Megan Meier, a 13-year-old girl struggling with body image and mental health issues, was lured into a false online friendship by an alter ego named Josh Evans, which was created by adults in her community. After receiving cruel messages online, Megan tragically took her own life just weeks before her 14th birthday. The incident highlights the severe impact of bullying and the dangers of social media, especially when adults manipulate children for their own grudges.

2. Megan Meier :

3. Her Story..
* His name was Josh Evans. He was 16 years old. And he was hot.
*Josh contacted 13 year old Megan through MySpace and added her
as a friend.
*Megan was heavy and for years had tried to lose weight. She had
attention deficit disorder and battled depression. Back in third grade
she had talked about suicide, her mother said, and ever since had
seen a therapist.
*She finally met a boy who thought she was pretty the way she
was…

4. Story Continued..
*One day Josh randomly told Megan he didn’t think they should be
friends anymore. Megan was shocked and confused.
*Megan got her MySpace taken away, but was allowed to have it
back closely monitored by her mother for her fourteenth birthday.
*One day Megan logged on and quickly got upset because everyone
was being so mean she said.
- “Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat.” they were saying.
*Megan’s mother, Tina was furious that Megan would not log off.
She was also shocked by the vulgar language Megan was firing back
at the people.

5. Continued..
*“I am so aggravated at you for doing this!” she told Megan.
*Megan ran from the computer and left, but not without first telling
Tina, “You're supposed to be my mom! You're supposed to be on my
side!”
*“I grabbed her as she tried to go by,” Ron says. “She told me that
some kids were saying horrible stuff about her and she didn't
understand why. I told her it's OK. I told her that they obviously don't
know her. And that it would be fine.”
*Megan continued on to her room.

6. The Horror..
*Twenty minutes later, Tina suddenly froze in mid-sentence.
-“I had this God-awful feeling and I ran up into her room. She had
hung herself in the closet.”
*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 believes to be the final message Megan saw - one
the FBI would be unable to retrieve from the hard drive.
• It was from Josh and, according to Ron's best recollection, it
said, “Everybody in O'Fallon knows how you are. You are a bad
person and everybody hates you. Have a s****y rest of your life.
The world would be a better place without you.”

7. The Truth..
*The neighbor from down the street, a single mom with a daughter the
same age as Megan, informed the Meier’s that Josh Evans never existed.
*She told the Meier’s that Josh Evans was created by adults, a family on
their block. These adults, she told the Meier’s, were the parents of Megan's
former girlfriend, the one with whom she had a falling out.
*“I know that they did not physically come up to our house and tie a belt
around her neck,” Tina says. “But when adults are involved and continue to
screw with a 13-year-old - with or without mental problems - it is absolutely
vile.”
*"She wanted to get Megan to feel like she was liked by a boy and let
everyone know this was a false MySpace and have everyone laugh at her.
*"I don't feel their intentions were for her to kill herself. But that's how it
ended."

8. All of this could have been prevented..