Social media are very powerful tools. Wouldn’t it be great if we could control whose hands those tools fell into to prevent harm? Unfortunately we can’t. Even though sometimes social media spread amazing messages, they can also cause pain. Here are 10 times social media contributed to death.
1. Separated woman changes Facebook status to single
When 26-year old Sarah Richardson separated from her husband, just to be accurate, she changed her Facebook status to “single.” Her estranged husband Edward Richardson snuck into Richardson’s parents house where she was staying at the time, and stabbed her to death. Edward Richardson committed suicide after.
2. Violent rapper teenager brings lyrics to life
Twenty-year-old Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III didn’t think his violent lyrics were getting enough attention, so he posted them to MySpace. In one of his songs he described in detail the murders of his girlfriend and her family. The song almost entirely directed authorities to the bodies. He was convicted of the Farmville murders and is serving life in prison.
3. Kid gets grounded from MySpace and acts out in a deadly way
When 15-year-old Hughstan Schlicker’s parents forbade him from using MySpace, he responded by shooting his father. The boy’s original plan was to kill himself over the pain of being banned from social media, but he changed his plan and killed his father instead.
4. Two women fight over a man on Facebook, and take it to the streets
Torrie Lynn Emery, 23, and Alesha Abernathy, 21, had been fighting over the same man for a while on Facebook before running into each other at a McDonald’s. Emery followed Abernathy in her car, ramming into her car several times. Abernathy’s passenger died as a result.
5. Dad gets tired of ex-wife’s Facebook posts about child support
After Adam Dunn’s ex-wife posted several statuses on Facebook about Dunn failing to pay child support, Dunn decided to stop the posting in a deadly manner. He hired a hit man to kill his ex but the hit man didn’t carry it through.
6. Facebook hitlist announces teenage deaths
After three Colombian teenagers were found shot to death in a Southwestern Colombian town in 2010, a death list went up on Facebook with their names, and the names of 69 others. The people named on the list were given three days to leave the town of Puerto Asis or be executed, causing panic and terror in the town. There is still a lot of mystery surrounding this story. Law enforcement suspected gang activity. The author of the list was never found.
7. A new girlfriend pisses off an old girlfriend
After 18-year-old Sarah Ludemann posted several photos showing off her new boyfriend, her boyfriend’s previous girlfriend, Rachel Wade, tracked Sarah her down and stabbed her to death.
8. BFF’s Tweet about their violent rivalry
Best friends Jameg Blake and Kwame Dancy had a falling out over a woman they both liked. After typing daggers at each other on Twitter, Blake shot Dancy to death. He tweeted right after, “R.I.P. Kwame.”
9. Teenager kills girlfriend over MySpace comment
When 16-year-old Matthew Dubois (who already had a criminal record) saw that another boy had posted a flirty comment on his girlfriend Mikarah Sanders’ MySpace wall, he shot his girlfriend in the face. She died.
10. Teen gang publicly plans and executes murder
A gang of 20-year-olds planned the murder of their rival Sofyen Belamouadden over social media, and streamed a live video of the gruesome act on social media. Around 20 youths, one holding a samurai sword, chased Belamouadden into Victoria Underground Station in London in March 2010. They attacked and killed him during evening rush hour.
