Webcam Streams As Fla. Teen Kills Self

Police Say College Student OD'ed In Front Of Online Audience

(AP)  A South Florida college student killed himself by overdosing on drugs in front of a live online audience as some computer users egged him on, some debated his method, and others tried to talk him out of it.

Abraham Biggs, 19, of Pembroke Pines, died Wednesday at his home from a toxic combination of opiates and benzodiazepine, a drug used to treat insomnia and depression, said Wendy Crane, an investigator with the Broward County medical examiner's office.

Authorities say the Broward Community College student is not the first person to commit suicide with a webcam rolling.

It's unclear how many people were watching through the Web site bodybuilding.com. Someone finally notified a site moderator, who pinpointed Biggs' location and called police, but they arrived too late to save him, Crane said.

Biggs, who used the screen name "CandyJunkie" on the bodybuilding Web site, started blogging about plans to kill himself 12 hours before he was found lying dead on his bed. He posted a link from bodybuilding.com to Justin.tv, a site that allows users to broadcast live videos from their webcams.

Some users who read the blog told investigators they did not take him seriously because he had threatened suicide on the site before.

But Biggs' family was infuriated that neither viewers nor the site acted sooner to save him.

"When (police) came in, the webfeed stopped. So that's 12 hours of watching," said his sister, Rosalind Biggs, who said her brother struggled with bipolar disorder. "They got hits, they got viewers, nothing happened for hours."

Rosalind Biggs described her brother as a friendly, social, outgoing person who struck up conversations with Starbucks baristas and enjoyed taking his young nieces to Chuck E. Cheese.

"It boggles the mind," she said. "We don't understand."

Authorities could not immediately verify the authenticity of a video posted online that shows a gun-wielding officer entering a bedroom where a man is lying on a bed, facing away from the camera. The officer peers over to look at the man, then begins to examine him as the camera lens is covered. The video matches Crane's description of events.

Condolences poured in to Biggs' MySpace page, where the mostly unsmiling teen is seen posing in a series of pictures with various young women. On justin.tv, his alias was "feelslikeecstacy."

In a statement, Justin.tv CEO Michael Seibel said: "We regret that this has occurred and want to respect the privacy of the broadcaster and his family during this time."

The Web site declined to release information on how many people were watching the broadcast. The entire site had 672,000 unique visitors in October.

Messages left with the bodybuilding Web site were not immediately returned Friday.

A spokesman for the Pembroke Pines police said they were investigating but declined further comment.

Crane said she knows of at least one other case in which a South Florida man shot himself in the head in front of an online audience, although she didn't know how much viewers saw. In Britain last year, a man hanged himself while chatting online.

[mellie1957]

Very sad. It worries me he could start a trend. I believe a lot of violence in our schools is due to "copycat" behavior because of media frenzy.

[evian_ycnan]

Not thinning, chlorine

[xxunknown]

Death comes to everyone. I wonder why people fear it so much. I guess its the unknown. Fear of the unknown is always the greatest fear.

As far as moral outrage over this, I dont get it. People kill themselves everyday.

[xxunknown]

not too worried about Karma either.

[dnamj]

It''s not like this is a slow news day or anything.

[fush2]

so now its the viewers fault?
its not like we gave him the pills....im sorry that he died im sure that more people died that sameday

[greeneyes222]

Inherit the wind. We''ve raised a sorry, sorry bunch of kids in this country.

[puzzler125]

Why didn''t someone notify the police IMMEDIATELY? This is horrible and those who egged him on are accessories in his death.

[winslowe1]

Our society just got a little better.

[incog-nito]

People can blame the online "viewers" all they want, but in the end it is the kid himself who is responsible. Yes, some people egged him on, some maliciously and some thinking it was a joke. But some others did try to dissuade him from doing it. He obviously wanted an audience for his act. And he chose not to listen to the people to tried to talk him out of it.

[ybotheratall]

Let''s ask ourselves a very honest question. Let''s take the 50s as an example. Why weren''t things like this back then? Oh, that''s right. Mom was home taking care of her family and not out with stepdad number 1 while dad and stepwife number 1 are also out, leaving child home alone. Ok, he was 19, yeah, so what? He lived at home and NO ONE saw him for over 12 hours? Who exists in a home and doesn''t notice someone not coming around after 12 hours? Detached people who are more interested in eating out and working to keep those big SUVs humming along. Try actually interacting with your family. That is just sick. For the people who watched, they are NOT accessories to ANYTHING. He could have been joking, acting, playing games, anything. Accessories, get real.

[confeddunces]

That''s right Y Bother at All: nothing to discuss here. The ethical issues and outcry should rest on no one''s shoulders but the victim. In this day and age to utter any comment about the numbing cruelity of internet commentators, is a kin to attacking a sacred cow. Fine, we will get real for you, and let the devil have his day.

[bobgee_1999]

Kids, if you''re pathetic and attention-starved, this is much better than walking into a school and blasting away at your classmates.

[wl7bzh]

Life without meaning?

[centerfall94]

Charge all those who viewed the incident and egged him on and/or did nothing with second degree murder.

Responsibility is not a new concept.

[andrew_693]

goes to show you that people with mental problems don''t belong in a campus. All those pricks watching and encouraging him to kill himself should be all charged with not aiding him, just like a car accident. The parents should be locked up as well, they are absolute scum.

[skarrzpapi]

sad sad sad...RIP...

[earache4]

We''ve gone from baby boomers, to generation X, to generation duh......

[slim1h2o]

This a sad story. Is this what America has become?
So apathetic, uncaring, to the point where people not only commits suicide, but draws an audience as well?

America deserves to go to h3ll, if that''s the case.

[pcreversed]

The family is outraged because their loser relative was stupid enough to kill himself and video it while he was doing it. I guess it is everyone else''s responsibility to do what they would not do themselves. The family was in a position to know what that loser was going to do, no one else knew what his punk loser self was about to do. I did not watch the video and have no intention of watching it. If I were to watch it, I still would not find it my resposibility to stop him. The family should have known what he was going to do. What pathetic people he had as relatives, no wonder he killed himself

[omnibus66]

Suicides are tragic, but certainly not unusual. As a group, Iraq veterans have one of the highest suicide rates going, but you hear almost nothing about that.

Teen suicides are also at record levels, and it is not hard to understand why. Just look around and compare the complexity and problems of todays world with that of 20 or 30 years ago.

It has to be extremely challenging, if not downright depressing to young people trying to cope with an unknown future.