎么说的?
阿什利:“这个世界没有了你会更好。”
黛博拉:这句话谁写的?
阿什利:是我。我当时想激怒她,让她不再纠缠他,这样我就可以摆脱聚友网这事儿了,是这样。
黛博拉:也就是说,你想结束这事。
阿什利:是的。
黛博拉:如今,阿什利说她对这个骗局感到很内疚。
你发出的这个信息后,梅尔家发生了可怕的事。
阿什利:对。
急救中心接线员:你那里发生了什么事?
梅尔夫人:我的女儿……刚刚……上吊了。
黛博拉:那是2006年10月16日,那一天,梅尔一家崩溃了。
你是怎么想的?你当时有什么感觉?
阿什利:我认为那是我的错。
黛博拉:当你知道你用来开玩笑的一个年轻女孩子自杀的事后,脑子里都想些什么?
阿什利:想了很多,比如说这事儿是我的错,我不应该说那些话。
黛博拉:你知道别人都说了些什么?
阿什利:他们说我应该自我了断,这样大家也省事儿。
黛博拉:人们都说,他们想不明白这件事。这种事情怎么可能发生呢?有谁会这么残忍?你希望别人都了解你些什么?
阿什利:我并不是一个冷酷无情的人,我知道自己做过什么,并每天都因此而备受煎熬。