Amanda Todd Story~ Stop Bulling

On September 7, 2012, Todd posted a 9-minute YouTube video entitled My Story: Struggling, bullying, suicide and self-harm, which showed her using a series of flash cards to tell of her experiences being bullied. The video post went viral after her death on October 10, 2012, receiving over 1,600,000 views by October 13, 2012,[10] with news websites from around the world linking to it.[citation needed]

Screenshot of Todd's YouTube video

During the video, Todd writes that when she was in grade 7 (2009-2010), around the same time she moved in with her father,[11] she used video chat to meet new people over the Internet and she received compliments on her looks. A stranger convinced Todd to bare her breasts on camera. The individual later blackmailed her with threats to expose the topless photo to her friends unless she gave a "show".[12]

After two years, Todd returned to live with her mother in March 2012.[11] Todd wrote that during the next Christmas break,[when?] police informed her at 4:00 a.m. that the photo was circulating on the Internet. Todd wrote that she experienced anxiety, depression, and panic disorder due to the experience. Her family moved to a new home, where Todd later stated that she began using drugs and alcohol.[12]

A year later, the individual reappeared, creating a Facebook profile which used the topless photograph as the profile image, and contacting classmates at her new school. Again Todd was teased, eventually changing schools for a second time. She wrote that she began chatting to "an old guy friend" who contacted her. The friend invited Todd to his house, where they had sex while his girlfriend was on holiday.[13] The following week, the girlfriend and a group of others physically attacked Todd at school, shouting insults and punching her to the ground. Following the attack, Todd attempted suicide by drinking bleach, but she survived after being rushed to hospital to have her stomach pumped.[12] "It killed me inside and I thought I actually was going to die", Todd commented in her video.[1]

After returning home, Todd discovered abusive messages about her failed suicide attempt posted to Facebook. Her family moved to another city to start afresh, but Todd was unable to escape the past. According to her mother, "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 Todd's video to her new school", including students, teachers, and parents.[14] Six months later, further messages and abuse were still being posted to social networking sites. Todd's mental state worsening, she began to engage in self-mutilation. Despite taking her prescribed anti-depressants and receiving counseling, she overdosed and was hospitalized for two days.[15]

Todd was teased by other students at her school for her low grades, a consequence of a language-based learning disability and for the time she spent in hospital to treat her severe depression.[11] "It didn't really help that after she got out of the hospital recently some kids started calling her 'psycho' and saying she had been in the crazy hospital", her mother said. "She went to the hospital, she had therapy, she had counselling, she was on a good track. On the day she gets out, that happens. I shake my head and I think, 'Are kids really that nasty, do they really not think, what if it was them?'"[11]

On October 10, 2012, at about 6:00 PM (PDT), Todd was found hanged at her home.[16][17]

Investigation

A preliminary investigation by British Columbia Coroners Service showed that Todd's death was a suicide. The cause of death was reported in the media as hanging.[18][19][20]

Both the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and British Columbia Coroners Service launched an investigation with twenty full-time investigators working on the case.[10] The Coquitlam and Ridge Meadows serious crime teams are cooperating in a full investigation, conducting interviews and examining potential factors that may have contributed to Todd's death.[21] Investigators are reviewing content at social media sites and are actively monitoring pages.[21]