Prosecutors in Los Angeles questioned Lori Drew’s employee, Ashley Grill, before a Grand Jury over the Megan Meier MySpace suicide case. Grill, who was 17 when Megan Meier committed suicide in October of 2006, testified that she did not act alone in setting up a fake MySpace account used to pull a hoax on the 13-year-old Megan. Grill’s testimony could begin to peel away the fake facade of innocence maintained by Lori Drew through her attorneys.

Grills, who attempted to take her own life after Megan ended hers, stated that while she was responsible for setting up the profile of the fake 16-year-old boy named “Josh Evans”, that Lori Drew and her daughter were also involved in the cruel online hoax.

Megan and her family lived just a few doors down from the Drews in a quiet suburb of St. Louis where the two girls were friends since elementary school. When the girls reached the 7th grade the relationship had become on-again, off-again, with Megan transitioning to a new school. Megan had asked her parents if she could open a MySpace account, after all, all the other kids were doing it too. Megan’s parents agreed but counseled their daughter to be careful, to be wary of the people she met online. Megan met a boy on MySpace who said his name was Josh Evans, he was 16 and he lived in her area.

Megan’s parents warned her to be careful but the online relationship with Josh seemed harmless and made Megan happy. Megan, like many girls her age, was insecure and unable to see her own unique qualities that made her special. After a period of about six weeks the relationship with Josh took a sharp turn with Josh telling Megan that “she was mean to her friends”.

On October 16th, Megan went to school with invitations to her upcoming 14th birthday party. She had picked out a new dress and when she returned home from school she asked her mother to log onto the computer so Megan could see if Josh had posted any new messages to her. Megan wanted to know why Josh had been “so mean” to her.

Tina logged on but had to leave to take her other daughter to an appointment. Before she left she could see that Megan was still upset, evidently Josh’s newest messages troubled Megan. Tina, in a hurry to get to the orthodontist’s appointment told Megan to sign off.

“I will Mom,” Megan told her. “Let me finish up.”

Tina called Megan when she reached the dentist’s office and asked Megan if she had signed off. “No, Mom,” Megan said, “they’re are all being so mean to me.” Again Tina told Megan to sign off. Fifteen minutes later Megan, crying, called her mother. “They are posting bulletins about me. Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is a fat ass.” Tina was angry at Megan for not signing off, Megan was crying hysterically.

When Tina got home she went to the basement where the family computer was set up and found Megan still online, engaged in a cyberfight, using the kind of language which shocked Tina. “I’m so aggravated at you for doing this” she told Megan. Megan, clearly upset, ran from the computer then stopped and said to her Mother, “You’re supposed to be my Mom! You’re supposed to be on my side!”

Megan’s Dad, Ron, ran into Megan on the second floor landing of the Meier home. Ron grabbed Megan. He said that Megan told him that kids were saying “horrible stuff about her” and she didn’t understand why. “I told her it’s okay, I told her they obviously don’t know her and that it would be fine.”

Megan went into her bedroom while Ron went downstairs to the kitchen where he and Tina talked about Megan and the MySpace account while they made dinner. Twenty minutes later a feeling of dread overcame Tina,”I had this God-awful feeling and I ran up into her room and she had hung herself in the closet.

Megan was rushed to the hospital where she was pronounced dead the next day. Ron opened up Megan’s MySpace account and saw what he thought was the final message posted by “Josh” to Megan:

“Everybody in O’Fallon knows how you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a shitty rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you.”

The day after Megan died Ron and Tina made the trip down the street to the house where Megan’s old friend lived, the daughter of Lori Drew, to tell her that Megan valued their friendship. They even returned to help celebrate the girl’s father’s 50th birthday and agreed to store a foosball table in their garage for the Drews.

Six weeks later the Meier’s lives turned upside down once again when another neighbor told them to meet her at their grief counselor’s office. The Meier’s were stunned to find out that the boy Josh Evans was never real, that he was made up, not by some internet stranger, but by the mother of Megan’s friend, Lori Drew. The same family that asked the Meiers to store their foosball table in the Meiers’ garage, the same family that the Meiers had walked down to comfort the day after Megan’s death.

Lori Drew

Lori Drew denies she was involved in the MySpace hoax. Drew has hidden behind her attorneys and claims she is innocent even though the computer used to send the fake MySpace messages was located in the Drew home. That other witnesses claim Lori Drew asked Ashley Grill to set up the fake Josh Evans so that Lori could spy on Megan and see what Megan had posted about Lori Drew’s daughter on MySpace.

Lori Drew has, through her attorneys, denied all involvement in the fake MySpace hoax and yet when she called the cops on November 25, 2006, to complain about the Meiers not giving her a chance to tell her “side” of the story she filed a police report where she admitted that she, along with Ashley Grill had set up the fake MySpace account.

Police Report dated November 25, 2006

“Drew explained she wanted to “just tell them” what she did to contribute to the Meier’s daughters suicide. Drew stated in the months leading up Meier’s daughter’s suicide, she instigated and monitored a “my space” account which was created for the sole purpose of communicating with Meier’s daughter. Drew said she, with the help of temporary employee named “Ashley,” constructed a profile of “good looking” male on “my space” in order to “find out what Megan (Meier’s daughter) was saying on on-line about her daughter. Drew explained the communication between the fake male profile and Megan was aimed at gaining Megan’s confidence and finding out what Megan felt about her daughter and other people. Drew stated the she, her daughter and Ashley all typed, read and monitored the communication between the fake male profile and Megan. Drew went on to say, the communication became “sexual for a thirteen year old.” Drew stated she continued to fake male profile despite the development.” Source – Smoking Gun

Letter written by Lori Drew included in Police Report:

Drew now claims that the police report was in error and yet she herself called the cops and filed the report. The St. Charles District Attorney declined to press any charges against Drew but now prosecutors in Los Angeles are going after Drew, trying to claim her actions in creating the fake MySpace account constituted fraud perpetrated against MySpace.

Megan Meiers, Ashley Grill

Grills should be commended for coming forward and admitting her part in the whole sordid affair which ended in a young girl hanging herself in her bedroom closet. One of the supreme ironies was that Drew and Grill posted messages that Megan was a “fat ass” and yet the photo of Grill shows an obese 19-year-old girl while photos of Lori Drew show a frumpy overweight middle-aged woman. We find it hard to believe that Grill would have set up the MySpace account to go after Megan on her own, she was merely an employee of Drew’s. It was Drew whose daughter had a off-again, on-again friendship with Megan, it was Drew’s house where the fake Josh Evan’s MySpace account originated from, it was Drew’s husband who told everyone to “get rid” of the MySpace account after Megan died. Hopefully Lori Drew will be next to have to testify before the Los Angeles Grand Jury.

In the meantime, the trees are beginning to bud and new grass has sprouted in the quiet neighborhood in suburban St. Louis that the Meiers and Drews still call home. Several communities have enacted cyberbully laws in the aftermath of Megan’s death. Megan was buried in the new dress she had picked out for her 14th birthday party while Lori Drew has become a pariah of her own making.

By LBG

Source – DBKP – MySpace Cruel Prank Leads to Teen’s Suicide
Source – DBKP – Megan Meier MySpace Suicide: Cruel Hoaxers Outed, Let the Lesser Outrage Begin
Source and Image - ABC News – Exclusive: Teen Talks About Her Role in Web Hoax That Led To Suicide
Image – Lori Drew
Image - MySpace

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