Ashley Grills, the mysterious 18-year-old employee of Lori Drew, has finally spoken out about her involvement in the fake “Josh Evans” MySpace persona which instigated 13-year-old Megan Meier to commit suicide.
Grills told “Good Morning America” today (video below) that she, Drew, and Drew’s daughter had come up with ways to find out what Megan was saying about Drew’s daughter, and finally decided upon a fake MySpace account.
Grills has admitted that she made the MySpace, with the approval of Lori Drew, and that she sent the final message telling Megan Meier, “the world would be a better place without you”, explaining that she was trying to end the “relationship” because she felt that the joke had gone too far.
“I was trying to get her angry so she would leave him alone and I could get rid of the whole MySpace,” Grills said.
What Grills did not know, and would not know until after Megan had committed suicide, is that Megan was depressed and suicidal …. and that Lori Drew knew it even before the hoax, but hid that information from her.
“[Lori Drew] had then finally mentioned that Megan was depressed and suicidal. She says, ‘And maybe we pushed her overboard.’”
Grills insists that, despite Lori Drew’s claims to the contrary, Drew did indeed actively participate in the MySpace ruse, from beginning to end, and that she also sent messages to Meier, thus confirming the original police report on the matter in which Drew admitted that involvement. Drew later stated that the police recorded the incident incorrectly, once the story hit national news, but few believed her.
More chillingly, Grills revealed the extent to which Lori Drew, a 47-year-old mother, was willing to go to humiliate a 13-year-old girl who she knew to be not only seriously depressed, but also suicidal.
“She [Megan Meier] was wanting to meet him [the fake "Josh Evans"] … and me and Lori’s daughter were both telling Lori that we thought it was going too far ’cause none of us can meet her, none of us are guys,” Grills said.
“And she [Lori Drew] was like, it’s fine, you know, we can set her up. We can have her go meet him at the mall and go there and just laugh at her, and I thought that was wrong.”
After she heard Meier had hung herself, Grills said, “I was in shock. I just — I went back and Curt [Lori Drew's husband] was yelling at us to get rid of the MySpace, so we did that. And then I just sat down and didn’t say anything.”
“I thought it was my fault,” Grills said.
Here is the part of the interview with Ashley Grills which appeared on television.
Perhaps Grills’ testimony will push local officials into finally filing charges against Lori and Curt Drew, for destruction of evidence, impeding an official investigation, and child abuse. We can only hope.
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Source: ABC News
Bullying, suspicion, envy, jealousy…. secrets. Whatever happened to treating people like human beings?
SHE’S ( DREW) A BITCH AND A LOW LIFE WHO HAD NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN TO DESTROY THE YOUNG GIRLS LIFE BY ACTING LIKE AN ANIMAL HERSELF. SHE’S AN EVIL BITCH AND SHE SHOULD PAY.
Unfortunately, we don’t know all the details. This young Megan sounds like she had serious mental problems. She committed suicide over a boy she didn’t even know? Where were her parents? Are they not monitoring the computer activities of a 13 year old? Not blaming the parents, but all parents need to realize these are young kids and cannot be left to themselves and unsupervised. I have friends who do myspace checks every day! Lori Drew acted very immature in dealing with this girl, but suicide! Cyber bullying has become a serious problem among teens. This happens everyday and no one seems to care. It is terrible at my child’s school. She has told me about horrible things that people have done to others…creating “groups” that say “Why I hate so-in-so” where students write in hateful things. I mentioned to a teacher that I had heard about this and she was shocked. Our school is a very upper class school…oh my, this cannot possible happen here. Our heads are in the sand! Parents step up and monitor your children. Get your children help if they have problems. I supect Megan probably was talking trash about the Drew’s daughter and Lori Drew decided to step in very immaturly having no idea of the consequences.
Traci,
Megan’s mother DID monitor all her online chats. On the morning of that horrible day, she told Megan to get off the computer (but she had a dentist appt. and had to leave). Megan continued the confrontation with Josh and when Megan’s mom got home she closed down the computer and told Megan to go to her room (Megan had been using quite a bit of bad language in her rage at “josh’s” comments). It was a short time later that the parents found Megan hanging in her closet near death.
