DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo. -- Waterford Crystal Drive is one of those suburban streets that seem so new as to have no history at all. But the suicide of a teenage girl -- and allegations she had been tormented by a neighbor over the Internet -- have brought a reaction that is old, almost tribal, in its nature.

Residents of the middle-class subdivision have turned against the neighbor, Lori Drew, and her family, demanding the Drews move out. In interviews, they have warned darkly that someone might be tempted to "take matters into their own hands."

"It's like they used to do in the 1700s and 1800s. If you wronged a community, you were basically shunned. That's basically what happened to her," said Trever Buckles, a 40-year-old who lives next door to the Drews.

Drew became an outcast after she participated in a hoax in which a fictional teenager by the name of "Josh Evans" exchanged online messages with 13-year-old Megan Meier. Megan received cruel messages from Josh that apparently drove her to hang herself in her closet in 2006.


Through her lawyer, Drew, a mother of two in her 40s, has denied saying hurtful things to the girl over the Internet, and prosecutors have said they found no grounds for charges against the woman. Nevertheless, the community reaction has been vengeful and the pressure on the Drews intense.




More than 100 residents gathered in front of their home on a recent evening, holding candles and reciting stories about Megan.


Last December, after neighbors learned of the Internet hoax, someone threw a brick through a window in the Drew home. A few weeks ago, someone made a prank call to police reporting that there had been a shooting inside the Drews' house, prompting squad cars to arrive with sirens flashing.


Someone recently obtained the password to change the Drews' outgoing cell phone recording, and replaced it with a disturbing message. Police would not detail the content.


Clients have fled from Drew's home-based advertising business, so she had to close it. Neighbors have not seen Drew outside her home in weeks.


Death threats and ugly insults have been hurled at Drew over the Internet, where she has been portrayed as a monster who should go to prison, lose custody of her children, or worse. Her name and address have been posted online, and a Web site with satellite images of the home said the Drews should "rot in hell."

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Well, they couldn't charge her, but I think that she is getting her just deserts. Too bad her poor daughter is suffering for something her mother instigated.

This family is simply lucky that there is no law to cover what they did, otherwise they would be on trial. They will have this chase them wherever they go; so ultimately some form of justice will be served but I fear it will not be pretty. I know that if I were in that girls family I would not tolerate seeing them go free after acting in such a manner... My guess is that someone will take it upon themselves to make sure that they pay dearly for their actions...

I agree, and the thing is, she brought it on not just herself, but her daughter and her worker, who was in the hospital suffering from mental problems after Meagan committed suicide. What a piece of work! And now she is understanding what she did, with a huge price to pay.

"A teenage employee of Drew's named Ashley said she created the "Josh" account on MySpace after a brainstorming session with Drew and her daughter, according to a prosecutor's report. Drew said the girls approached her with the idea, and she told them only to send polite messages to Megan.

Ashley sent Megan many of the messages from "Josh," and Lori Drew was aware of them, prosecutors said.

Drew's attorney Jim Briscoe said on NBC on Tuesday that Drew "absolutely, 100 percent" had nothing to do with the negative comments posted online about Megan and wasn't aware of them until after the girl took her life."

This part of the article made me want to find this woman and smack her upside the head. Excuse me? You allow two TEENAGE GIRLS to create a fake account specifically to talk to another girl your daughter doesn't like, and you expect them to exchange only 'polite messages'??!! I'm sorry, you're either one of the dumbest people I've ever heard of, or you're lying out your a**. Teenage girls do not have the maturity and social skills to keep something like that on an even, polite keel. Hell, there are plenty of ADULTS who don't have the maturity to! She may not have physically typed those messages (which I doubt), but the fact that she knew about it, and obviously didn't monitor it, makes her 100% responsible, IMO. She was the adult, and should have had the foresight to see that this was not going to end up well, and put her foot down, and say 'No".

I think she is lying out her ass. If the ones who are found to be harassing another teen are underage, they will not get into trouble that an adult will. I think she was trying to cover herself and hid behind the two girls. And she deserves everything that she is getting, IMO.

Good.

I could not stand to live on the same street as the woman who did this to my child. I would stand outside her house screaming "You killed my daughter" at the top of my lungs.

I'd be right there beside you.

I think the town wouldn't be so hard on her if she had at least shown some remorse for the role she played in Megan's death. I heard what she said in an interview, about how she has no remorse because she doesn't feel any responsibility towards Megan's death. After hearing that, I have to say I'm glad she's being shunned, maybe she can wake up to what her actions contributed to and finally accept that what she did was, quite simply put, wrong. She may have gotten off because by law she committed no crime, but when she finally comes to terms with what she did then I think her suffering will begin. I have a feeling though that sooner or later someone is going to take it into their own hands...

Everything about this entire story is disturbing there are grounds for a civil lawsuit but that can't change what has happened

You know what, I think everyone is to blame.

THere was obviously something DEEPLY wrong with Megan beforehand, her parents should have taken more responsibility to keep her safe.

On the other hand the "Drews" should stop trying to cover their asses, they made the biggest mistake possible, and it cost a life. You have no excuses, your an adult, you should no better.

