In sad news, Amanda Todd, the Canadian teen who posted YouTube video on bullying found dead from an apparent suicide.
Who can forget the haunting video that Amanda Todd made that was posted on YouTube on September 7th?
She doesn’t speak and does not expose her face fully but she gets her message across by flashing a series of notes in a nearly 9 minute video.
The notes Amanda holds up are a series of flash card type notes detailing the harassment and bullying.
She said her ordeal started when she and her friends were chatting via webcam.
Someone asked her to flash her breasts and she did.
Then, someone who appeared to have known her, contacted her on facebook and knew details about her life.
The photos were posted and things went downhill from there.
Amanda seemed like a very troubled young woman and she wrote about how she moved to a number of schools and that the harassment continued.
She wrote of making bad choices and ultimately ended up abusing drugs and alcohol due to the pressure she felt.
Amanda talks about being beaten up and betrayed and feeling all alone.
One of the more disturbing things Amanda described was when she was recovering in the hospital after drinking bleach, in an apparent suicide attempt, and was left horrible taunting messages.
She claims that she was left messages saying that she should have died.
Apparently it was too much for Amanda Todd to bear and it appears that she took her own life. At 15 years of age.
There has been a lot of digging to find out who was tormenting Amanda Todd and the name that is believed to be responsible is Kody Maxson. For more information on this investigation, please read TRACING KODY MAXSON, THE ONLINE BLACKMAILER ALLEGED TO HAVE TORMENTED AMANDA TODD by Patrick McGuire on vice.com
Unfortunately, this is not the first case of teen suicide due to bullying, nor will it be last.
There are websites where teens can get support such as Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center that offers assistance, support and resources for teens who are victims of bullying.
October is National Bullying Prevention Month