Monthly Archive for August, 2006

Murder-suicide in Texas

Published on August 31, 2006 in Killers by Trench Reynolds. View Comments

Murdered woman’s MySpace gives glimpse into relationship:

CORPUS CHRISTI – The web site provider MySpace.com is everything from a communication tool to a personal diary. In this case, it provides a window inside the relationship between the late Lisa Rose and her boyfriend Chris Quartaro that ended so dramatically this morning. Quartaro shot Rose in the head at her place of employment, Janet’s Cakery, before shooting himself twice in the head, with the same gun he previously used on Rose.

According to the article Rose was afraid to leave the relationship. The article also has a link to her MySpace. If Quartaro has a MySpace I was unable to find it.

She was only 19.

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The Pro-Anorexia sites

Published on August 30, 2006 in Behavior by Trench Reynolds. View Comments

The Vanishing Act:
This isn’t the first time I’ve taken on the topic of pro-eating disorder websites. With the explosion of sites like MySpace, Xanga, and LiveJournal and their refusal to do anything about it this “movement” is growing…

Faced with recrimination from the outside world, the pro-ana girls went underground. There are currently hundreds of pro-eating-disorder groups spread over all the most popular social-networking sites, including Xanga, MySpace, and Live Journal. Many require new users to submit photos to moderators to prove they’re anorexic.

The hosts see it as a free speech issue I see it as a health and welfare issue. These girls are basically purging themselves into an early grave. Would any of these hosts allow sites that tell you new and better ways to commit suicide? This is no “lifestyle choice”. It’s a disease that the social networking sites are helping to spread.

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LiveJournal threat in Maine

Published on August 30, 2006 in School by Trench Reynolds. View Comments

Job Corps student charged in threats:
A Job Corps student in Maine by the name of Edward Dexter has been arrested for posting threats on his LiveJournal…

BANGOR – A student at the Loring Job Corps Center was charged on Monday in U.S. District Court with threatening his fellow students and staff members at the training center on the former Loring Air Force Base.

If convicted, Edward W. Dexter, 19, of Limestone faces up to five years in federal prison or a fine of up to $250,000.

Dexter was arrested on Friday at the center. He allegedly posted the threats on a school-owned computer.

“I’d love to see a massacre in Job Corps,” Dexter reportedly wrote in a posting dated Aug. 11 on LiveJournal.com, according to court documents. “I’d love for someone to just start shooting at people in the cafe and watch them all run screaming, trying to salvage their meaningless lives.”

Dexter also allegedly wrote that same day that he had “made a hit list.”

“I’ll post it here and go back and update it when need be,” he said in a post on Aug. 11, according to court documents. “I’d love to see these people die. So rude, so ignorant.”

No list was submitted with the documents filed in federal court on Monday. Other postings Dexter allegedly made included biblical quotes and photos of a plane hitting one of the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

I can’t wait to hear his excuses.

I was unable to find his LiveJournal. If anyone knows which one it is please let me know.

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Jonathan Allen Miller

Published on August 29, 2006 in Predators by Trench Reynolds. View Comments

MySpace sex leads to charges:

A Portage man has been charged with sexual misconduct with a minor and child exploitation after he met a 15-year-old girl through MySpace and engaged in sexual activity that he videotaped, police said.

Jonathan Allen Miller, 18, of the 6500 block of Kandi Avenue, is accused of videotaping and taking digital photographs of sexual acts with the 15-year-old girl on March 3 or 4 in Hobart and Portage.

In the Hobart case, the girl, a former Hobart resident, met Miller through a MySpace profile page. They began instant messaging in February and eventually agreed to meet at a Portage school parking lot late on March 3 or early on March 4.

They drove around looking for a secluded spot and ended up in the Barrington Ridge subdivision near St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart, where they engaged in sexual activity until another car arrived and they left. Afterward, they drove to a site in Portage and engaged in sexual activity.

The girl’s mother learned of the alleged incident in June after discovering printed instant messages in the garbage in which her daughter was asking a man to return a tape of them having sexual contact. The girl then told her mother what happened, and the mother recovered a severely damaged VHS tape from Miller. She gave the tape to Portage police.

A member of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force was able to recover a portion of the tape depicting Miller and the girl having sexual contact.

The class C felony charges carry a sentence range of two to eight years in prison.

Yes we do have Miller’s MySpace.

For those of you who think an 18-year-old boy having sex with a 15-year-old girl is no big deal get back to me when you have a 15-year-old daughter who is bangintg an 18-year-old and tell me how ok you are with it.

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Possible suspect in Chanel Petro-Nixon's murder

Published on August 29, 2006 in Killers by Trench Reynolds. View Comments

PIMP EYED IN 2ND SLAY:
New York police are looking at Jennifer Moore’s killer, Draymond Coleman, as a possible suspect in the murder of Chanel Petro-Nixon…

Police sources said there are similarities:

- Both girls were choked to death.

- Both had their pants pulled down, although Moore was raped while Petro-Nixon was not.

- Their bodies were stuffed into black garbage bags and dumped.

After speaking to New Jersey investigators, Brooklyn cops believe the two murders could be Coleman’s handiwork, the sources said.

After she was killed in a New Jersey motel room, Moore’s fingernails were clipped and her body washed down in bleach, an effort to erase clues.

The body of Petro-Nixon, a top high school student, was found four days after she vanished on Father’s Day, with a chemical scar on her leg – possibly caused by bleach.

The connection may be a long shot, but cops said they are leaving no stone unturned in an effort to solve the Brooklyn teen’s murder.

Link via Gothamist.

