Megan’s Story
Megan Taylor Meier was born on November 6, 1992. She loved swimming, boating, fishing, dogs, rap music, and boys. But her life was not always easy; Megan had a weight issue, attention deficit disorder, and battled depression. In third grade, she had talked about suicide and since had been seeing a therapist. But then, life started to pick up for her. She switched schools, joined the volleyball team, and had a new crush—Josh Evans.
Josh was 16 years old and had contacted Megan through her MySpace page. Even though she had never met him, she begged her mother to allow her to add him as a friend. So for the next six weeks, Megan and Josh - under Tina’s watchful eye, became acquainted in the virtual world of MySpace. After a lifelong struggle with weight and self-esteem, Megan finally had a boy who liked her and thought she was pretty. But on Sunday, October 15, 2006, Megan received a strange and disturbing message from Josh: “I don’t know if I want to be friends anymore because I’ve heard that you are not very nice to your friends.” Frantic, Megan replied: “What are you talking about?”
“After a lifelong struggle with weight and self-esteem, Megan finally had a boy who liked her and thought she was pretty. ”
The following day, Megan handed out invitations to her upcoming birthday party at school. When she got home, she asked her mother to log on to MySpace to see if Josh had responded. Why did he suddenly think she was mean? Who had he been talking to? Tina signed on to MySpace for Megan and got ready to take her younger daughter, Allison, to the orthodontist. She could see that Megan was still upset with Josh’s messages, but she was pressed for time and recalled telling Megan to sign off. “I will Mom,” Megan said. “Let me finish up.”
Once at the orthodontist’s office, Tina called and asked: “Did you sign off?” “No, Mom. They are all being so mean to me.” “You are not listening to me, Megan! Sign off, now!” Fifteen minutes later, Megan called her mother in tears. “They are posting bulletins about me.” The bulletin (similar to a survey) said, “Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat.” Tina was furious that she had not signed off. Once Tina returned home, she rushed to the computer in the basement and was shocked at the vulgar language her daughter was firing back at people. “I am so aggravated at you for doing this!” she said, and Megan replied, “You’re supposed to be my mom; you’re supposed to be on my side!” and left the room. As she headed upstairs to her second-story bedroom, her father, Ron, said, “I grabbed her as she tried to go by. She told me that some kids were saying horrible stuff about her, and she didn’t understand why. I told her it was OK and they obviously didn’t know her. And that everything would be fine.” Megan continued to her room, and Ron went downstairs to the kitchen, where he and Tina talked about what was happening with the MySpace account and made dinner. Twenty minutes later, Tina suddenly froze in mid-sentence. “I had this God-awful feeling and ran into her room, and she had hung herself in the closet.”
“She told me that some kids were saying horrible stuff about her, and she didn’t understand why. I told her it was OK and they obviously didn’t know her. And that everything would be fine.”
Megan Taylor Meier died the next day, three weeks before her 14th birthday. Later that day, Ron opened his daughter’s MySpace account and viewed what he believed to be the final message Megan saw—one the FBI would eventually be unable to retrieve from the hard drive. According to Ron’s best recollection, it was from Josh, who said, “Everybody in O’Fallon knows how 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 was like no one else I had ever met. She was such a sweet soul.”
BRITTANY
Megan’s Friend
After Megan’s death, Tina and Ron saw a grief counselor, and Tina went to Parents After Loss of Suicide meetings. They also tried to message Josh Evans to let him know the deadly power of his mean words. But his MySpace account had been deleted. Six weeks later, one of their neighbors, a single mom with a daughter Megan's age, called and asked them to meet her at a counselor’s office. At the meeting, Ron and Tina were informed that Josh Evans never existed. Instead, he was created by the parents of one of Megan’s former friends with whom she had a falling out. She explained that her daughter “had been encouraged to join in the joke,” was given the password to the Josh Evans MySpace account, and had sent one message—the one Megan received the night before she took her life.
“At the meeting, Ron and Tina were informed that Josh Evans never existed.”
The single mother said her daughter feels guilty for writing the message and not speaking out sooner. But she’d known the other family for years and thought what they were doing must be OK because they were trusted adults. She also said that the night Megan hung herself, the woman who created the Josh Evans account called her daughter to let her know something had happened to Megan and advised her not to mention the MySpace account. That same day, the family who created the account arranged to talk to the Meiers. But Ron and Tina left, afraid that Ron would physically harm them. Finally, in a letter dated November 30, 2006, the family told Ron and Tina, “We are sorry for the extreme pain you are going through and can only imagine how difficult it must be. We have every compassion for you and your family.”
Tina says her daughter died thinking Josh was real and that she had never before attempted suicide. “She was the happiest she had ever been,” Ron says. After years of wearing braces, Megan was scheduled to have them removed the day she died. And she was looking forward to her birthday party. “Megan and her mom went shopping and bought a new dress,” Ron says. “She wanted to make this grand entrance with me carrying her down the stairs. I never got to see her in that dress until the funeral.”
There were no criminal charges filed in connection with Megan’s death. “We did not have a charge to fit it,” McGuire says. “I don’t know that anybody can sit down and say, ‘This is why this young girl took her life.’”
The Meiers say the FBI investigated the matter, analyzed the family computer, and conducted interviews. However, Ron said one of the stumbling blocks is that the FBI could not retrieve the electronic messages from Megan’s final day, including that last message that only Ron saw. The Meiers do not plan to file a civil lawsuit. Instead, they want the law changed, state or federal, so that what happened to Megan at the hands of an adult is considered a crime.
“Ultimately, it was Megan’s choice to do what she did, he says. “But it was like someone handed her a loaded gun.”
The aftermath of this situation is painful. The Meiers divorced. Ron says Tina was as vigilant as a parent could be in monitoring Megan on MySpace. Yet she blames herself. “I have this awful, horrible guilt, and this I can never change,” she said. “Ever.” Ron struggles daily with the loss of a daughter who, no matter how low she felt, tried to make others laugh and feel a little bit better. Ultimately, it was Megan’s choice to do what she did, he says. “But it was like someone handed her a loaded gun.”
This is an edited version of a story posted in the St. Charles Journal on Tuesday, November 13, 2007, by Steve Pokin.
The Police Report:
The police report, without using the mother’s name, states:
“(She) stated in the months leading up to Meier’s daughter’s suicide, she instigated and monitored a ‘my space’ account which was created for the sole purpose of communicating with Meier’s daughter.
“(She) said she, with the help of a temporary employee named ------, constructed a profile of ‘good looking’ male on ‘my space’ in order to ‘find out what Megan (Meier’s daughter) was saying online’ about her daughter. (She) explained the communication between the fake male profile and Megan was aimed at gaining Megan’s confidence and finding out what Megan felt about her daughter and other people.
“(She) stated she, her daughter, and (the temporary employee) all typed, read, and monitored the communication between the fake male profile and Megan…
“According to (her), ‘somehow’ other ‘my space’ users could access the fake male profile, and Megan found out she had been duped. (She) stated she knew ‘arguments’ had broken out between Megan and others on ‘my space.’ (She) felt this incident contributed to Megan’s suicide, but she did not feel ‘as guilty’ because at the funeral she found out ‘Megan had tried to commit suicide before.’”