Abraham Biggs Webcam Suicide Video: Teen Commits Suicide Live On Web
Posted on November 22, 2008
This story is so sad… Abraham Biggs, 19, committed suicide by taking a drug overdose in front of a live webcam as computer users encouraged him, others tried to talk him out of it, and another messaged OMG in horror when it became clear it was no joke. Some watchers contacted the Web site to notify police, but by the time officers entered Abraham Biggs’ home, which was captured on the webcam, Biggs was already dead.
Abraham Biggs, a 19-year-old Broward College student was said to suffer of manic depression, according to his family. Biggs lay dead on his bed in his father’s Pembroke Pines house Wednesday afternoon, the camera still running 12 hours after Biggs announced he intended to commit suicide online around 3 a.m.
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Although Biggs was not the first person to commit suicide with his webcam rolling but the drama and reactions of those watching the suicide unfold, made quite an impact.
Biggs’ family was very angry that no one acted sooner to save him, neither the viewers nor the Web site that hosted the live video, Justin.tv. The Web site shows a video image, with a space alongside where computer users can instantly post comments.
Only when police arrived did the Web feed stop, “so that’s 12 hours of watching,” said the victim’s sister, Rosalind Bigg. “They got hits, they got viewers, nothing happened for hours.”
She added: “It didn’t have to be.”
An autopsy concluded Abraham Biggs died from a combination of opiates and benzodiazepine, which his family said was prescribed for his bipolar disorder.
Biggs announced his plans to kill himself over a Web site for bodybuilders, authorities said. But some users told investigators they did not take him seriously because he had threatened suicide on the site before.
Some that watched Biggs actually encouraged him to go through with it, while others talked him out of it.
A computer user who claimed to have watched said that after swallowing some pills, Biggs went to sleep and appeared to be breathing for a few hours while others cracked jokes.
Someone notified the moderator of the bodybuilding site, who traced Biggs’ location and called police, Crane said.
As police entered the room, the audience’s reaction was filled with Internet shorthand: “OMFG,” one wrote, meaning “Oh, my God.” Others, either not knowing what they were seeing, or not caring, wrote “lol,” which means “laughing out loud,” and “hahahah.”
An online video purportedly from Biggs’ webcam shows a gun-wielding officer entering a bedroom, where a man is lying on a bed, his face turned away from the camera. The officer begins to examine him, as the camera lens is covered. Authorities could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video, though it matched their description of what occurred.
Montana Miller, an assistant professor of popular culture at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, said Biggs’ very public suicide was not shocking, given the way teenagers chronicle every facet of their lives on sites like Facebook and MySpace.
“If it’s not recorded or documented then it doesn’t even seem worthwhile,” she said. “For today’s generation it might seem, `What’s the point of doing it if everyone isn’t going to see it?’”
She likened Biggs’ death to other public ways of committing suicide, like jumping off a bridge.
Crane said she knows of a case in which a Florida man shot himself in the head in front of an online audience, though she didn’t know how much viewers saw. In Britain last year, a man hanged himself while chatting online.
In a statement, Justin.tv CEO Michael Seibel said: “We regret that this has occurred and want to respect the privacy of the broadcaster and his family during this time.”
The Web site would not say how many people were watching the broadcast. The site as a whole had 672,000 unique visitors in October, according to Nielsen.
Miami lawyer William Hill said there is probably nothing that could be done legally to those who watched and did not act. As for whether the Web site could be held liable, Hill said there doesn’t seem to be much of a case for negligence.
“There could conceivably be some liability if they knew this was happening and they had some ability to intervene and didn’t take action,” said Hill, who does business litigation and has represented a number of Internet-based clients. But “I think it would be a stretch.”
Condolences poured into Biggs’ MySpace page, where the mostly unsmiling teen is seen posing in a series of pictures with various young women. On the bodybuilding Web site, Biggs used the screen name CandyJunkie. His Justin.tv alias was “feels_like_ecstacy.”
Rosalind Bigg described her brother as an outgoing person who struck up conversations with Starbucks baristas and enjoyed taking his young nieces to Chuck E. Cheese. He was health-conscious and exercised but was not a bodybuilder, she said.
“This is very, very sudden and unexpected for us,” the sister said. “It boggles the mind. We don’t understand.”
Here is Abraham Biggs suicide note:
To Whom It May Concern,
As for my signature I will leave you with a quote so that if anyone reads this they will know it’s me, “Can’t feel pain if your dead? Just Saying”
I am going to leave this for whoever stumbles across my bookmarks later on.
