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No Mercy: Little Girl Cyberbullied on Her Deathbed
Kathleen Edward
7-year-old Kathleen Edward of Trenton, Michigan, suffers (and will likely die) from Huntington’s Disease. Kathleen has been mercilessly mocked by a grown woman, Jennifer Petkov, who has posted photoshopped images to Facebook of Kathleen’s mother, Laura – who also died of Huntington’s Disease - including “Laura in the arms of the grim reaper” and Kathleen with her “face superimposed over a skull and crossbones,” reports Jezebel.
All this over an unanswered text about a birthday party. If you haven’t yet come to the conclusion that cyberbulling is out-of-control – and that adults are largely responsible for some of the most reprehensible behavior online toward children, I suggest you get on board, asap.
Jezebel reports that Petkov has admitted her guilt and apologized for her abysmal actions, saying, “And to that little girl, I apologize if you’ve been hurt. There’s not much more I can say.” Apparently, there literally isn’t much more Petkov can do, because a restraining order has been placed against her. Otherwise she’d, “walk right across this street now and apologize” face to face.
Yeah – because I’m sure a dying little girl wants to see the woman who mocked her and her mother in their indigent state.
According to a Facebook invitation for the anti-bullying rally being held in Kathleen’s honor on October 23, the Petkov’s have displayed a “Death Truck w/a makeshift Coffin” in their front yard, which they claim is a Halloween decoration, “and they pull in front of the House and Rev the engines and Yell, ‘Satan is waiting and we can’t wait till you die like your Mother’.” MyFox Detroit reports that Jennifer Petkov’s husband, Scott, has “dismantled the coffin and has moved [the] truck up his driveway, out of public view. He says he plans to paint the truck and make things right for Kathleen’s sake,” adding, “She is after all, still alive.”
Yes, and little Kathleen will be treated to a $9,000 toy shopping spree, thanks to locals who’ve donated to Tree Town Toys in Ann Arbor. Aside from all the unflattering media attention the Petkovs have received, Sadie Stein at Jezebel writes, “There have been negative repercussions for the Petkovs: the husband, Scott, may lose his job and the Petkovs’ son was sent home from school for fighting after another boy confronted him about his family’s behavior.”
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24 Comments
Selena commented on Oct 12 10 at 1:32 pmWhat is going on here!? Wow– there really IS no such thing as adults.
Diera commented on Oct 12 10 at 2:24 pmI think this woman is a waste of space, and her husband appears to condone her behavior so he also owns a piece of it, but I don’t think it’s fair for anyone to take it out on her son.
Gretchen Powers commented on Oct 12 10 at 2:53 pmwhite freaking trash…doesn’t this bitch have a job or a life? nuts!
April commented on Oct 12 10 at 3:07 pmJennifer Petkov just bought her ticket to hell.
Linda commented on Oct 12 10 at 3:43 pmIn what way were these ill people “indigent”? I think a dictionary is in order.
jennifer commented on Oct 12 10 at 4:20 pmNetflix the movie Idiocracy — it is the true “Bible” of our time to predict the future of our society.
Manjari commented on Oct 12 10 at 4:25 pmI’m so horrified that anyone, especially a parent, could behave so terribly.
Gretchen Powers commented on Oct 12 10 at 4:51 pmyeah, I thought that, too, Linda, (indigent?) but didn’t have the energy to read through all the news stories to try and figure out what was meant by that…
Linda commented on Oct 12 10 at 10:02 pmThe writer doesn’t know what the word means.
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Oct 12 10 at 10:47 pmJust awful.
SgtPatioLantern commented on Oct 13 10 at 12:50 amMy God. What on earth could a little child have done to earn this family’s scorn? Seriously. What on earth is wrong with people to think this would be funny? So sad.
Linda commented on Oct 13 10 at 2:17 amYes, those people are complete assholes. And Strollerdebry needs to get rid of a few of its crappier writers. It’s just embarassing.
PlumbLucky commented on Oct 13 10 at 7:41 amI can only guess what was meant, but indigent doesn’t match per the M-W dictionary…not even close.