I think the parent were actually more involved then most. Most parents just leave the compute to the kids and walk away. I don’t think there was much Megan’s mom could have done to prevent this. The truth is that this little group of evil doer that Lori Drew put together should have never done this BS, but they did and Megan is dead.
I have heard Ashley speak and I believe she is truly sorry for what happened but all I hear from Lori Drew is denial and lies. I hope the state of Ca. gets her for something. She deserves some time in jail for what she did!
Traci’s willingness to blame a troubled 13 year old victim and her parents is sad to say the least. Any 47 year old that deliberately inflicts this kind of pain on a child is a sadistic monster, whether that child kills herself or not. She asks “Where were her parents?” without seeing the irony of Mrs. Drew being a parent herself. She should better ask where is Mrs. Drew’s HUMANITY? Even if she didn’t know the child would kill herself she was well aware that the words were hateful and cruel. She deliberately hurt that child and it is incredible that Traci brushes it off with “we don’t know all the details”. Regardless of whether a group of teenagers are dissing each other, this Drew person deliberately tried to hurt that girl. What other details are required to determine that there are NO circumstances that would make what she did anything less than an act of extreme cruelty? Are our “very upper class schools” not even teaching the difference between right and wrong or that Traci does not know that an adult deliberately hurting a child is wrong regardless of the circumstances? I also see the irony of my castigating Traci’s view of life but I worry… are these schools turning out more people like Mrs. Drew who lack basic human compassion for others?
There is evil in this world. Lori Drew is the personification of that evil. Without conscience, she hurt a vulnerable young girl to the point she felt her life was not worth living.
What kind of animal could do that? Only a heartless, selfish, evil, immature devil. Lori Drew is that devil.
And, Traci, what kind of person would try and find justification or rationalize that kind of behavior? How would you feel if someone did the same to your child?
“I was trying to get her angry so she would leave him alone and I could get rid of the whole MySpace,” Grills said.
thats crap!!!! all she had to do was hit DELETE then YES to really delete the profile, ive done it myself. She didnt have to try to make megan angry at this josh profile, if she had just deleted it then megan would be alive today, she and the drews need to be tried for murder and punished accordingly in my opinion.Grills is trying to cover her own a$$, they KNEW megan was batteling depression and on meds, that combined with teenage hormones is a lethal combination.
This story makes me so angry. What kind of adult, let alone a MOTHER, does that to a 13 year old child? Mothers should teach their daughters how to face problems with dignity and intelligence, not lying and deliberating hurting people. Oh, and Traci: yes it’s true that young Megan had problems. She had depression from grade 3 and apparently Lori Drew knew all this beforehand. But why the hell would you blame a 13 year old girl for this whole tragedy? I think YOU should get all the details. Apparently, Megan’s mother did in fact monitor most of her daughter’s internet use. So please stop your lecturing about how parents just need to be aware and implicitly blaming Megan’s parents for their daughter’s death. If you can’t see where the problem of an adult posing as a teenager and harassing a 13 year old girl with self-esteem problems, then you have serious issues as well and no amount of “upper class” education can possibly teach you the real values in life.
My heart goes out to Magan’s family. The Meiers indeed did much more than a normal parent. I can’t help but also feeling sorry for the Drews. As manipulative and cruel as Lori seems to be, she clearly did not intend to murder. Now, their lives are in hell no matter how much they officially maintain that they are not responsible.
In the end, I think a little bit of everything added up to push Megan over the edge: her mental condition, the unbearable cruelty of Lori Drew and her collaborators as well as the classmates, and yes, a little bit of her mother’s protective pressure. Out of all of these, Lori Drew stands out like a sore thumb as the most immature adult, but she would not have been considered a monster if nothing else added up to be final sorrow that ended Megan’s life.
Lori Drew should have behaved more as an adult and stayed out of the children’s business. If she decided to get involved, she should have been more forgiving and compassionate. She was not, but we can still can be.
In this statement I am in no way saying LOri Drew does not deserve to BBQ in hell but, isnt interesting that this ashely person admits sending the message (i.E. being the direct cause) of this girls death and whats her punishment?
