METRO VANCOUVER - The B.C. Coroners Service has confirmed that a preliminary investigation into the death of 15-year-old Amanda Todd shows she took her own life.
However, coroner Barb McLintock said Friday that the case will be long and complex. Investigators know how she died, but will not release that information.
"We have an extra responsibility when it's a child's death," she said, adding that once the coroner's report is complete, the case will go through a provincially mandated child death review that will look at factors including mental health, friends, harassment and cyberbullying.
Todd was found dead in a Port Coquitlam home on Wednesday, five weeks after she posted a heartbreaking video on YouTube detailing how she was harassed online and bullied.
McLintock said after the review is complete there may be recommendations made on a range of issues, including cyberbullying, though she noted that it would take time given how complicated it can be to deal with the Internet.
Meanwhile Friday, an outpouring of support for Todd's family and friends was posted on social media websites. One of the memorial pages on Facebook had more than 3,000 "likes" as of Friday morning.
"She is a beautiful young lady. I am in tears over this," wrote Jennifer Fincher, while many other Facebook users said they hoped she was with angels in heaven.
But not all the chatter was positive. Mike Mace, whose own Facebook page says he is a member of the Canadian Military, faced a flurry of shaming comments after he posted a negative comment mocking her death.
In the comment, he suggests that it's not the bully's fault that she showed her breasts and gave out her private information on the Internet.
"You should be ashamed of yourself," wrote Amber Garofano, while another woman, Ashley Soucy posted, "have a heart."
The tragedy has sparked much discussion online about cyber-bullying and what can be done to eradicate the problem or provide support for the victims.
The Vancouver Sun is joining in on that discussion. The Sun is hosting a day of dialogue on bullying at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Facebook. Visit www.facebook.com/VancouverSun to join the talk.
In September, Amanda posted a video to YouTube entitled My Story: Struggling, bullying, suicide and self harm.
In it Amanda does not speak, but instead holds up to the camera pieces of paper on which she has printed her story, one phrase at a time. She documents a painful tale of being harassed through Facebook and shunned at school, leaving her feeling alone and suicidal.
Her final video She committed suicide shortly after the video (The video is a series of cards she wrote on and displayed in the video. she writes about her story of how she was bullied and such)
Sad story. The video is sad to watch. Hearing the way people treated her, and the fact that people went out of their way just to torment her.
junior high/high school was around 8-9 years ago. dont think ive seen kids/teenagers being this cruel... i suppose internet/social media has changed things up quite a bit. while it can be a place people come to vent/relax and escape from the world, they can be just as easily attacked and tormented through it as well.
Shit gets so much better after highschool, I remember some of my friends who I played Halo with got bullied, even in Grade 12 that turned around because most of us (Hockey team/Lacrosse team) stood up for them when shit hit the brick.
Tired of idiots going nowhere picking on the few who are simply different :D. I like diversity in people, why can't we all!
kids can be real assholes, wasn't this bad when I went to school, things seem to get much worse. Don't know why though, blaming social media and stuff is just an easy explanation, the real reasons are much deeper I guess.
Shit gets so much better after highschool, I remember some of my friends who I played Halo with got bullied, even in Grade 12 that turned around because most of us (Hockey team/Lacrosse team) stood up for them when shit hit the brick.
Tired of idiots going nowhere picking on the few who are simply different :D. I like diversity in people, why can't we all!
Funny how all this problems could have been solved by going to teachers or the police. I don't support Mike Mace but there is a grain of truth in his comment, that if she knew what she was getting into, maybe things would still be alright.
This is sad and all, but I just can't help but wince at journalists using facebook comments and "likes" to tell stories and describe situations. Also stating this: "not the bullie's fault she ... gave out her private information on the Internet." after having written personal (though trivial) information about this Mike character's military service.
the loss of life is sad and all but......I think this girl is just stupid.....
let me show my boobs to people on the internet(herp derp) let me give this guy a show so he can make a video(herp derp) let me go over to this guys house who told me his girlfriend is on vacation(and then she acts like it was his fault "he hooked up with me" no sounds like your just an attention whore......)
also sounds like she has no respect for other people and doesnt give a shit
no smart girl would go have sex with a guy when they have a girlfriend obviously they dont care about you
and if I was the other girl I would prob beat her up at school also for being a hoe
This was on /r/4chan, not sure if there was anything else. Too scared to go on real 4chan hehe
Hot damn it was worse than I thought based on this photo. This makes my school look like the happiest, most tolerant community on Earth in comparison. These kids need help.
I still stand neutrally on Amanda's death however.
She made so many damn mistakes. Flashed random people online, slept with a guy who had a girlfriend (granted he was at fault there too) and then lied to protect him (srsly?). Granted, the bullying was undeserved, and I feel sorry for her for that, but it's really hard to sympathize with her when she just continued to make the same mistakes and then was stupid enough to kill herself.
