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Now Carol wants to tell her story. It is a story no mother wants to tell.
“Amanda was a very caring individual. She would help others who needed help,” Carol told The Vancouver Sun during an exclusive interview Friday at her home, where she was surrounded by friends and family. “One of Amanda’s goals was to get her message out there and have it used as a learning tool for others.”
As a teacher in the Coquitlam school district and a specialist in assistive technologies, Carol is comfortable around computers and knows well the dangers the online world can hold. Still, she wasn’t able to protect her child.
“I have lost one child, but know she wanted her story to save 1,000 more.”
Amanda was 12 years old when she made a mistake that would haunt her until her death three years later.
Her ordeal started while she was fooling around online with friends. She probably didn’t think it was risky behaviour when she lifted her top to flash the person who was flattering her at the other end of the webcam.
Amanda’s moment of indiscretion was not unusual for someone her age: Sexting and using webcams to share sexual photos is a growing trend among children, some so young they are still in grade school.
“The Internet stalker she flashed kept stalking her,” said Carol. “Every time she moved schools he would go undercover and become a Facebook friend. What the guy did was he went online to the kids who went to (the new school) and said that he was going to be a new student — that he was starting school the following week and that he wanted some friends and could they friend him on Facebook.”
“He eventually gathered people’s names and sent Amanda’s video to her new school.”
The video and photos went to teachers, to parents, to Facebook friends, which lead to repeated taunts: “Oh, there’s the porn star.”
“It increased her anxiety and she couldn’t go to class,” Carol said.
In putting together her video, which Amanda did on her own, Carol said her daughter wanted to help other young people who are being bullied and to bring attention and education to the problem in the hope of seeing it eradicated.
“Amanda wanted to tell her story to help other kids. I want to tell my story to help parents, so they can be aware, so they can teach their kids what is right and wrong and how to be safe online,” she said. “Kids have iPads, they have smartphones, technology is much more accessible than it was even five years ago — that is the dangerous factor.”
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The police have been unable to track her stalker down. “The police investigated and investigated, it got traced to somebody in the United States,” said Carol. “But they never found him. Those people are very good at hiding their tracks.” The suspected pedophile threatened that if she didn’t do a show for him, he would circulate her pictures again. Amanda wouldn’t bow to the pressure and he carried out his threat.
Amanda Toddin äiti on ammatiltaan opettaja. Jutussa kerrottiin myös, että kiristäjä-seuraajaa oli yritetty jäljittää poliisin toimesta onnistumatta siinä. Viitattiin myös mahdollisuuteen (äidin mielestä todennäköisin vaihtoehto), että kyseessä olisi ollut pedofiili, joka oli teeskennellyt olevansa lasten ikäinen ja siten onnistunut seuraamaan Toddia koulusta kouluun ja levittämään ikävän kuvamateriaalin mahdollisimman laajalle uusien oppilastovereiden avulla.
Lisäys lainaukseen 16.10.2012 8.55