Phil in NY commented on Oct 13 10 at 7:50 amWhat angers me is, if this situation was of the same nature but involving an Afro-American we would have an arrest or if it involved a homosexual- we would have an arrest, or it it involved a disable person- we would have an arrest AND if we didn’t have an arrest (like we have here) Al Sharpton would be walking down the street with a microphone and/or there would be a gay pride March or the advocates for diabled Americans would me in town hall working feverishly to plot a law suit! I just want to say to jennifer and he low life husband you’re lucky you bullied a 7 year old girl cuz things would be a lot worse for you dimwits right now if it were someone else!
anon101 commented on Oct 13 10 at 11:19 amThis article neglected to mention the news interviews with the Petkovs before they apologized where Jennifer Petkov had this to say about why she did it. “Personal satisfaction! Because it rubs their assholes raw! Burns their assholes! Because it burns Rebecca Rose’s asshole raw to make fun of her dead daughter on that page. Take it or leave it.”
You can watch the video here: http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/the_edge/dying-girl-taunted-by-neighbors-in-trenton
anon101 commented on Oct 13 10 at 11:20 amabsolute scum
Gretchen Powers commented on Oct 13 10 at 11:59 amin defense of CC, the post author, I think, yeah, wrong erroneous choice of words, but she writes interesting and insightful posts with often a unique POV…so let’s not criticize too harshly…this is not the NYT, anyway
Marj commented on Oct 13 10 at 12:21 pmNot to nitpick but this
“And to that little girl, I apologize if you’ve been hurt. There’s not much more I can say.”
is not an apology. It is placing the blame on the little girl. She doesn’t say she is sorry for what she did, she’s sorry the girl was hurt, as if what she did was not the problem, it was the reaction that was wrong. My dad is the master of these non-apology apologies. My favorite is “I’m sorry you got upset.” Note the complete sentences “You got upset”, and “You’ve been hurt”. Nowhere in there is a acceptance of responsibility for what has occurred.
And yeah, this is horrific.
Emily commented on Oct 13 10 at 3:24 pmAnd we wonder why our children are driving each other to suicide. That girl, Megan Meyer (I think), who’s story was one of the first reports of cyberbullying leading to suicide, was bullied by an adult. Bullied, TO DEATH, by an adult. I don’t think that we can stop the children from bullying each other until we stop bullying the children, and until more adults get it into their heads that bullying is a SERIOUS ISSUE. Even if they were a bully, or if they were a victim, or if they stood by and watched, or if they didn’t experience it themselves, that doesn’t change anything. People should be nice to people, no matter the circumstances. And this- This is just DISPICABLE, HORRIBLE, REVOLTING behaviour on the part of that adult. And her apology was crap. That child did NOTHING to deserve any kind of bad treatment, neither did her mother, God rest her soul, and if anyone who does this could possibly NOT have a black hole instead of a heart, I would drop dead if I found out.
KAYCE commented on Oct 13 10 at 5:56 pmTHE IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER IS… KARMA IS A BITCH! THAT HORRIBLE WOMAN WILL GET HER DUES IN THE END. GOD FORBID ANYTHING HAPPENED TO ONE OF HER CHILDREN THERE ARE SEVERAL DISEASES THAT SHOW UP LATER IN LIFE AND ARE VIRTUALLY UNDETECTABLE UNTIL ITS TOO LATE. SO, FOR HER SON BEING BULLIED BECAUSE OF HER ACTIONS I AM TRUELY SAD FOR HIM. IT IS NOT A CHILDS PLACE TO NEED TO FEEL RESPONSIBLE FOR DEFENDING THIER PARENTS OR HAVE TO DEFEND THEMSELVES DUE TO THEIR PARENTS REDICULOUS ACTIONS. HOPEFULLY THIS WILL CALM DOWN FOR THE FAMILIES INVOLVED ON BOTH SIDES BECAUSE IT IS ALL A SHAME. TIME CAN HEAL MOST WOUNDS BUT NOT ALL. TOO BAD SOME IGNORANT PEOPLE DO NOT REALISE THAT.
Jeff Z. commented on Oct 13 10 at 8:29 pmThe husband was an enabler. His employer should fire him, and should be boycotted if it does not. Neither of these people should be able to get a job or assistance of any kind, and deserved to be shunned for life.
Emily commented on Oct 14 10 at 4:17 pmIt’s not her husband who is being a jerk.
Jeff commented on Oct 15 10 at 3:26 pm
Andrea commented on Jul 02 11 at 9:33 amThe woman may seem wicked but everything works out for the greater good how many people now care about the little girl as her sickness and have donated and will in the future because of this the only sad thing is her own children and family being punish for her actions
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