Strange record of Florida teen's Web suicide persists online

An image of Biggs' profile photo, and part of a note he wrote on a body building Web forum.

In the unsettling and bizarre case of Abraham Biggs' suicide, streamed live over the Web and witnessed by members of a body building discussion forum, a chilling chronicle of the Florida teenager's drug overdose remains intact online.

Biggs' death was first confirmed by NewTeeVee. Early Wednesday morning, Biggs began a discussion thread called, "Ask a guy who is gonna OD (again) tonight anything," which included nothing but a link to his live video stream on the Justin.tv site.  He used the alias "CandyJunkie."

When a forum user asked why Biggs was doing this, he responded,"I wanna die dur." The last word means "Duh," or "Isn't it obvious?"

The discussion thread, in the 'Misc' section of bodybuilding.com, eventually grew to over 60 pages before it was removed by the site, but a cached version of the thread is still available via Google. Though forum members were not initially sure what to make of Biggs' claim, or of the mostly unmoving image of him splayed on his bed, the level of urgency soon began to rise, with several members posting contact information for local authorities and for Biggs himself. They encouraged other posters to call for help.

The cached discussion thread captures the strange and confused way a crowd can react to such an event, with some contributors riding a fine line between baiting Biggs and simply teasing him for what they viewed as a play for attention.  When one poster contacted a moderator of the site about the situation, she replied by saying, "He's an attention whore, you should see all the posts he starts, then deletes."

Indeed, it does appear that Biggs, who lived in Miami, had a history of ...

... starting threads relating to drug overdosing, including one from earlier this month, which he titled "I'm gonna have 40 2mg bars of Xanax Tonight!" After discussing his plan to take the drugs, he wrote at the time,"I got banned for a month for attempting sucide and my JTV account was deleted :-(."

Some of those participating in the thread from Wednesday night may have been familiar with Biggs' previous claims, perhaps contributing to a general sense of skepticism even as Biggs, visible via his Web camera, lay unmoving.

Contributing to the confusion was the apparent suicide note Biggs posted to the thread. After a short time, another bodybuilder.com poster discovered that the note itself was not wholly original. And he was right: Biggs appears to have combined text from at least two other suicide notes from elsewhere on the Web, with a short addition at the end. Biggs' note is transcribed here, while the two that he borrowed from are here and here.

Yet as time went on, more of those watching agreed that it was hard to tell if Biggs was breathing.  ("Umm he hasn't moved in a long time," "any movement?").  Someone dug up a cellphone number Biggs had posted to the forum earlier this year, and several people attempted to call -- not everyone out of concern.

"Called and went straight to voice mail," wrote a member named Eshamed51, boasting that he left a message in which he used an anti-gay slur encouraging Biggs to "do it."

At this point, a forum member named Bulker began to take the situation much more seriously. He looked up and posted information for the Miami police and Broward County sheriff, and encouraged other posters to call immediately. Appearing increasingly frantic from his messages, Bulker wrote that he couldn't call the police because he was in India. "Misc., don't let this happen," he wrote to the message board.

Eventually several members reported that they called the police.

"Police are on it (Yes called them)," wrote one poster.  "I think there's a high chance of fraudin going on here, but even more reason to bust him hard on it. He's either in a lot of trouble, or will be woken up soon when they kick in his door. Watch the cam for swat team."

Nearly 40 minutes after the first round of calls, the message board lit up with announcements and images showing that the police had arrived. Various copies of the video around the Internet indeed reveal police officers breaking into Biggs' room, looking around and finally blocking the Web cam. For posters, the arrival of the authorities seemed to bring the reality of the situation into sharp focus. Many of those who had teased Biggs earlier began to recant, while others were simply in shock at what they were witnessing. 

"I can not believe what I just saw sitting at work in my cubicle," wrote one person. 

"Anyone else shaking from this...?" wrote another.

Expecting the worst, many posters began to hope that Biggs could be treated quickly.  But as one noted, "It seems like too long of a time, [his original post] was almost 12 hours ago."

