Tragic suicide death of bullied B. C. teen sets off police probe
VANCOUVER — A video glimpse into the life of a now- dead teenage girl who said she was being relentlessly bullied has prompted a police investigation, expressions of concern and a renewed call to end such cruelty.
RCMP said Friday that serious- crime teams are working together, conducting interviews and reviewing contributing factors to the death of 15- year- old Amanda Todd.
They’ve also set up an email account for anyone with any information to pass along — amanda TOD-Dinfo (at) rcmp- grc.gc.ca
“There are a number of areas within the Criminal Code that could be applied,” Sgt. Peter Thiessen said in an interview, though he declined to name what the sections were.
“Those involved in bullying, depending on the form of the bullying and what the end result of the bullying is, certainly can result in criminal charges.”
But Thiessen added it’s “extremely difficult” to get the evidence police need and that’s why officers are asking for the public’s help.
Thiessen also confirmed Amanda Todd’s case has “some similarities” with an investigation police conducted into a rave in 2010 in the same Fraser Valley area where Todd lived. A teen complained she had been drugged and sexually assaulted while partygoers filmed the sex act and then passed the pictures around on social media.
Thiessen would not say what the similarities were between the two cases.
Sex assault charges were stayed in the rave case, but a teenaged boy who posted some of those images online was charged with making and distributing child pornography and distributing obscene material. He was sentenced to 12 months probation earlier this year after pleading guilty to the latter charge.
Another man is also charged with making and distributing child pornography in that case.
“Our investigators are certainly looking at all areas, including social media, past conversations, postings, past actions on social media by everyone and anyone who may have come into contact with Amanda,” Thiessen said.
An official with the B. C. coroner’s office confirmed preliminary indications suggest Todd took her own life earlier this week, just a month after posting a haunting video on YouTube describing both cyber and physical bullying.
During her nine- minute video, Todd explained via hand- written notes that while in Grade 7, she was lured by an unidentified male to expose her breasts via webcam. One year later, she said she received a message from a man on Facebook threatening that if she didn’t give him a show, he would send the webcam picture to her friends and family.
She said police later told her the man followed through with his threat, and she plunged into anxiety, major depression and drugs and alcohol.
“My boobs were his profile picture,” she said of the cyberbully’s Facebook page.
She said she tried to kill herself twice.
The video ends with her note: “I have nobody. I need someone.”
The Internet was flooded with tribute sites for Todd, and posters took to Twitter and Facebook to express their condolences and to excoriate bullies.
“I just watched her video and I wanted to say, here on a public forum that, I’m sorry Amanda Todd. I’m sorry you had to go through all that, I’m sorry that people are that horrible and cruel, I’m sorry you had to experience being that alone and I’m sorry that you had to end your life so short of its potential,” wrote one person on the site entitled A Legitimate Tribute to Amanda Todd.