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Cops Investigate Cyberbully Role in Teen's Suicide
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 25, 2010
Modified Mar 25, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 25, 2010
Modified Mar 25, 2010
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The teenage daughter of an NYPD officer committed suicide Sunday, and police are investigating to see what role cruel Internet posts played in her death. 17-year-old Alexis Pilkington was a West Islip High School senior who was awarded a soccer scholarship to Dowling College. The teen had been in counseling long before vicious attacks began appearing on social networking sites such as Formspring.me and Facebook, and her mother tells the Daily News, "I believe in my heart that cyberbullying wasn't the cause of Lexi's death." But one West Islip parent is demanding officals take action, and tells WCBS, "I'm taking all the posts to them today and what we're going to do is give them to the district attorney's office, to try to track these people and look for retribution."
"Investigators are monitoring the postings and will take action if any communication is determined to be of a criminal nature," Suffolk County Deputy Chief of Detectives Frank Stallone said yesterday. Even after her death, the heartless comments kept appearing online, including one sick comment that read, "She was obviously a stupid depressed -- who deserved to kill herself. she got what she wanted. be happy for her death. rejoice in it." More than 4,300 people have joined a movement on Facebook to boycott Formspring.
But someone also posted posted Alexis's cell phone number and a crude comment on Facebook; it was removed after a friend of Alexis complained. A spokesman for the company tells AP, "We will disable accounts that are found to be intimidating others in any way." And Formspring issued this statement: "Like those closest to Alexis, we believe there are other underlying issues at work when someone decides to take their own life. We will work with authorities through proper legal channels to help prosecute any criminal acts involving the misuse of our system."
Alexis's friends are devastated, and they tell Newsday they plan to get tattoos memorializing her, including one girl who plans to have the inside of her mouth tattooed with "Alexis," next to a heart. Ciara LeBlanc, 18, recalled spending Saturday with Alexis and didn't notice any sign that she was about to take her life: "She was dancing and singing at the top of her lungs." More than 15 states have laws making cyberbullying a crime or make it easier to prosecute, but not New York. A cyber bullying prevention bill being considered in Washington would make "electronic communication intended to coerce, intimidate or harass" a federal crime.
Tagged
Alexis Pilkington
cyber bully
teen suicide
west islip
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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