— David Sarno

Comments

there is no way the forum members or the mods could have done something 4 him
he took the pills than posted the thread
no one believed him due to his trolling past
it's not teh misc fault

[Grady]

The bodybuilding forum should have stopped people from telling him he was a failure and that he should do it. They shouldn't have allowed their members to harass him and call him names. They're not responsible for him committing suicide but members of the site are responsible for pushing him to that point by treating him like dirt and the moderators are responsible for not punishing people that treated him cruelly.

[nf]

You can only make a suicide threat so many times before it is ignored. You can't blame the misc for not taking it seriously. And keep in mind it's a friggin internet forum, not close friends, it isn't their responsibility to seek for counselling for the guy.

They didn't even see him take the drugs so obviously they're going to think it's just theatrics. It's easy to point fingers now, after the fact. For every 1000 threats, there is 1 who actually follows through

[BB.com Forum Poster]

Look, I post on the bodybuilding.com forums regularly. No, I did not watch this, because I was in school and asleep at the time this all transpired.

This guy had a past of making hoax suicide threats, so the Misc section did not take him seriously. It is a classic case of modern day "Boy Crying Wolf"

As for the moderator, Roxie, I believe that she is some to blame, but not as much as people are saying. YES, she should have done something BUT she moderates the Misc. section. That section is mostly for jokes and laughter and other stuff that DOES NOT BELONG ON OTHER PARTS OF THE BOARD. If he had posted this somewhere else, and not the misc, where it would have been taken seriously, there could have been a different outcome here. Also, he did NOT post a (serious) in the thread title. a (serious) in the thread title means NO JOKING AROUND in that thread, and everything is serious.

Overall, if some Miscers get arrested or charged or anything, Ima be mad.

U mad?

[Janice]

nf, the next time someone makes repeated suicide threats or jokes about it, I hope you'll recognize that behavior for what it is -- a cry for help.

[miscman]

janice...brighten up, stop being stupid...you visited the misc section proabably one time, and know youve got everyone figured out, eh?the misc is full of all kinds of people from cali to new york to canada and UK...

you dont know anything about cj...his problems with his life, GF...whateves(oh, ok im sorry, now you know he had bi-polar disorder)....when he made a phony thread about leaving home and hitchhiking to california

about making phony threads about committing suicide

this was clearly a troubled guy, i feel bad

but i srsly think tht the people that were "egging him on" thought it was a big joke; never mind the fact that nothing they say or did could change the fact that CJ had a major cocktail of drugs already processing through his liver;they thought it was a big joke(who wouldnt, given cj's post history), and, in misc fashion, made light of a potentially dangerous scenario

Blame the fact that he was a severely depressed young man, who had attempted suicide in the past, was addicted to pills, and was left alone for hours, with access to large enough amounts of drugs to kill himself.

This has absolutely nothing to do with a website, or a moderator's actions, and all to do with a troubled young man making a decision to take his life, and those closest to him not realizing the tru extent of his mental illness in time to avoid this.

[Janice]

bb is not that special, miscman. I've moderated a large forum since 2003 and I've certainly seen my fair share of caustic internet behavior. I've probably deleted 10,000 messages from people saying things like, "You fail at life, kill yourself".

It's not funny to anyone but the person saying it and it contributes nothing to an internet forum to allow people show such disrespect to other users. It blows my mind that people trolling this kid was acceptable behavior. I know not all forums are closely monitored, but Roxie's behavior is appalling.

[HandOfFate]

Finally an article that promotes reality over sensationalism! Even though this isn't exactly accurate, it is by far the best out there.

As an "internet friend" of Abraham (aka, CandyJunkie) and member of Bodybuilding.com's "Misc" forum, I can tell you that he was a deeply disturbed young man. He lead a second fantasy life online. He would often tell us about unbelievable adventures, that we all knew were made up. He also, would prank or hoax the forum on occasion. Two or three of which turned out to be faux suicide attempts.

There was no way people who barely knew him, and only knowledge of him was that he liked to prank and hoax people, could have known he intended to really do it this time.

Even as a close (in internet standards) friend of Abraham's. I had absolutely no idea what was going down. I left for a date with my girlfriend and by the time I got home, everyone was talking about what had happened.

