Teen Commits Suicide Live on the Web
Published by Amit Goyal on November 24, 2008 in AlternativeArticle Tools
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The internet isn’t the best place to find solace during a depressed state of mind; the Florida teenager committed suicide while being ‘egged’ on by people watching.
Abraham K Biggs, a 19 year old from Broward County, Florida, took an overdose of sleeping pills while broadcasting himself live on Justin.tv, a live video streaming web portal.
He had the nickname Feels Like Ecstasy on Justin.tv, and he was also a member of the bodybuilding.com forum where he had the nickname CandyJunkie.
It’s reported that on Wednesday he went to the bodybuilding forum and made a post regarding the mixtures of pills he was going to take. The forum moderators did not take him seriously in light of his previous threats; while other forum users egged him on to carry out the threat.
Biggs then posted a suicide note on the website; a supposed copy of the suicide note has been posted by the NY Fox News Network here.
An alleged 1,000 viewers watched on as Biggs downed the fatal cocktail of pills. Many of the viewers mocked him for “faking it”, but after several hours of no movement did they finally start to take him seriously.
One of the members pleaded with the others to contact the police; after an attempt to email the Miami-Dade Police Department, he called the police and was directed to the Broward County Sheriff’s Department.
The authorities arrived an hour later and after breaking down the door, switched off the camera. Abraham K Biggs was declared dead due by the Broward County medical examiner, and in investigation in the supposed suicide is underway.
Abraham Biggs was suffering from the bi-polar disorder and had threatened to kill himself in the past. What’s shocking is that the camera feed had been streaming for 12 hours before the authorities finally got to him. That’s 12 hours when not a single one of the 1,000 viewers found it necessary to try and contact the authorities.
There are growing concerns that forums encourage people to take their lives. In 2007, a British man, Kevin Whitrick, 42, had hung himself while being witnessed by about 100 internet chat room users.
Kevin Whitrick
Mr. Whitrick from Telford, Shropshire, killed himself after being flamed in an “insult” forum of the Paltalk website. One of the users is said to have told him, “F***ing do it. Get on with it.” According to a UK charity which works to prevent suicide, there have been 17 deaths in the United Kingdom involving chartrooms or websites that give information on suicide techniques.
The two cases highlight the darker side of the internet; people tend to loose their ethics under the cloak of anonymity. The witnesses are to walk away with out any responsibility under the shroud of the World Wide Web. It’s easy to look past the above incidents citing them as being faults on the victim’s part, but would you say the same thing if it was one of your loved ones?
21 Comments
wow…people are weird…
hmmm, sad, very sad
This is a very timely and important issue that has long been ignored. There was a case of a teenage girl who committed suicide because of being taunted on the web. This is a real problem. My daughter had similar suicidal urges a couple of years ago. Fortunately, she and I were able to bring her through it and she is fine now. I am so glad you wrote this article. Maybe it will even save someone’s life.
This says a lot about where some people are headed. A very very dark road!
Great job on the article though! 
very sad,but very well written
I heard about a crowd yelling ‘Jump’ recently at a man who had climbed on to a window ledge, so it isn’t just the internet, it’s a sign of the times. We are becoming insensitised and drunk with sensationalism.
This is crazy. I know there was a movie with Diane Lane that came out a short time ago that showed innocent people being murdered on the internet live and it had over 3 million visitors at the time. What is wrong with the world.
This is so sad and unbelievable.
sad article,this world can be so cruel.
This may be more about what is to be human and be seriously depressed than the role of media or watchers. We know about these suicides because of the net, but they’ve been going on all along. No one thinks the other person would really give up life out of depression. I remember what the guy who shot Lennon said. Paraphrase: I was tired of being depressed. One day I couldn’t take his (John Lennon’s) “somebodyness” and my own “nobodyness.”
That was so friggin’ disturbing. But its the tragic truth of the world we live in
How sad
Great article. Thanks for highlighting this important issue.
Inna
Awful topic written beautifully. I hope that the world begins to change. Even just a little.
Sad but you nicely presented it!!
That’s a horrible thing to do to somebody. While such a sad topic, you delivered it very well.
I can’t believe what the world is coming to these days. It says a lot of humanity, that we as a people can be so cruel and hateful, as to incite people to take their lives. Reading this article just about made me cry.
The reasons for this is mainly because they are mistreated by parents or kids at school
Suicide is unforgivable by God.
I did not click that I –liked– this article — I am glad to be informed, and it is a really well-written article – but how sad the information or news it contains. Unbelievable that not one of the 1000 watchers did anything to encourage him to LIVE! Or not one of them wanted to help him stop — pretending — or, faking it as they foolishly believed. It was just like another TV show where real people act out realities and after the show or the movie, take their pay check and go back to their normal –reality– lives to watch something like this. Thanks for sharing it and I will click –I like it– because I like that you shared it.
That is very sad. I can’t imagine having to watch something like that, let alone wanting to watch it!