Social Media Prank Blamed for Orland Park Girl's Suicide: Lawsuit

An Orland Park fifth-grader’s 2013 suicide is being blamed on two friends who perpetrated a “sick social media prank” on the child, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County court by the dead girl’s mother.

The children, identified as Jane Doe and John Doe in the lawsuit, were classmates of the girl who committed suicide in June 2013. The boy concocted a story to persuade the plaintiff’s child that he intended to kill or harm himself. The boy, John Doe, set up social media accounts to further the ruse, using Facebook, Twitter, Kik, Instagram and Facetime, the suit charges.

Jane Doe, though she knew the boy was not going to hurt himself, worked with him to persuade their classmate over two days that the threats were real, according to the suit.

The lawsuit contends that the target of their prank fell into “severe physical, psychological and emotional anguish and anxiety,” states the lawsuit, and she overdosed on diphenhydramine on June 10.

The boy and girl are accused of negligence, and the parents are accused of negligence because they failed to monitor their children’s social media use.