Immunnity and a pat on the back you good citizen from the ofallon prosecutors office, the state of missouri, and the federal govenment.
The award goes to EVil. With special commendation to the justice system whom without this travesty would not be possible.
I just have to maintain what I have always told everyone I know.
You just don’t know how you touch the people you come in contact with. Carelessness and thoughtlessness can affect people in ways that you might not comprehend. You never know what someone is experiencing in their own mind, in their own heart.
I try to choose my words carefully, because I desperately wish to cause no harm to others. I have seen myself, how careless words can cause harm and how much they can hurt.
As far as the woman who concocted this plot against a child. She needs to take a good look at herself and try to understand the reason why, at her age should she even try to join in the “school yard” fight.
I am a mom too. I confess there were times that I wanted to fight my daughter’s battles for her and to protect her, but in due reality, I realized that I must resist that urge. If I always fought my daughter’s battles, how could she ever learn to cope with life on her own?
And what have I reaped from that decision?
I have a confident, mature and wise 20 yr. old daughter that maintains friendships with people from in their 60’s down to the babies she cares for. Parents actually fight for the chance to take her on vacations with them, because not only do know my daughter will compently take care of their kids when they want to enjoy time to themselves…they actually enjoy her company as well.
My heart and prayers go out to Megan’s parents…she was a beautiful child and hopefully their loss will change things and spare another family and another child from going thru something like this.
This is such a tragedy. Sometimes it is the words we say that leave the deapest scars. It is a parents responsibility to teach a child to be kind. When my children would make fun of someone, I would call them on it and ask them how they would feel if someone were to do that to them. I also remind them how some people can feel so hopeless and sad. Teen-agers are especially vulnerable. A truly great person is one who make everyone that they meet feel good about themself. If we all did this we would have no shortage of friends and the world would definitely be a better place. Always find the good in others and let them know. Megan looked like a beautiful girl. I’m so sorry.
I just want to say how sorry and sad I am for the loss of Megan’s life. This is such a tragedy.
My heart goes out to Megan’s parents.
I think my soul died just a little bit after hearing about this story….what an evil world we live in.
I don’t know how Ms. Drew can live with herself.
THIS IS SO SAD! MY HEART BREAKS EVERYTIME I HEAR THIS STORY. DID THIS GROWN WOMAN NOT HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO THAN PICK ON A CHILD. IT MAKES ME WONDER WHAT IS THE WORLD COMING TO? EVERYONE INVOLVED IN THIS CRUEL “TRICK” SHOULD BE PUNISHED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW. HOW CAN SHE LIVE WITH HERSELF EVERYDAY LOOKIN AT HER DAUGHTER KNOWIN SHE IS THE REASON MEGAN KILLED HERSELF.
omg. i cannot believe what happen to megan miere. im not megan’s friend and i dont know her but my heart was so heart broken i hate see when people kill themselve but hate that person who make megan kill herselve.. and she so beautiful girl.. and that stupid when woman picked on 13 year old girll. i think that woman need to respect.!
I’ve seen Ashley’s interview and i don’t get why Tina believed her.Ashley can’t even answer a yes or no question qith a simple yes or no.it’sall “pretty much” or “ummmm..”Ashley’s bodylanguage and mannerisms convince me she’s lying.Ashley admits she is the one who owned the account.She calims she had help,but from what she said i think it’s all her own.not that Ashley legally did anything wrong.i know people who troll,and some even say they hacked into accounts.so i know it can happen.
