12-Yr-Previous’s Sudden Demise Linked to Infamous Snapchat Catfish

Set off Warning: This text incorporates content material that readers might discover distressing.

Cimarron Thomas was 12 years previous when she took her personal life. Like commonest 12-year-old women, she liked exploring, Katy Perry and watching Netflix. She additionally had Snapchat.

Cimarron’s surprising dying despatched a wave of shock, unhappiness and a spiral of household tragedy into the Thomas family. Over three years later, the reality was lastly revealed and a proof was given as to what induced Cimarron to take her personal life.

Daughter’s suicide results in household’s double tragedy 

Cimarron and her household, together with Cimarron’s little sister, her mom, Stephanie, and her father, Ben, an ex-army veteran, lived in West Virginia. In 2018, seemingly out of nowhere, Cimarron discovered her father’s handgun and took her personal life with it.

Her household have been left utterly shocked and damaged, questioning what might have provoked their candy lady to do that terrible.

They wouldn’t discover out the reality for 3 extra years.

20 months after Cimarron’s dying, Ben additionally took his personal life. The guilt he felt from having the handgun that Cimarron accessed turned an excessive amount of.

A household pal shared with the Solar:

“When Cimarron died it was a complete thriller why she would kill herself and Ben simply couldn’t address it. He’d been a soldier in Afghanistan after the 9/11 terror assault in 2001 and her dying actually hit him onerous.”

Stephanie and Cimarron’s little sister confronted this double tragedy collectively, counting on household assist to get by the double loss. One 12 months after her husband’s dying and 32 months after shedding her daughter, Stephanie acquired a telephone name that will piece collectively what precisely occurred.

Snapchat catfish connection

Cimarron had Snapchat. On Snapchat, she unknowingly turned associates with one of many UK’s most notable and harmful catfishers – Alexander McCartney. The 26-year-old from Northern Eire would pose as a teen lady to befriend kids, then use pictures they despatched to blackmail them. That is precisely what he did to Cimarron.

Police defined how Alexander blackmailed the teenager into sending a topless image on Snapchat – then demanded she lure her youthful sister right into a intercourse act or he would ship the picture to her dad.

As a household pal shared:

“Cimarron was such a candy lady. She would have been actually embarrassed by the threats to ship a topless image to her dad. The household lives in a very tiny place the place everybody is aware of everybody and it’s fairly an harmless life and rural upbringing so perhaps Cimarron wasn’t as conscious of the risks of individuals like this man.”

Police deduced that Cimarron felt trapped and ashamed, which led her to the choice to kill herself. She even instructed Alexander that she would kill herself if he despatched the pictures to her dad.

Alexander responded by launching a countdown.

70 victims attributable to catfishing 

Cimarron wasn’t Alexander’s solely sufferer. He was jailed for manslaughter and offences referring to blackmailing over 70 victims within the UK, Europe, America and New Zealand. He was caught when he was attempting to catfish a younger lady from Scotland, which is when his laptop was seized and police found the connection to Cimarron.

He was given a life sentence with a minimal of 20 years by Justice O’Hara.

Mom ‘shuts down’ after double loss

Confronted with the rationale why Cimarron took her life, Stephanie lastly has solutions, however the horrific reality has left her damaged.

“Stephanie and Cimarron’s little sister have been supported by the broader household as a lot as attainable however her mum is a quiet one that has virtually shut down after shedding her and Ben. She finds it very, very onerous to speak about.”

Stephanie would favor to see Alexander extradited to America the place his punishment would most probably be a lot harsher.

“The household are livid that McCartney wasn’t charged with homicide as a result of that’s what he’s completed – he’s killed this little lady. He might need completed it from 1000’s of miles away however the consequence is identical.

“He ought to have confronted justice in America. It could have been higher if he’d been extradited right here the place he wouldn’t be sitting in some soft British jail.”

Snapchat is a staple amongst tweens and youths. As a mum of a 12-year-old lady who is consistently “updating her Snapchat streak” along with her associates, it’s extremely distressing and worrying to share tales like this. We do share these tales to not scare, however to lift consciousness that risks lurk behind the screens and that folks like Alexander McCartney are on the market.

Please pay attention to your youngsters’s social media use, speak to them about who they’re speaking with, test up usually and guarantee they’ve the utmost security settings on. Remember the fact that Snapchat has superior loads since 2018 when Cimarron died and there are a number of superior settings to make sure your youngster is protected. However one of the best ways to guard them is thru open, sincere and common communication.

You may study extra about How one can Use Snapchat Safely at Snapchat. 

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