Based on DailyMail, Cimarron, a 12-year-old schoolgirl from West Virginia, tragically took her personal life after being blackmailed by 26-year-old Alexander McCartney, a pc science pupil from Northern Eire. McCartney has since been described because the “UK’s most prolific catfisher.”
McCartney posed as a younger woman named Sarah to control Cimarron into sending him topless images. After gaining her belief via flattery, McCartney revealed his true identification and demanded extra express photos. When Cimarron refused, he threatened to ship the images to her father, Ben Thomas, a former US Military veteran. Confronted with these terrifying threats, Cimarron made the tragic determination to finish her life utilizing her father’s handgun in Could 2018.
Devastating Affect on the Thomas Household
McCartney’s manipulations had far-reaching penalties. Eighteen months after Cimarron’s loss of life, her father, Ben Thomas, additionally took his personal life. The courtroom heard that Ben struggled with overwhelming guilt for leaving his gun accessible and was haunted by the lack of his daughter. The Thomas household, who lived in a small city in West Virginia, was torn aside by the double tragedy.
McCartney has pleaded responsible to manslaughter and awaits sentencing, with the potential for life imprisonment. Nevertheless, the Thomas household believes he ought to have been charged with homicide. An uncle informed MailOnline, “He would possibly as properly have pulled the set off himself and killed each my niece and brother.” The household contends that McCartney’s manipulation straight led to each Cimarron’s and Ben’s deaths, they usually hope his punishment will mirror the severity of his crimes.
The Horrors Revealed in Court docket
The courtroom heard that McCartney used his technical abilities to prey on younger women from his bed room in Newry, South Armagh. He pressured Cimarron into sending topless images earlier than revealing his true identification and issuing wicked calls for. When Cimarron refused, McCartney heartlessly informed her to “dry her eyes” and even urged she contain her nine-year-old sister in a sexual act. When Cimarron informed him she would slightly kill herself, McCartney launched a countdown, displaying no concern for her well-being. Shortly after, Cimarron used her father’s Heckler and Koch handgun to finish her life.
Aftermath and Ongoing Grief
Cimarron’s youthful sister, solely 9 years outdated on the time, was the primary to seek out her physique, listening to the gunshot however initially mistaking it for a balloon popping. It wasn’t till 2021 when police uncovered the net conversations between McCartney and Cimarron, that the household discovered the true extent of the abuse she had endured.
Cimarron’s mom, Stephanie, has been unable to deal with the lack of each her daughter and husband. Household buddies say she has post-traumatic stress dysfunction (PTSD) and struggles to speak concerning the tragedy. Even when investigators from Northern Eire tried to fulfill together with her, Stephanie was too traumatised to interact with them.
Memorials and Advocacy for Suicide Consciousness
Cimarron’s grandfather, Dale Thomas, has devoted a memorial bench to his son and granddaughter exterior his house in Frostburg, Maryland. The bench bears the badge of Ben’s army regiment, the tenth Mountain Division, and the phrases “Religion had introduced us via.”
In honour of Cimarron, Ashton Peters, an in depth buddy, has arrange a suicide consciousness web page and organises an annual fundraising stroll. Family and friends of each Cimarron and Ben participate, aiming to boost consciousness about psychological well being and suicide prevention.