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AMANDA TODD ' S NIGHTMARE

Bullying Tragedy : Amanda Todd ' s Nightmare

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By BRANDON BAUR (@ brandonbaur ) and REENA NINAN (@ reenaninan )
Oct . 24 , 2012
It ’ s a cry for help that ’ s now been seen more than 17 million times -- Amanda Todd , 15 , sharing her painful story with the world via YouTube .
“ Cried every night , lost all my friends and respect ,” reads one placard Todd holds up in the video . “ I felt like a joke in this world I thought nobody deserves this ,” reads another .
Todd , 15 , posted the video called “ My story : Struggling , bullying , suicide , self harm ” on Sept . 7 and was found dead in her home town of Port Coquitlam , British Columbia on Oct . 10 .
Todd ’ s small community held a candlelight vigil in her honor this past weekend .
“ You wouldn ’ t know that she had any problems ,” one fellow student said through tears . “ She was just so happy , like all the time , never sad , like you couldn ’ t tell .”
Todd ’ s death hasn ’ t stopped her from being the victim of online harassment . Some have been attempting to profit from the enormous public outcry in support for her by setting up fraudulent websites that claim to be fundraising for the girl ’ s family .
“ Taking advantage of a family ’ s grief is despicable ,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt . Peter Thiessen said in a statement . “ We want to get the word out that
there is one real account and anyone who is interested can make a donation at any RBC branch to the Amanda Todd Trust Account .”
Dozens of tribute pages for the teen have been created on Facebook . The most popular one has over one million supporters and several others have hundreds of thousands of supporters .
Authorities are “ sifting through thousands of tips ” they have received since Todd ’ s death .
Police have opened a probe into Todd ’ s death and “ anyone that had contact with her ” before she died . Of particular interest is a man who convinced Todd to flash her breasts , took a screen grab of the moment and used the photo to cyber-bully her for years .
In her video , Todd described using webcam chats to meet and talk to new people online as a seventh grader , including a man who pressured her to flash her chest . One year later , she did and the man took the photo .
Todd said that the man put the photo online and sent it to everyone she knew . Even after moving towns and schools multiple times , the man continued to follow her online and use her photo , she said . The photo and the bullying online and in school drove her to depression , drugs , alcohol , cutting and a suicide attempt with bleach .
“ I can never get that photo back ,” she wrote . “ It ’ s out there forever .”
44 | Iowa Fall / Winter 2013-2014 | abusemagazine . org
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