Murdered MySpace User Leaves Digital Trail
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Written By Reprise Media | October 10, 2005 | Share This
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Seventeen year old Virginia student Taylor Behl is believed to be murdered. She was last seen with 38 year old amateur photographer Benjamin Fawley, with whom she had a romantic relationship.
Cases like these are sadly nothing new, but what makes this one interesting is the digital trail that both individuals left behind.
Take for instance, Behl’s MySpace page, which is still live and contains her latest blog post (over 2,848 comments and counting). There’s also blog entries from Fawley, some of which appear to be referencing the missing persons case. Check out this excerpt:
“There are people who have been visiting the web page for all the wrong reasons. The tally is 988,211 for today, well over 1000 hits in one day. Big jump from the 50 to 200 hits a day. This is all over something I can not comment on. I am sorta out of contact. Not by choice, but forced. So if you have been trying to reach me it will be about six months or more if I even get my gear back in one piece. I wish I could drop a rant on this subject here but I cannot.”
Google Blogoscoped has more.
A number of media outlets have picked up on the case as an example of how blogs & social networking sites can simultaneously put naive individuals at risk but also help authorities crack the case. Says one expert:
“It really can offer nearly a complete profile of the individual. Who they spoke to, when and where they expect to go, where they’ve been in their past.”
CBS News has the short version while this article on NBC News goes more in-depth (great article if you have time for a longer read).
Topics: Social Media |
i think that it would be wrong to balme myspace for a murder you can see pictures of most every one on the program and if you are going to meet up with anyone on the internet do it in a public area at all times its not fair to say myspace would be at all reponsible for this. im sorry for the loss of the little girl!
hey dont charge ben
This was not MySpace’s fault. The girl should have known that when you meet someone online,you take that risk. Yes true,she did not deserve to die,ecspecially like that or that way. But everyone knows the risks,and takes them,this one just turned out badly. Hopefully people on my space and all over the world will be more cautious,online relatonships are never perfect,people seem to think it is but i mean,think about it,do you REALLY know this other person your talking to on the other side of your computer??,think about it.
R.I.P Virginia