i live in o’fallon and i know most partied involved in this and it sickens me to see the things you all are writting you dont think that this town is not angry with these people for what happened you dont think we all especially people like me and a few others who have heard the story striaght from these people are angry we are but wishing death and all that other bs upon those people is not the way to go about it talking shit on them is not it either you know from those that i have talked to not all the parties involved knew that this young girl was depressed and on medication and another thing that if you lived in this damn town you would know there were more people on that fake myspace then just ashley lori and lori’s daughter i dont know her name but there were several other teenagers that had gotten onto that page due to lori’s daughter giving out the information but what i am trying to say is unless you hear the words come straight out of the horses mouth then you should not believe everything you read
as as for those who dont think tina checked her daughters myspace she did she monitored it very well i think better than most of us as being parents me i am a single mother of two teenagers but its very hard to keep track of these things these days i do not allow my children to get on the net at my house but who is to say that they dont do it somewhere else we cannot be with our children 24/7 they have to grow up sometime you know they make there own choices and own mistakes
but do not blame one person everyone is to blame EVERYONE not just the parties involved you are to blame i am to blame we are all to blame for letting things like myspace run a muck in our childrens lives what ever happened to the good old days were our kids played outside instead of sitting inside and talking on a fake world like i am now its just plain stupid if you ask me
Oh my god. I can’t go on Myspace anymore. I really can’t. I don’t want to make anyone feel that fucking bad! Noo
Ackkk
Do you think I should go on Myspace?
I now need help
Please
I can just picture Ashley Grills and the others laughing and snickering during all of this. But no one wants ownership of it now. It’s truly a sad event and this bullying has killed many kids. The Columbine and Virginia Tech killings are a direct result of this kind of bullying.
I hope Lori and her husband get all the years available to give them. They abused this child and they abused thier own child and Ashley Grills also-as they were not adults when this was occuring. I applaud Ms. Grills fro comig forward and admitting what part she had in this. That took courage and she did not have to do it. I am not saying she was not wrong when this was occuring but she is telling the truth now and accepting the consequencews of that truth. She was also a child whcn this occurred.
Lori is a cruel person who deserves to go to jail.
I think that Megan’s parents should have told her not to talk to this Evans guy from the point where he had started to send crude messages to her. If I were going to end the practical joke that they played on her I would probably say something unhurtfull like, “I think you should be friends with your friend again and not talk behind her back. I cant talk with you anymore, not beacuse of the friend thing but beacuse, my parents are going broke and cannot aford electricity so I cant use the Internet anymore, bye.”
Yes, I agree it is stupid and totally fake but atleast it wouldn’t have lead her to commiting suicide.
All in all I think they shouldn’t have started the joke in the first place. I think Megan and her friend should have talked about their personal problems and tried to figure them out. Lori shouldn’t have blamed Ashley for making Megan commit suicide instead Lori should have behaved like an adult and shouldn’t have told her to creat the myspace acount from the beginning.
We all know how vulnerable teenagers are & this “mother” knew from her own daughter that the girl was suicidal & that’s enough to consider it premeditated. She is evil. Everyone is questioning her parents, but no matter how much talking they did, they were indeed in the house and her mother had just talked to her and went downstairs & no more than half an hour later, the girl killed herself. There’s no way they can watch her every second. Maybe they should have put a lock on the computer, but I doubt that would have changed much with the girls mental state. Her mental state isn’t the issue with this case. It’s the fact that an adult is involved in harassing a minor, it’s child abuse and she hasn’t even had the decency to apologize for her actions even if she doesn’t agree she’s at fault for the suicide. She even enlisted the help of others to torture the girl. She needs a mental evaluation & the courts should step in to determine if she’s mentally capable of continuing to raise her own daughter. God will have his moment with her. To the family: I’m so tremendously sorry for your loss and the acts contributing make it worse. It’s hard enough to deal with a teenager having mental issues without an adult with a kid of her own pushing her over the edge. As parents aren’t we ALL supposed to behave like adults and not the kids and give our children sound advice and guidance. She attacked the girl instead of talking to her own daughter. She should be ashamed and prosecuted for much more than she has been. I hope they get a civil case and sue her.
