United States:The cruel words that drove Megan Meier to take her own life were not written, as she thought, by her online friend "Josh", writes PJ Huffstutterin Missouri.
For nearly a year, the families who live along Waterford Crystal Drive in this community northwest of St Louis have kept the secret about the boy that Megan Meier met in September 2006 on the social networking site MySpace.
He called himself Josh Evans, and he and 13-year-old Megan struck up an online friendship that lasted several weeks. Then the boy abruptly turned on Megan and ended it. That night, Megan, who previously had battled depression, took her own life.
The secret was revealed six weeks later. Lori Drew, a neighbour and the mother of a girl Megan had been fighting with, had pretended to be 16- year-old "Josh" to gain the trust of Megan, according to police records and Megan's parents.
After their daughter's death, Tina and Ron Meier begged their other neighbours to keep the story private. Let the local police and the FBI conduct their investigations, they pleaded. But neighbours then learned that prosecutors could not find a statute applicable to the case.
Furious locals - and in the wake of media reports, an outraged public - are taking matters into their own hands.
In an outburst of virtual vigilantism, readers of blogs such as Rottenneighbour.com and hitsusa.com listed the Drews' home address, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and photographs of the couple.
Dozens of people allegedly have called local businesses that work with the Drew family's advertising booklet company and flooded the phone lines this week at the local factory, where Curt Drew reportedly works.
"I posted that - where Curt works. I'm not ashamed to admit that," said Trever Buckles (40), a neighbour whose two teenage boys grew up with Megan. "Why? Because there's never been any sense of remorse or public apology from the Drews, no 'maybe we made a mistake'. "
Local teenagers and residents protest steps away from their tiny porch. A fake 911 call to police, claiming a man had been shot inside the Drew home, sent police to surround the one-story, white-sided house. People drive through the neighbourhood in the middle of the night, screaming, "Murderer!"
The mounting tension and heated emotions have local community leaders worried. The St Charles county sheriff's department, which rarely visited the suburb, now regularly patrols. County prosecutors are re-examining the case.
On Wednesday, the city's board of aldermen unanimously passed a law that makes cyber-harassment a misdemeanour with a maximum 90 days in jail, $500 fine or both for each violation.
Dardenne Prairie is an upper- middle-class enclave of about 7,400 people 35 miles northwest of St Louis. The Meiers moved to the east side of town 13 years ago. The couple were attracted by the number of families and safe streets with names such as Swan Lake Drive and Tri Sports Drive.
"There were kids everywhere and they've all grown up together," said Tina Meier (37).
"They ride their bikes together, have barbecues together, go on family vacations together, go to school together."
Megan befriended Lori and Curt Drew's daughter in primary school, and the two became close, Meier said.
Megan was transferred to a different school last autumn to help her deal with her depression and get away from some bullies. It was then the two girls grew apart, her parents said.
Then Megan started to use the internet under the supervision of her parents. Sitting on the couch with her father or nestled next to her mother in the family's basement office, she browsed through her friends' websites and chatted about school. When a boy messaged Megan on MySpace and asked to be friends, the girl excitedly agreed. The two talked online for about six weeks, her parents said.
In October 2006 Josh told Megan he had heard she was a terrible friend.
The two fought. Tina, who had to leave to take Megan's younger sister, Allison, to a doctor's appointment, ordered Megan to get off the computer.
She didn't.
The messages grew nasty, according to an FBI transcript. The final message isn't included in the transcript: "I remember it said something like, 'The world would be a better off place without you'," said Ron Meier (37). That evening, as her parents were downstairs preparing for dinner, Megan wrapped a cloth cord around her neck and hanged herself in her closet. She died the following day.
In the weeks that followed, the Drews comforted the Meiers. They said nothing to them about the fake MySpace account. They prayed at the wake and consoled sobbing community members at Megan's funeral. They invited the Meiers to birthday parties. They asked the Meiers to help hide Christmas gifts in their garage.
Last Thanksgiving weekend, the Meiers learned the truth from a neighbour who had worked out that Lori Drew had conducted the online relationship with Megan. In a rage, they hacked up one of the gifts they were storing - a foosball table - with an axe and sledgehammer. They dumped the pieces on to the Drews' driveway.
According to a police report, Lori Drew said she "instigated and monitored" a fake account before Megan's suicide "for the sole purpose of communicating" with the girl.
The neighbourhood might have agreed to stay mum, but they couldn't keep their feelings hidden. Many shunned the Drews, meeting their gaze with sneers and obscene gestures.
On the anniversary of Megan's death, Ron Meier's relatives lined the street with balloons and put up signs that asked for "justice for Megan". Meanwhile, the Meiers' marriage fell apart. Tina moved out this spring and lives with her mother.
Ron remained in the house on Waterford Crystal Drive and kept Megan's room exactly as it was before the suicide. Her clothes fill the closet.
- (Los Angeles Times-Washington Post service)