Family Outraged Over Teen's Online Suicide

Says Viewers Of Live Webcam Overdose Should Have Acted More Quickly To Save Him

(AP)  The family of a U.S. college student who killed himself live on the Internet says they are horrified his life ended before a virtual audience, and infuriated that viewers of the live webcam or operators of the Web site that hosted it didn't act sooner to save him.

Only after police arrived to find Abraham Biggs dead in his father's bed did the Web feed stop Wednesday - 12 hours after the 19-year-old Broward College student first declared on a Web site that he hated himself and planned to die.

"It didn't have to be," said the victim's sister, Rosalind Bigg. "They got hits, they got viewers, nothing happened for hours."

Biggs announced his plans to kill himself over a Web site for bodybuilders, authorities said. He posted a link from there to Justin.tv, a site that allows users to broadcast live videos from their webcams.

A computer user who claimed to have watched said that after swallowing some pills, Biggs went to sleep and appeared to be breathing for a few hours while others cracked jokes.

Some members of his virtual audience encouraged him to do it, others tried to talk him out of it, and some discussed whether he was taking a dose big enough to kill himself, said Wendy Crane, an investigator with the Broward County medical examiner's office.

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

Eventually, someone notified the moderator of the bodybuilding site, who traced Biggs' location and called police, Crane said. The drama unfolded live on Justin.tv, which allows viewers to post comments alongside the video images.

As police entered the room, the audience's reaction was filled with Internet shorthand: "OMFG," one wrote, meaning "Oh, my God." Others, either not knowing what they were seeing, or not caring, wrote "lol," which means "laughing out loud," and "hahahah."

His father, Abraham Biggs Sr., told The Miami Herald he didn't want to watch the video.

"We were very good friends," he said. "It's wrong that it was allowed to happen."

An autopsy concluded Biggs died from a combination of opiates and benzodiazepine, which his family said was prescribed for his bipolar disorder.

"Abe, i still wish this was all a joke," a friend wrote on the teenager's MySpace page, on which he described himself as a goodhearted guy who would always be available for his pals, no matter what time of day.

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."

It is unclear how many people watched it happen. The Web site would not say how many people were watching the broadcast. The site as a whole had 672,000 unique visitors in October, according to Nielsen.

Biggs was not the first person to commit suicide with a webcam rolling. But the drawn-out drama - and the reaction of those watching - was seen as an extreme example of young people's penchant for sharing intimate details about themselves over the Internet.

Montana Miller, an assistant professor of popular culture at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, said Biggs' very public suicide was not shocking, given the way teenagers chronicle every facet of their lives on sites like Facebook and MySpace.

"If it's not recorded or documented then it doesn't even seem worthwhile," she said. "For today's generation it might seem, `What's the point of doing it if everyone isn't going to see it?"'

She likened Biggs' death to other public ways of committing suicide, like jumping off a bridge.

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

Miami lawyer William Hill said there is probably nothing that could be done legally to those who watched and did not act. As for whether the Web site could be held liable, Hill said there doesn't seem to be much of a case for negligence.

"There could conceivably be some liability if they knew this was happening and they had some ability to intervene and didn't take action," said Hill, who does business litigation and has represented a number of Internet-based clients. But "I think it would be a stretch."

Condolences poured into Biggs' MySpace page, where the mostly unsmiling teen is seen posing in a series of pictures with various young women. On the bodybuilding Web site, Biggs used the screen name CandyJunkie. His Justin.tv alias was "feels-like-ecstacy."

Bigg described her brother as an outgoing person who struck up conversations with coffee shop workers and enjoyed taking his young nieces to a pizza parlor. He was health-conscious and exercised, but was not a bodybuilder, she said.

"This is very, very sudden and unexpected for us," the sister said. "It boggles the mind. We don't understand."

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[phoibos1]

I was in a chat room with friends in differents areas of the US and it dwindled down to a few and one said he was going to commit suicide. We flew into action getting his home phone# and calling and talking to him while another called the police in his state and got help to him. We didn''t stand idly by and wait for him to die. I think this is a travesty and I hope it is a wake up call to everyone.

[niceface19]

his parents should go to jail.

[slim1h2o]

When was it ever alive?

Posted by shanev137 at 12:11 AM : Nov 24, 2008


Good question, maybe never.....

[shanev137]

Compassion is dead in America

--------

When was it ever alive?

[clathrate]

Compassion is dead in America...





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by slim1h2o

It goes beyond that. People are just plain stupid and mean. Anyone who would honestly watch a video suicide need to be put down.

[forever1973]

Posted by slim1h2o at 05:05 PM : Nov 23, 2008

Well, yes, I would agree that they were more than "just a band".

[slim1h2o]

They were much more than a "band"

They were Rock Opra at it''s finest. With the writings of Roger Waters, and the music coming from David Gilmore.

One of the best writing and music teams since Simon and Garfunkle..

[forever1973]

P.F. were an incredible band.

[slim1h2o]

Posted by forever1973 at 04:49 PM : Nov 23, 2008

LOL,,Yup...I remember now, vaguely.

The name Waters thru me off a bit though.It shouldn''t have, but it did...

[forever1973]

Posted by slim1h2o at 04:45 PM : Nov 23, 2008

It is the last song from Pink Floyd''s "The Wall".

[slim1h2o]

Posted by forever1973 at 04:38 PM : Nov 23, 2008

Where''s that poem from?

And so true too..

[slim1h2o]

I can''''t image someone making these comments with a clean bill of health. Stop and think about things.

Posted by ConfedDunces at 03:55 PM : Nov 23, 2008

Probably indicative as the same group who watched, and egged on the kid that commited suicide.

Compassion is dead in America...

[confeddunces]

To those who have posted alarmingly cruel and sadistic comments about the victim and his family, have you ever supposed that you might be in denial about your own issues, like depression? I can''t image someone making these comments with a clean bill of health. Stop and think about things.

[slim1h2o]

Show me heaven, hell, and your God right now, this minute.

Posted by shanev137 at 03:19 PM : Nov 23, 2008

Heaven = Hot Fudge Sundae

Hell = life on Earth...

God = Figment of somebodies imagination..

Or as Carlin has put it,,,"The Big Guy in the Sky"

[shanev137]

All suicides go to heaven. I promise.

Posted by cutetinia at 01:57 PM : Nov 23, 2008


Show me heaven, hell, and your God right now, this minute.

[ofbyfor3]

No one should have sat there and laughed--that''s just sick!!!!!!!!!

[ofbyfor3]

Even if had been a prank, what is the hurt in saying ''don''t do it''?

Certainly much less than those who were egging him on. I think they should be charged with complicicity. They DO have a responsibility to bear.

[cutetinia]

All suicides go to heaven. I promise.

[liselle3]

newster1
Not going to get into a "God" discussion with you... but take God out of it, and call it whatever you will... Karma - whatever. Do you honestly think it''s kind, humane, respectful of your fellow man/woman to behave in a cruel and disrespectful manner? I honestly think that people shouldn''t post comments that they aren''t willing to say directly to other people - or perhaps the family that is grieving this young man. Would you be willing to say directly to his dad that his son was a waste of DNA for instance?