Megan Meier deserved to die for lack of value on her life. Laurie didn’t kill her, she didn’t put a gun to her head, and she didn’t put the knife in her hand. Oh poor me a boy don’t like me, ah a bully said I have cooties, oh no…MOMMY…….. This is AMERICA and people get picked on daily. Survival of the fittest and obviously she didn’t have the means to survive. Megan AND ONLY MEAGAN choose to end her life because she was weak. Laurie didn’t want her to die, and anyone that thinks so is an idiot. Pisses me off that this is even nationalized get over it! Fact is Meagan was weak and its firkin bullshit that Drew is EVEN TRIED for manslaugter! You people are idiots! Oh no, I called you idiots, now go kill yourself… Millions of people have fake profiles, millions do not read the terms of conditions, there is NO WAY IN HELL I will give my name on a website, do you know the rate of identity theft. I like my privacy thank you very firkin much. I’m really pissed off at the mom to, raising her daughter that if she ever has a problem just commits suicide; she was never even responsible enough to use the internet. Yes it’s the parent’s fault that she died; maybe she should cap the alcohol and put the steak knives away. A little parenting would have told you that Megan had issues and she need mental help, which I’m also recommending you to get yourself because you’re not mentally capable of reproducing. Where was your support to your daughter? Why did you not teach your daughter how to IGNORE PEOPLE!! Hello, I have the choice to not respond to emails, phone calls, text messages, letters and all together have them deleted if I so choose to. NOW, if your daughter had even 1 brain cell she would have respectfully deleted this boy from her myspace and washed her hands with him and onto her life she goes. But she decided that this “boys” opinion was more than hers. Sounds like Megan was an idiot to me because someone that can handle the day to day would know tomorrow is another day, and the injury will soon fade. I was picked on when I was young and guess what, I’m still here. I don’t bully, I don’t encourage it and agree Laurie made a decision and she had to defend herself. Was she wrong? No she wasn’t , because If I needed some investigation done I too would do whatever I had to do to find out the truth. She said one thing that is world is a better place without you…hmmm well you know what…HOW IRONIC!! Without this happening this wouldn’t be national news, therefore bringing new laws in motion. It’s actually funny that although Megan wasn’t’ fit for life, she was motivation for laws. Again I don’t encourage bullying, I do shout out my thoughts on stupidity and Megan has caught my attention. But thankfully we don’t’ have Megan around to hear cry anymore, Just her mom. I hope she too follows her daughters destiny. Man! If I only had the magical wand to rid idiotic stupid whiners. We have freedom of speech, and if we want to create a fake profile then we can just do that. If we want to block our phone number from caller Id we can, if we want computer encryption WE CAN. DO YOU UNDERSTAND!!!! This was a fake profile used to get inside information due to fact that Megan was probably a backstabbing backtalkin bitch, I don’t know her and neither do 99% of you so we’ll just leave it at that. And if same as saying goes for the kitchen if you can’t take the heat. If you can’t deal with life, then do the world a favor. And Meagan did just that!! I wouldn’t show emotions for someone that didn’t value their life either. Oh yeh I in no way whatsoEVER know Megan, Laurie or whoever her moms name is. So now Megan’s mom, you can go join your daughter because I hurt your poor feelings. I do feel for your loss, as I been in your shoes with “almost” the same circumstances, but I’m not trying to put the blame on anyone else, the only one that can be blamed is no longer with me.
Myspace needs to have in their terms. Anybody that can’t handle having their feelings hurt, needs not to create a myspace page. Matter fact there should be a clause that states they should seek medical help.
Whatever fake …. didn’t you post a substantially similar comment in another thread here, just yesterday?
Why, yes. Yes, you did.
http://elfninosmom.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/megan-meier-final-message/#comment-6474
Again, you have no room to call anyone else an “idiot” when you don’t even understand that Lori Drew was never charged in the death of Megan Meier. She was charged (and convicted) of defrauding MySpace.
Again, based upon those comments, you are delusional if you don’t think you are a bully. Of course you are a bully, or else you would not be making comments of this nature at all.
Last but not least …. paragraphs are your friend, and they want you to use them to your advantage.
“Backstabbing backtalkin bitch” (spellcheck–also your friend)?? Now isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black.
Can someone explain to me what Curt Drew’s role in this sortid story was?
Its not right to make someone commit suicide just to find out what they are saying about you…… Its sad that she [drew] kept saying it was going to be all right ……. It horible….. i hope she burns in hell !!!! and she dies the same way Megan did!!! its just not right!!!
I would pay 5k to shove a hot curling iron up her @$$. Burn in hell bitch~!