I don't believe anyone was at blame, not even the three or four morons who taunted him. If they believed it real, I doubt any of them would have acted as they did.

And again, please don't post a comment until you know the whole story! You only make yourself look dumb when you spout off at the mouth without all the facts.

-HandOfFate (Jeremey Allen)

[miscman]

not saying bb.com forums i special(although, ahem, it is in the top 20 of ALL forums visited on the internet.....someone back me up with that?)

but lets pick apart one subject at a time, i was referring to the actions of the reg. forum users

of course alot of the comments directed at CJ were useless, but thats typical misc fashion; thats 99 percent of the internet, useless. had the misc had reasone to believe that CJ was serious they would have tried to do something.

i think your misunderstanding the term "trolling" in our context. CJ had made several "troll" threads, most at attempting suicide. Why would one take him seriously now?

[MA5-miscer]

I understand some of you believing that it is the fault of the forum members on "The Misc."

What I am here to tell you, though, is that it certainly isn't. I am a member of the forum, and have seen what goes on hour by hour, day by day. The forum is a light-hearted place, and most everything on it is taken as some sort of joke. Hence, as someone mentioned above, why people usually put a (serious) tag on their posts if they are posting something in which they don't want people to start joking and poking fun.

CJ had a history of making hoax threads. He had many times in the past written in to the forums about similar subjects, and every time it turned out to just be a joke. Inappropriate, yes, but he wasn't serious, regardless. Put yourself in the shoes of someone on this forum. After endless hoax threads about suicide, after 10 fake threads, what reason would you have to believe him on the 11th? Believing in a story takes some sort of suspension of disbelief, but when that story takes a few too many unbelievable turns, you just disregard it as false.

If you were a boxer, and you kept getting punched in the head, you would eventually learn to keep your hands up and guard your head, right?

That's basically what happened here. CJ, as unfortunate as it is, made his situation much worse by crying wolf so many times that we just didn't believe him any more.

I did not egg him on, as I didn't learn about the event until after it happened, but I know many of the people who participated in the thread, and many of these people are upstanding members. Members who have helped me out before with real life problems. Members who have helped others improve their lives for the better. Members who have really formed a type of family. They were simply unaware that he was finally serious, and as unfortunate as it is, there wasn't much they could do to prevent it. Most of the people in his thread didn't actually see him perform the act. They heard about it, sure, but only a few saw it. So again, what reason do they have to believe he is serious?

I know I've been rambling on, but to be honest, someone needs to stand up for the people who are wrongly being accused. They are being compared almost to murderers, and that just isn't fair and it isn't correct. Open your eyes to the situation and for once, actually think about your comments before you go stating your opinions as fact.

[Janice]

I hope that everyone at that forum learns from this that when you say hurtful things online, you're saying them to another human. Even if he was making fantasy threads, even if he was telling outlandish tales, that's not as harmful, to me, as calling someone a faggot or to go ahead and do it when they tell you they're going to kill themselves, even if it is for the 200th time. If you want to tell someone that they suck or they're ugly or they should commit suicide, tell SmarterChild.

[Zwack]

the BBC has a psuedo-documentary style programme running called "How Mad Are You?".
it has shown (to me at least) how difficult it can be to spot mental illness, or how easily it can be hidden, even from top professionals in the field of psychiatry.
I can only guess with a Bi-polar type disorder, this poor lad's family, whilst fully aware of his condition, could have easily been oblivious to the increasing seriousness of his lows.

inevitably he seems to have chosen to cry for help in this online community, which when viewing some of the comments there seems to revel in a lack of morality.
with the acknowledged detatchment of the internet, I can see a single threat of suicide being brushed off as attention seeking, but 10?

I feel it's important to note that this forum is controlled by an operating BUSINESS, not an mere individual.
I cannot fathom how nothing was done to clear their forum up.
They seem to have allowed a mere teenager to continually threaten suicide in their place of business, and did nothing.
I seriously hope they can be found liable to some degree for this.

Shame on them, shame on this moderator (Roxie?), who should have been the first person to respond or act, and shame on the members who egged him on - something is missing from their souls.