Oh and the media (like 2020 who had a show about this today) should just stop drawing attention to this. its bringing out the worst, people are judging when they have no right too.

I agree.

And I just dont think its nice to shun these people. I mean what's the goal with that... you want her or her daughter to kill themselves too? It's crazy.

what do you mean it's not nice to shun them? oh boohoo the people that caused a young girls death oh no something bad happened to them they were such nice people. they are responsible for a girls death if something like that happened to my daughter and the cops did didly squat you can bet I'd do something about it. The problem with people is alot of people lack any resolve when people do bad things you have all these hippies saying how its awfull to put people on death row that murdered or how you can't do this or that or whatever. I know this might be a bit harsh but didn't anyone learn anything about dropping an atomic weopons on people. My point is you have to fight fire with fire. They should just go over there and kick ass what do they have to lose now that they lost their daughter?

So now Drew is playing the victim........what a joke........She and her family can move anywhere in the country and this stigma will be with them forever.....Being shunned should be their biggest worry.There are alot of angry people out there who will take matters into their own hands because the law can't do anything to them...I'm not a vindictive person, but in a case like this, I hope they get what they deserve.

Agreed



The already existing problem with lack of self-esteem, depression, ADD and suicidal thoughts may have contributed.

This was coming sadly, her mother let her on a website she was not old enough to be on, talk to complete strangers based on how "hot" they were and when it all kicked off her mother was more interested in the language her daughter was using rather than say they how Megan (remember depression, suicidal thoughts) was being torn into by a "guy" she thought liked her.

This is news because the taunting came from a neighbour (a devious spiteful b**** agreed) who should have known better, it could have easily have been anon., another "friend" at school turning, an uncaring reaction/scolding from her mother (hey it may actually have been the latter.)

If fact it sounds like the Drew's are being harassed, threatened with death/bodily harm, had bricks thrown through their window, had signs placed on yards taunting them, lost friends and business since it was found out they played a part and yet AFAIK none of the Drew's have killed themselves so maybe harsh words/broken trust isn't enough on its own.

I feel sorry for everyone involved, their actual losses, their percieved losses, everyone blaming the other and not one person having the decency/backbone to admit they played a part in this.

- Megan's Father.

Yep her parents handed her the gun, the neighbours loaded the thing. Her own mind and problems pulled the trigger.

No amount of money can replace that poor girl's life. I was outraged when I heard that.

I do too. Yes, there is a lot of pointing to who is to blame. Maybe it was just a huge snowball of circumstances. But, we have to remember to those of you who want to blame the parents. Meagan was already feeling like she didn't belong. How many kids don't have access to the INTERNET? It is a whole social aspect a lot of us never had when we were in school. Now, it is who has a Myspace or a Facebook account. Maybe ALL parents should worry about the lack of real family feeling and socialization. If you have strong family bonds, the social ones aren't going to be as hurtful for the kids, because they know they will always have their mothers and fathers to talk to and to help them through their troubles.

nah.. they are too "sane" to commit suicide.

mental problems or not. ANYBODY who was trick into humiliating themselves like that in any age would flip out. I hope she didn't know the guy she's in love with and who broke her heart are a waste of time and a big fat humiliation for her because he didn't exist. getting dump by a real guy is hard enough, imagine getting dumped by a guy that doesn't exist at all and thinking everybody knows and in on it to trick her is enough reason to off anybody as well. Worse she's a teenager. Teenagers are usually vulnerable.

and wow the Drews are changing stories every single time. alot of people watch that tv segment. They really think people are stupid? She can't changed the fact she join in the fun to kill a young teenager. She can't changed the fact she enjoyed it since she not showing any remorse. and she's complaining they are being shunned?

what a sociopath.

even if she's apologizing now, nobody will believe them anymore. cause everybody know it's no remorse, it's juts to keep people off their ass.

oh... believe me. not just in the USA, they are not welcome in the other countries as well.

believe me shunning is a light punishment. they should be glad nobody is bringing any forks and fire. i hope they will be miserble for the rest of their lives.

I knew this would happen.

I would not want this Drew Woman in my town either.

Any adult who can knowingly sabotage the life of and hurt a 13 yr old Girl with mental problems is a dangerous and immoral person IMO.

I read that letter Drew wrote in response. She showed no remorse.

It's just a shame that justice has to be done like this.

eww. i just read this letter Lori wrote

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years...072megan13.html

she's playing Victim now. Seriously, if Megan is alive, she'd be feling the same thing they are feeling atm. What? Lori wants to say no they didn't do that? Hope they live a long life to feel all of this karma. Bet Lori wants to kill ashley too for telling. what a sociopath.

I hope there will be a positive to this whole tragedy. Maybe there will be some laws against cyberbullying and or hoaxes that cause a crime to be commited. I watch my own 13 year old and her myspace obsession and showed her this article in case she has a moment of stupidity and heartlessness. It may seem funny at the moment to play a trick on someone but to always remember they feel the same things you feel. I noticed the handwriting of the mother, looks like a 13 year old's script, doesn't it? I think it says a lot about her mentality as well.

If lori is as innocent as she is trying to portray herself as being,why(when she found out megan had died the way she did)delete the myspace account?