*Sigh
We live in a world where people are way too fucked up, and too many people are okay with it/ignore it. We're being killed by apathy.
On October 13 2012 04:10 AngryMag wrote: kids can be real assholes, wasn't this bad when I went to school, things seem to get much worse. Don't know why though, blaming social media and stuff is just an easy explanation, the real reasons are much deeper I guess.
I knew a girl who got thrown in front of a bus (she wasn't hit, but it was close), and another guy who was thrown out a 2nd story window, a girl who threw a friends only party (pre-skins era) in a very large expensive house, over 200 people turned up, someone drove through her electric gates, people wrecked the house and a guy I knew killed a very expensive koi carp, one of my friends broke a metal crutch over a guys head, girls systematically bullied a girl to suicide (pre social media) and another died from anorexia under similar circumstances.
Those are just the things that pop into my head immediately, there are tonnes of others. Kids have always been assholes and will continue to be assholes, thankfully most of them grow out of it.
This girl was just unfortunate to not realize that there are methods to deal with people like this, and that her self esteem shouldn't be touched by his actions.
As a teenager you don't think that though, and unfortunately you are somewhat stuck and your friends / peers will all be especially judgmental.
Once you get out the other end you realize its not the end of the world, when you're in though that's not the case, there's not much that can be done about it really, some kids will commit suicide because they're too inexperienced to know alternatives.
junior high/high school was around 8-9 years ago. dont think ive seen kids/teenagers being this cruel... i suppose internet/social media has changed things up quite a bit. while it can be a place people come to vent/relax and escape from the world, they can be just as easily attacked and tormented through it as well.
Yes, it was just as bad, if not worse, 8-9 years ago. I dropped out because of it, a lot later than I should have. But I will never, ever forgive. Each school/region may be different, but here in Abbotsford no one really gives a shit about what goes on at school as long as the money keeps flowing.
I would rather be alone, and face the consequences of an entirely solitary and short life, than have to step foot into a school even for a moment. I cannot comment on the girl or the actions she may have done to provoke this, but in my time simply not talking was enough for daily harassment.
Being jumped by guys with rusty switchblades, having people attempting to throw me off mountains in field trips, and other encounters are all delightful memories I have with me.
I hate bullies... one day in highschool me and a couple of friends decided to beat the shit out of the bullies at our school... I can still very clearly remember the sound of their skulls hitting the wall very hard...shit felt good.
People make mistakes, we have no idea what pushed her into it. Calling her stupid is... well.. stupid, you have no insight in her mind, her thoughts, why she did what she did, how desperately she was looking for respect and friends, warmth and social contact. We have no idea how her life was, yet somehow, so many people think they have a right to judge her.... hows is THAT not fucked up???
To people who share "allhailthedeads" opinion about this, get the f*ck out of here. You have no idea about anything, show some empathy and try to squeeze your fat ass into somebody elses pair of trousers...
No matter how many mistakes she made nothing can ever justify extortion of a kid. By the time she hooked up with that guy she was probably completely messed up already.
Ok. I just watched the video and those teenagers were really awful (her "boyfriend" and 15 others) But some things were pretty confusing (These are all my opinions) Flashing yourself to public strangers on webcam - ? I knew not to do that when I was 6 years old. I even learned it in Grade 1 that I should not accept candies from strangers, should not let strangers touch me in "private" part, and don't show the part. Deactivating social network- For a fresh new start. Why didn't she deactivate all of her social networking site, or even create a new profile? I mean, if you get offended easily on the facebook, best option is not to visit that? Seeking help eariler- I mean, it seems this situation has been going for awhile ( 3 different school as far as I remember). I guess she decided getting aids from people when she had tried her first suicide attempt was her best option instead of getting one when she had to move in the first place Bleach incident- Ok. I wonder how students in the school found out that Amanda drank bleach... Did she really tell others about that? Pretty interesting
On October 13 2012 04:20 AllHailTheDead wrote: the loss of life is sad and all but......I think this girl is just stupid.....
let me show my boobs to people on the internet(herp derp) let me give this guy a show so he can make a video(herp derp) let me go over to this guys house who told me his girlfriend is on vacation(and then she acts like it was his fault "he hooked up with me" no sounds like your just an attention whore......)
also sounds like she has no respect for other people and doesnt give a shit
no smart girl would go have sex with a guy when they have a girlfriend obviously they dont care about you
and if I was the other girl I would prob beat her up at school also for being a hoe
Man, stupid or not, she shouldn't be bullied by everyone like that, but that's high school mentality, gang mentality where you're nothing before proving yourself and you're beaten up and remembered forever as a bad person when you do something they find weird or disrespectful to the respected, or when you're different (gay, ugly or fat, mostly). About being an attention whore : So what? That's very common in high school and that's not so bad of a thing.
EDIT : ''being a hoe'' That's only a bad thing culturally, does it hurt anyone? You're a horrible person for saying that.
EPT
