In April 2023, my 13-year-old son was lost to suicide. We would not learn for many months what led him to take his own life. It would turn out after the local police were very ineffective and did a handoff to federal authorities, that he was targeted on Snapchat by a predator in Nigeria, posing to be a female to entice him to send “a photo.” After sharing this image, these predators identified that they wanted to receive ransom or else they were going to share this photo with all of his friends, family, school, and social media.
This must’ve overwhelmed Timothy. He was a special kid and really took things to heart. I wish he had came to one of us so we could’ve helped him, because he was scared. Timothy decided to retrieve a handgun out of the glove box of one of the vehicles over at his mom and stepdad’s house. It turns out the stepfather had left the weapon in there, and Timothy knew exactly where it was. He was found by a stepfather dead in the driveway as he left for work that morning. The worst phone call of my life.