If legal liability can't be found, I feel somewhat assured there is always Karma - which sees past a username and doesn't recognise detatchment from your actions.
I can't help but think all this could have been averted.

[this is truly disturbing]

BB.com has gone into freefall. Where is Liberty Media and why are they not stepping up and addressing this?

The moderator, Roxie, posted not one but many dismissive comments even after it was known the teenager had died, and is only now,after this has become a huge media event, is expressing remorse.

Another female poster, with a long history of inappropriate postings, encouraged the deceased to "take more" just to be sure he had taken enough to kill himself. This same poster is an adult with a child who aspires to become a fireperson in NY(God help us) Her recent postings, late today, are discussing proper techniques for using toilet paper. Apparently, her grief has been short lived.

This site really needs to have a flashlight shined on it.

[jackiechanfan]

Roxie should be demodded on that forum as she carried herself VERY unprofessionally. If her employers catch wind of this news, it will not end well for her.

may god bless his soul

[Arch]

If someone is to blame for this its his family not an internet forum.

[disgusted]

Regardless of what he had posted on BB (bipolar brings with it a psychosis, he may have believed he WAS going to California. He was also clearly crying for help) as soon as someone saw him downing pills the authorities should have been called.

Blame whomever you want, but answer me why it took so long for someone to contact J.tv?

Calling him a "troll" and dehumanizing him will not change how people reacted. It may not be your fault, but you did nothing to stop it. What kind of person does that make you?

[Shelby]

Someone in CA loves ROXIE to print the story this way. Just so future posters here are aware..most of these post are from the SAME mods & brain dead regulars on bodybuilding.com.

Hey YOU theDUKE..your a mod on that site & come here & say he "got what he wanted" while promosting your suicide assisstance site..are one very sick individual yourslef & only attempting to change the facts here to save your a** & ROXIES A**.

The mods deleted threads & post showing their & others ENCOURAGEMENT for Abraham to kill himself..and also BANNED others that tried to help him.

I wonder how CALIFORNIAS GAY COMMUNITY will feel after learning that bodybuilding.com HATES gays & continually calls them derogatory names including this young man that died??! That website should be INVESTIGATED for a hate crime!!!!!

People will know what you as a community have done over a period of time to this young gay african american man!!

Ever heard of screenshots?? AND to the reporter that wrote this story you should really get your FACTS straight before taking up an LA BASED business cause like this.

His parents..the gay community..NAACP & his parents will know the TRUTH.

[goooglemonster]

I only found out about this event yesterday and cant believe the sensationalism of the media. I have been on JTV for a year now and the conduct of the Misc forum people drove many people to leave the site. They continually sexually and psychologically harass people. This was called raiding in which large groups of them would raid a streamers chat and overwhelm them. Dont for one second claim that you are a bunch of wonderful fun loving people. You have a pack mentality which would have attracted someone without the abilities to see through your twisted realities. I hope that the authorities classify you lot as the terrorists that you are..there is nothing funny or pretty about what you do. I wouldnt be suprised to see all that is pointing at Roxie as just being another form of your well versed character assasination attempts. If anyone wants to know about Misc BB antics in the past all you have to do is ask Jane on JTV.. she had problems with them in the past and never had a good thing to say about them.
Your damage control efforts go to show your conniving manners and surely your joy at completely destroying another human being and getting away with murder. JTV is not to blame..neither is Roxie but I know for a fact that MISC has carried out this behaviour for way to long.

[David]

I am completely offended at the fact that people viewed this and encouraged him to do it. There will be no consequences for any of them. The most any web site can do is cancel the users account, and five minutes later the user has a new one under a different name.
The internet has made it so easy for anyone to say or do anything without punishment, and to do it anonymously.
want proof? go to any video game site, you know, the one your child (yes, YOUR CHILD) visits. go to the forum section. There you can read all the wonderful messages of hate and violence. Go visit Youtube and read the comments there. Or watch a few of the popular videos uploaded there. I have seen everything under the sun on the internet, except morals.

[Dr. Frank Kardasz]

Cyber-assisted suicide prevention assistance is needed

The tragic story describing a 19 year old Miami man who committed suicide while others watched via Internet web cameras is not an isolated incident. A nearly identical situation occurred in Phoenix, Arizona several years ago.

