Sexting fallout leads to teen's suicide

WIMAUMA - At 13-years-old, Hope Witsell felt her life was no longer worth living.

The Wimauma eighth grader decided the only way out of her troubles was death. Hope hanged herself September 12 in her bedroom.

At the end of her seventh grade year at Beth Shields Middle School in Ruskin, Hope used her cell phone to send a boy a picture of her herself topless.

It's called "sexting" and it's happening frequently, says Tampa Psychologist Dr Valerie McClain.

"There's also competition I think with young females even younger than 12 or 13 to show themselves as adult," she said.

McClain says teens, still developing mentally, sometimes don't understand the consequences of sharing sexually explicit photographs and videos.

"It's more of an impulsive act. And they don't think OK that could be forwarded to 20 or 30 other people. That could be transferred to the internet in a heartbeat," she explained.

A recent Associated Press- MTV poll found that more than a quarter of young people have been involved in sexting. Half of those surveyed said it's not a big deal. The other half considered sexting a serious problem, but do it anyway.

Hope's picture circulated through the school and beyond. Her mother says the teasing and tormenting was relentless.

"It can backfire badly and turn into something where initially they were re-enforced for it," McClain said. "But now they could become very ashamed and embarrassed about it."

In the survey, those who sent nude pictures of themselves sent them to a boyfriend, girlfriend, or romantic interest. Girls do it more than boys, according to the survey results.

Dr. McClain says parents often have no idea. She suggests parents speak candidly with their children about the dangers of sexting.

"Talk about it openly and to educate and say these images and pictures, without going into detail, can end up being forwarded to other people and be used in ways they shouldn't be," she said.

Cell phone carriers also offer features to help parents monitor their kids' cell phone use.

O.C. St. Lawrence works at Best Buy in Brandon. He says, in his experience, it's usually the last thing parents consider.

"No one asks about the parental controls and there's a lot there's out there," St. Lawrence told FOX 13.

The options vary between carriers.

"You can stop picture messaging. You can stop a lot of those features," he said.

Most carriers have options to block messages and calls to and from certain numbers.

"You can stop your outbound calls after a certain time or you can stop your incoming calls after a certain amount of usage," St Lawrence said.

Hope's parents say they weren't aware of what was happening to their daughter. They are being advised by an attorney. Hopes leaves behind her parents, three siblings, and the question of how could something like this happen.

Her death is the second known suicide linked to sexting.