Webcam Spying Victim Sought Help on Gay Website Before Suicide?

More details are emerging on the tragic and heartbreaking case of Tyler Clementi, the 18-year-old Rutgers University freshman who apparently jumped to his death off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate secretly recorded and live-streamed his sexual encounter with another man.

"Jumping off the gw bridge sorry," read the final Facebook status on September 23 from Tyler Clementi, days after his private life was splashed across Twitter and the internet. Two witnesses said they saw a young man jump off the bridge that evening. A body has been recovered from the Hudson River but it as yet to be identified.

Two other Rutgers students are charged with invasion of privacy after they allegedly activated a webcam in the dorm room and broadcast Clementi's sexual encounter. The roommate, 18-year-old Dharun Ravi, and 18-year-old Molly Wei are each charged with two counts of invasion of privacy for the September 19 broadcast.

"Roommate asked for the room till midnight," Ravi messaged on Twitter that night. "I went into Molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay."

Now it appears that in the days before taking his own life, Clementi may have sought help online. Gawker reports a user named "cit2mo" started a thread on justusboys.com called "college roommate spying. The timeline and details are eerily similar Clementi's story. The poster says he reported his roommate to school officials after his makeout session was streamed on the Internet.

Gawker adds:

Though not as bothered with his roommate's actions as he likely should have been, cit2mo is clearly disturbed by the disregard for his privacy—and the bigoted disgust—shown by both his roommate and the people commenting on his roommate's Facebook page "with things like 'how did you manage to go back in there?' 'are you ok?'" He says he'll file a roommate change request form, and "see what [the school] can offer" him.

Clementi's roommate Dharum Ravi, is free on $25,000 bail on invasion of privacy charges. The second Rutgers student, Molly Wei, was freed on her own recognizance. Both face up to five years in prison if convicted. Two more counts of invasion of privacy were leveled against Ravi for an attempt to videotape another encounter involving Clementi on September 21, prosecutors say. Prosecutors are considering filing additional and/or more serious charges.

A heartbreaking end to what certainly could have been a promising life. September 2010 has been a horrific month for LGBT teens. Two 13-year-olds and one 15-year-old boy committed suicide after relentless anti-gay bullying and taunting.

Comments

[Kevin Perez]

You know what really bothers me? Our generation is "supposedly" becoming more accepting and tolerant of LGFT youth (in general) but even then, it seems that there always these assholes that behave in the most mean-spirited, hateful and bigoted away towards LGBT kids like this and and as usual, nothing is done.

More than ever, I believe there truly is something called the "Helen Keller" syndrome.

[Alex]

It has been a parade of heartbreaking news about gay-bullying this month. Reminds us that the fight for equality and justice is not over yet, not by a long shot.

I hope Ravi and Wei someday realize the gravity of what they had done and try to make up for it by leading positive lives.

[Sister_Ally]

If Dharum Ravi is not an American citizen, he should be deported ASAP if found guilty.

SCUM.

[Kevin Perez]

You think the Helen Keller syndrome is going to kick in and people will claim they didn't witness the bullying of young LGBTs?

[Byron]

Is that all you take from this, Sister_Ally? This is sad enough without adding xenophobic bigotry to the mix.

One human being is dead by his own hand due to the thoughtless and callous actions of another. That's where the focus should be.

[Charles]

This is really not a gay issue but a people issue... Taping someone in the most intimate moments with out their knowledge should be a felony with a penalty of at least 10 years with a hefty penalty. as much as people think it cute to make a sex tape its not. I hope they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and if they go to jail...I hope the guy meets Bubba... and then he might get a sense of the embarrassment and anguish that Tyler experienced... My condolences go out the the family of Tyler... BTW why are they out on bail... In my opinion they are accessories to murder. Just my two cents!

[Ravenback]

All of this is extremely tragic. Young teens committing suicide because other kids are taunting them about being gay. This young man killing himself because his privacy was exposed for the whole world to see. And an assistant attorney general in Michigan is harassing a gay student union leader in cyberspace as well as in front of his home. When is this country going to start standing up for the little guy and gal? Who do people turn to for help and guidance? There is no safety net to catch the helpless and burdened. I guess everyone will wait around for another Columbine incident. Then everyone will be wringing their hands saying how tragic it was and that something must be done about it. A fragile mind can lead a person anywhere, and none of those places are good.

[Moody One]

Very tragic case. I guess all it takes is a couple of clicks of the mouse to ruin lives.

[FREELEO]

This is tragic all the way around. The fact that this young man felt the need to kill himself, well; there is no coming back from that.

I also feel sorry for the other two college kids. Something tells me this was suppose to be just another dumb college prank that ended up having an extremely dire consequence.

It just goes to show that it only takes a moment to ruin lives.

[Sister_Ally]

My apologies, Byron. That was not my intent.

[chris w.]

My heart aches for the pain this young kid must have experienced. How could the perpetrators be so callous. Didn't they pause for just a minute to think how their behavior might severely harm another.

[Lang B]

Sad case indeed. What most bothers me is this TECH age where IPhones and web cams- decoy cams are so small that you can tape almost anyone, anywhere without them knowing. Was shown aclip by a friend of a converation with someone at a train station that was filmed so well with his phone. UGH!

[TheRevKev]

I have been at Rutgers all day, meeting with LGBT groups, leaders, liaisons and staff.

WE WILL BE HAVING A VIGIL ON SUNDAY @ 7P ON THE RUTGERS (NEW BRUNSWICK) CAMPUS! I will come back and let you know the location! We are still working that out as it is Homecoming Weekend, but IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN!

Tyler Clementi's body was positively identified WHILE we were in the meeting and it completely destroyed some of the students who were holding out a measure of hope that it wasn't true!

IT'S TIME FOR SOME ACTION because things are getting HORRIFIC for our youth and we cannot be silent and lives in words online! WE MUST TAKE ACTION!!!!!

[kevjack]

This is so sad. I am praying for his family.

[Distant Lover]

So sad. What would possess his roommate to do something so callous and evil? The Devil is busy indeed. Tyler must have been well loved and I really hope something good comes out of this tragedy.

[MW09]

So unbelievably tragic. I hate that so many LGBT youth feel the need to take their own lives. May they all rest in peace.

I hope Tyler's sick f**k of a roommate gets the full five years.

[Xander69]

I feel so bad for Tyler. It's pretty sick what his roommate did, to say the least. I hope he gets expelled in addition to the full legal punishment he has coming to him.

If there's a silver lining to this, it's that these incidents of harassment/bulling are now considered newsworthy and hopefully this will bring about some change. Gay kids being pushed to the point of suicide is nothing new.

Let's be real, the "bullies" have always been around. Today they just have an extra tool to harass their victims with, social networking (facebook, twitter, etc.).

[miguelG]

RevKev: applauding your efforts...it is wonderful. You advise ITS TIME FOR ACTION!
What is it you propose?

[Latrace]

People need to do better.This story just breaks my heart.Im praying for the family who lost their son and pray that the roommates get to know and learn from this bc they going to do some jail time