Occasionally the police receive information that someone in cyberspace is threatening suicide. Often the information is provided anonymously and with no follow-up information other than the screen name or email address of the suicidal person. Fortunately, while many people on the Internet contemplate suicide as a cry for help, only a few actually complete the sad act.

Law enforcement is unable to investigate all of the many cyberspace suicide threats. Police are hampered not only by the shortage of investigators but also by the lack of a law that gives them jurisdiction. Some states laws require that a criminal act must be under investigation before a subpoena can be issued to trace through the Internet service provider to the computer connected to the Internet.

Suicide is not a crime in many places and many people believe that suicide by an adult is a personal choice that should not be legislated. In the case of adults it is difficult for law enforcement officers to prevent a determined person from suicide. Many suicidal persons are convinced by authorities to voluntarily surrender themselves to mental health counseling for treatment.
The situation is different when the person threatening suicide is a minor. Because of immaturity a minor is legally incapable of making an informed decision to end his or her life. For minors, law enforcement has a legitimate interest in preventing the suicide but still sometimes lacks the legal ability to investigate.

Suicide-prevention cyberspace emergency exception
In threatened cyber-assisted suicide cases investigators are caught between the mandate to preserve human life and the lack of legislation allowing them to effectively investigate. I recommend the creation of a law that would help the police locate and assist suicidal minors by mandating cooperation from Internet service providers.

Here is some draft wording for consideration:

Electronic communications emergency exception regarding threatened suicide involving minors
If, while using electronic communications a person identifying himself as a minor threatens suicide, law enforcement may request subscriber information about the person from electronic communications service providers - also know as Internet service providers. The electronic communications service providers will provide subscriber information about person threatening suicide when law enforcement states that there is reasonable suspicion to believe that the suicidal person is a minor. Internet service providers and electronics communications providers doing business in (name your jurisdiction) are required to comply.

Dr. Frank Kardasz
Phoenix Arizona, USA

[Tina]

No one is responsible for this unfortunate incident except for the young man who decided to take his life. Anyone who has participated in a forum knows that there are always trolls who seek attention with outrageous posts and apparently this man's threat was part of a pattern of behavior.

Anyone who goes online looking for fun, sunshine, and friends is an idiot. The anonymity of the internet leads people to be unusually cruel. That is evident from the comments section to almost any news story.

[Tom The Patriot]

It is clear the bodybuilding.com forum, Justin.tv, affiliates, moderators, and especially the posters, all helped to kill this kid.

One of the first reports on WIRED was filled with vile laughter and depraved comments, obviously an exact mirror of what happened on Justin.tv - and is exactly why this kid is now dead. The posters above who are busy giving excuses and saying the Internet are not to blame are delusional or simply apologists for evil.

Cruelty, selfishness, mental sickness and lack of empathy are rampant among today's teens and 20 something’s. Thanks to the anonymous internet, ultra-violent shoot up-up videogames and other anti-social media, these creatures (calling them people is way too nice; also known as ‘fanboys’) mind’s, have been conditioned by their hundreds of thousands of hours of exposure to splatter porn such as SAW, Grand Theft Auto, HALO, etc. to enjoy nothing but hate and harm. With no parents in control, and absolutely no reality checks in their lives, they live in an out of control world of sensation and degradation.

Nobody on this site has ever read something called a ‘book’, but here is a quote from something called ‘history’ which could apply to ‘free market capitalism’ as much as out of control internet fanboys:

“A long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of being RIGHT, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.”

[anonymous]

to tol bol who stated "its times like this i hope the Christians are wrong" i am going to assume that you are referring to the catholic dogma that all suicides go to hell. Not all Christians believe this. In fact Martin Luther (who basically started the Reformation and got many to abandon such dogma) had this to say, "I don't have the opinion that suicides are certainly to be damned. My reason is that they do not wish to kill themselves but are overcome by the power of the devil."

God will judge this young man. The rest of us may only speculate. Christ died to "cover a multitude of sins" so we leave the matter between this young man and his Creator. Hopefully he had faith in Christ and is now at peace with Him.