Photo: Feeling Helpless, Texas Teen Posts to Twitter Before Taking Own Life
In the age of the internet, today’s young people often find themselves talking to no one, while constantly telling ‘no one’ anything and. Making public posts on Facebook and Twitter does not ensure that someone will read what you have to say, it simply ensures what you have to say is online.
Eighteen-year-old Ashley Billasano may not have being speaking to anyone in particular, but she was definitely talking.
Over the course of six hours, the senior at BF Terry High School reportedly posted 144 ‘tweets’ on Twitter. In them she revealed to her followers that she was feeling helpless after being molested and forced into prostitution.
“I remember telling my closest teacher and CPS and the police detectives,” she tweeted. “I remember having to tell them everything.”
Though Billasano reached out to police, she was crushed to find out that the man who had abused her for years would not be prosecuted.
“Weeks passed, then I got the call. They said, ‘sorry but there isn’t enough evidence’ I hung up.”
“That’s when I changed,” she said in the next tweet. “I didn’t care anymore. And the people I was meeting gave me no reason to.”
For hours, her 500 followers were able to read her posts, though some either did not see them or thought they were fake.
In the end, while some in the online community were trying to figure out if she was telling the truth, she was already planning to take her life.
The Texas teen’s final tweet: Take two. I hope I get this right.
Sonya Corrales of the Houston Area Women’s Center told FOX 26, “Today, social media is the way people communicate and we have to listen and listen well.”
