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UPDATE: FALSE REPORTING? –– Facebook meeting allegedly led to artist's death
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by Maireid Sullivan | June 6, 2008 at 07:39 pm
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UPDATE: Further investigation has revealed that FACEBOOK was NOT the point of connection for the murder of a young artist in Brisbane. The murderer was not a former boyfriend. He was someone who tried to befriend a group of old friends of the victim who frequently met at a popular club, and he followed her home a couple of times. He became a stalker, and she confronted him in a friendly way to try to get him to stop following her. She agreed to meet him to settle the matter, she told a friend just before he came to her house, the evening he stabbed her.
It turns out that the murderer is a psychopathic schizophrenic, who had earlier told his counselor that he felt like killing someone. Sadly, he wasn't taken seriously.
Now, why the Courier Mail would make up this story about FACEBOOK involvement is a completely other matter.
In a report from the Wall Street Journal column "On the Record", dated June 6, 2007, "Mr. Murdoch expressed his views on a variety of other topics, including the effect of the Internet on newspapers today, the growing power of Google Inc., and the impact of the Web site, Facebook, on News Corp.'s MySpace. "
Following is my original report on this story:
One of my closest friends phoned last night to tell me that her son's girlfriend had been murdered. They were planning to marry and have children. Here is the report in the Brisbane Courier Mail.–
By Robyn IronsideJune 07, 2008 12:00am
WHAT started as a Facebook message from a former boyfriend has ended in the gruesome murder of Sarah Elston, a talented young Brisbane artist.
'West End artist Sarah, 22, was looking forward to catching up with her former flame who contacted her on the popular social networking website. But in a crime that shocked her family and friends the free-spirited artist was found dead in her unit on Tuesday night with multiple injuries.
Neighbours heard screams during the night but did not investigate because of frequent disturbances in the street.
Friends revealed how Sarah, 22, was "happy and excited" about seeing her former boyfriend again after he got in touch with her on the internet.
"She hadn't seen him in a long time but then he contacted her via Facebook," friend Danae Walker said.
Ms Walker, who last saw Sarah only hours before her death, described her as the sort of person who would always give someone a second chance. Visit her MySpace page here
"She could always find something positive in everyone," she said.
Other friends said she was the centre of the close-knit West End alternative community and her death would leave the area a less colourful place.
The next day a 28-year-old Bowen Hills man was arrested and charged with the murder.
He made no application for bail and was remanded in custody to reappear in court next month.
"Sarah epitomised West End," another friend, Shaun van Zyl, said.
"She organised art jams all the time where a big group of us would sit around and draw and create," he said.
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Maireid Sullivan
Melbourne, Australia
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (11)
at 03:46 on June 7th, 2008
Very sad story Maireid! :(
at 04:49 on June 7th, 2008
Yes, it is indeed, Cao. very sad. I feel quite numb when I think of how my friend's boy friend must be feeling. Fortunately, his wonderful family, friends and colleagues have rallied around him –such a beautiful soul.
I have that profound feeling that her life is not wasted!
...a feeling viscerally fundamental to positivity.
Thanks for caring, Cao.
Maireid
at 08:18 on June 7th, 2008
It's amazing how some of these "far off" stories can suddenly become very personal. I'm sorry to read about it.
at 16:44 on June 7th, 2008
So true, Jordan. Thanks for sharing your kind compassion.
at 19:41 on June 13th, 2008
Shocking story, so sad to hear.
at 19:45 on June 13th, 2008
Thank you for communicating, Rich.
at 04:20 on June 14th, 2008
Why would someone implicate Facebook in this? Bizarre!
at 16:08 on June 14th, 2008
Thanks for the tic, Gerald,
Unfortunately, that is the question that many people will ask, and they may then ask, who owns the Courier Mail? Ruphert Murdoch owns it.
Murdoch also owns MySpace. ...and Facebook has over taken MySpace's popularity as THE social networking site.
Google owns the advertising rights for MySpace and they lost a huge fortune with it.
Only trouble, from my point of view, is that Google and MySpace are "open source coded" and Facebook is a closed system, with truly questionable intentions, when you look at the founding shareholders links to the CIA and the US Defense dept. If you want more info on that, just let me know and I'll post a link.
at 22:39 on June 15th, 2008
No, no more information on FB, thanks anyway. What I know already terrifies me! :(
The name's Alice, by the way. Just to clear up any potential confusion. :)
at 17:33 on June 15th, 2008
Maireid, I'm so sorry to hear of this. So very sorry.
For some reason, sometimes people assume that the Internet is safe, when it isn't. Someone with psychological problems can hide more easily behind typing.
at 17:50 on June 15th, 2008
Hi PEP, how right you are!
But, the essential thing is that this fellow didn't communicate with his victim via the internet. He stalked her from a public venue. And, any one of us would try to be kind to someone who is not capable of communicating - especially when on mind-altering drugs, –illegal or prescribed. And, more and more people are on them now. These are the drugs people willingly accept from doctors, but processed foods are also full of 'mind-altering' ingredients.
Over the last 30 something years, nearly all foods have been 'altered' to the detriment of human health and we are seeing "colony collapse disorders' everywhere - from pigs to bees to humans.