The mom whose 11-year-old son hanged himself because of an internet prank wants the boy’s girlfriend to be punished.
Katrina Goss told the Detroit Free Press her son’s 13-year-old girlfriend — who faked her death on social media, prompting the boy to take his own life — knowingly did the wrong thing.
"I think she deserves the highest punishment that she can get for her age," Goss said of the girl, whose name hasn’t been disclosed because of her age. “Even when you're young you can still commit a crime.”
Tysen Benz died Tuesday, having spent three weeks on life support after hanging himself on March 14.
The boy had secretly been communicating with the girl for several months. When he came home that day, the girl told Tysen she was going to kill herself and used a friend’s computer to make it seem as if she was dead, Goss previously told the Daily News.
Goss said she later found Tysen in a closet — hanging from his belt. She rushed him to the hospital in their native Marquette, Mich. He was moved to another hospital where he died earlier this week.
The eighth-grade girl was arrested this week because authorities said she made a false report of someone’s death, according to the Detroit Free Press. She was charged with telecommunication services-malicious use and using a computer to commit a crime, the newspaper reported.
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Marquette County Prosecutor Matt Wiese said he wants parents to also monitor what their kids are saying to each other online.
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"If we're buying them a $600 smartphone and giving them access to this digital world, we need to know where they're going, what they're doing and who they're talking to,” he told the Detroit Free Press. “If they're not open, then we have a responsibility not to give them access."
The charges carry up to a year in jail.
Goss alleged the girl knowingly tried to hurt her son, saying the act was bullying.
“She's intelligent,” Goss told the newspaper. “She knows right from wrong. She's 13. She took advantage of a little 11-year-old. I feel like she deserves the full extent of punishment for her age."
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