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25 hours on a bus

Published on August 29, 2006 in Predators by Trench Reynolds. View Comments

Michigan Man Busted During MySpace Rondevous:

(CBS4) KEENE, N.H. A Michigan man is under arrest after he traveled to New Hampshire to allegedly meet someone he thought was 14-year-old boy he met online. That 14-year-old boy turned out to be Keene Detective Jim McLaughlin.

Jeremy Dale Stewart, 28, had been talking with the detective for two months. According to McLaughlin, Stewart was using MySpace.com to find teens.

Officials say Stewart traveled about 25 hours on a bus to meet up with the teen in Keene. Prior to the arranged meeting, McLaughlin said Stewart would send photos and love notes.

When Stewart was met by police at the bus station in Keene, officials say he was taken into custody without incident. When police told him he was under arrest, Stewart apparently told them he was there on vacation.

I wasn’t able to find a definitive MySpace for Stewart but I guess he won’t be needing that round trip ticket.

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Tom Reilly turns his eyes to Xanga

Published on August 28, 2006 in Law by Trench Reynolds. View Comments

Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly has been an ardent critic of MySpace. Now he’s turned his attention to Xanga…

AG Reilly called on Xanga to improve the safety and security of its site by:

  • Increasing the minimum user age from 13- to 18-years-old until Xanga institutes an age and identity verification system;
  • Responding to all reports of inappropriate content within 24 hours;
  • Increasing significantly the number of employees who review images and content on the Xanga web site;
  • Implementing filtering technology that effectively blocks sexually explicit images;
  • Immediately deleting any profiles that violate Xanga’s Terms of Use Agreement and permanently banning those members from using the site;
  • Immediately removing all advertisements that are inappropriate for children;
  • Ceasing to feature minors’ profiles on the Xanga home page that are accessible to both registered and unregistered visitors to the website; and
  • Offering free, downloadable software that allows parents to block use of Xanga.

The only things missing from that list is having Xanga do something about their cabal of pedophile groups and to have parents keep a better eye on their kids.

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Fort Drum soldier pleads guilty

Published on August 28, 2006 in Predators by Trench Reynolds. View Comments

Soldier pleads guilty to arranging tryst with teen using MySpace:
I originally talked about Jason Benge here…

A Fort Drum soldier charged with soliciting teens for sex using the popular website MySpace.com plead guilty to all charges this morning in Jefferson County court.

27-year-old Jason Scott Benge of Flower Avenue East plead guilty to charges of Criminal Solicitation in the 3rd degree and Attempted Rape in the 3rd degree. Benge used the website MySpace.com to arrange a meeting with what he thought was a 15-year-old teen and her 16-year-old friend for purposes of engaging in sexual activity with him and his girlfriend. The teen he believed he was propositioning was actually Detective Steven C. Cote of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department.

Sentencing for Benge is scheduled for October 27th. He was released on his own recognizance.

His MySpace has since been deleted.

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MySuicideSpace

Published on August 28, 2006 in Behavior by Trench Reynolds. View Comments

Myspace suicide study:
From the “You’ve got to be kidding me” department or the “Only in Florida” department comes this story…

Tampa, Florida – Researchers at The University of South Florida want to study whether popular web sites like MySpace that have memorials and farewells to dead members prompt them to commit suicide.

Doctor Ilene Berson and a USF faculty team are seeking funding to study whether social networking web sites create a suicide contagion effect.

The popularity of MySpace has given rise to MyDeathSpace.com. The site archives profiles of deceased MySpace members.

Berson says adults get concerned when a young person who kills themselves is highlighted in a newspaper or web site because they worry other kids will hear about it and relate with that young person, especially if everyone is saying all these wonderful things.

I think now we can officially declare MySpace the new Judas Priest or the new videogames. It’s only a matter of time before MySpace has its own Tipper Gore or Jack Thompson.

Remember kids, correlation does not imply causation.

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Man staples daughter's ear to get MySpace password

Published on August 27, 2006 in Criminals by Trench Reynolds. View Comments

Father staples teen’s ear, leg:

MARTINSBURG — A Martinsburg man charged with felony child abuse Wednesday allegedly stapled his 16-year-old daughter’s ear and leg because she refused to give him her MySpace.com account password, according to court documents obtained by The Journal Thursday.

The name of the36-year-old man will not be published to protect the identity of the victim.

The victim told Patrolman Eric Neely that she refused to divulge the password so she was made to stand in front of the computer for more than an hour. During that time she said her father was on the phone with his sister and stated that she would “endure more pain than she could take,” records show.

At about 9:20 p.m., the victim said her father got out of his chair and grabbed her by the throat and dragged her to the computer chair. He then made her sit down and told her that he would hurt her if that is what it took. He then grabbed her thumb, she said, and bent it back in an attempt to break it, records show.

He later let go because she did not answer him. He then left the room, telling her that it was only stage one and returned with a beer. He grabbed a stapler and slammed it on her leg, but the staple didn’t puncture her completely because of the pants she was wearing, records show.

He then grabbed her right ear near the top and stapled it, causing one of the prongs to pierce the skin. She then told him the password and the father and stepmother let her go to bed. Once they were asleep, she said she escaped through her balcony and contacted her grandparents, records show.

Neely examined the girl’s wounds and did see a small puncture wound on her right thigh and right ear. During the interview with Neely, the victim was visibly upset and appeared scared about her father coming to get her, records show.

The father was arraigned Wednesday by Magistrate Sandra Miller and later released after posting $25,000 bail. If convicted of child abuse he faces one to five years in prison.

Making sure your child is safe on the internet is one thing but when you stoop to the level of child abuse you’re no better better than the predators you’re trying to protect them from.

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