I hate myself and I hate living. I think that if someone who knows me reads this they will know who I am. So I will leave this unsigned. I am an a–hole. I have let everyone down and I feel as though I will never change or never improve. I am in love with a girl and I know that I am not good enough for her.
I have come to believe that my life has all been meaningless. I keep trying and I keep failing. I have thought about and attempted suicide many times in the past. I used to think of my failure as some mystical way of telling me that I was really meant for something meaningful. The only thing I dread, besides the pain, is the way my family will suffer. I do not want
my mother or father to think that it was anything they did that lead me to kill myself. I never really had any plans of leaving a note. I thought that I would not be able to describe why I want to do this and I am right. There is no way to tell you or anyone else why I dread every new day. My father had such high expectations for me and tried to give me every opportunity to improve upon myself. I let him down. I think that I am a major disappointment to him. I have a job but I?m always broke
and I am in college but barely, I show up to class but that?s about it.
I want my life to end. I am tired of f—ing up everything. I
am tired of people always telling me that they do not like me. I am tired of trying to be decent. I hope that someone finds this post and I hope that my parents know that I f—ed up not them. It is my fault I screwed up my own life.
The hate that rages within me, rages not for those I love so dearly or those who have crossed my path.
This hate rages full force towards me and only me.
I have long forgiven those who’ve hurt me, but I have not and cannot come to terms to forgive myself for the things I have done to myself, and the things I’ve done to hurt those in my life.
You have all touched my life in one way or another, especially those whom I call family.
I cannot tell you how sorry I am for ending my life the way I did. I hope that you can all find it in your heart to see it as way for me not suffering anymore and that I am finally at rest with myself, for being at rest with the guilt that constantly ate at me for so long.
Please forgive me all for taking my own life so early. I tried so hard to fight against this strong battle. I have reached out for help so many times, and yet I believe, I was turned away because of the things I did, that it is a punishment I am willing to take, for I know that being who I am has only brought myself and others pain.
I love you all and will forever live within the memories we created.
Forgive me.
Love always and forever,
21 comments
Really unfortunate that people watching the video live did not try to stop it or call 911.
- Beviga
http://www.beviga.com
This is definitely one of those cases which could have been prevented.
What I can’t really seem to understand is why he was so apologetic in his letter, yet did his suicide live so that people could watch him die. He’s sort of contradicting himself by doing that. It’s so sad that he had to feel that way about himself. I just hope that it won’t happen again to anyone else, and that people will learn from this incident. I really truly hope that no one follows his example. He seems like he was a really nice kid. I can’t comprehend why no one called the police. How many people were watching that? Hundreds, maybe thousands of people? And not a single one of them called? This really disappoints me. I’d like to think that people were better than that, that there would be at least a few decent human beings that would have had the balls to freaking stand up and call the police, and not let something like this happen. Come on now people. Grow up.
I can’t believe that there are idiots out there that are so heartless and apathetic, that they’d actually encourage him to go through with the suicide. Those people should be tracked down, and charged with being accessories to manslaughter. The others that didn’t encourage him, but rather sat and did nothing, while they shouldn’t be charged with anything, should be allowed to live the rest of their lives with the guilt that they sat idly by and let a confused and hurting teen kill himself, while they did nothing. Things like this are why, while I would love to think otherwise, I have absolutely no faith in ever seeing or receiving any sort of caring or empathy from other human beings.
He done a big mistake! He thought he will go in peace after taking his and he thought he will go to heaven but it is not. Taking your own life is a mortal sin because only God is authorize to take the life of a person because God gave it to us and also God is the only one who will take it from us. Right now, i believe he is in the hell from that wrong move he has done. One of the factors might save him from this terrible happenings is that if he only knew God and only if His friends or family show the way through God his life would be meaningful because God can gave him everything he needs. The only thing we can do is pray for His soul for forgiveness to all of his sins.
The internet is filled with self-promotion of videos that cry, dance, yell, spread hate, promotion political views and many are planned stunts.
To take one video serious is a difficult thing. There shouldn’t be blame. Should a bridge maker be responsible for people jumping off the bridge? Should the rope maker be responsible for someone hanging themselves.
We understand birth, know the process and end results. Death is not as easy to understand. Death is horrible.
@FFFFFFFRABBIT:
So, we should just turn our heads away, and completely ignore such cries for help, and show a complete lack of empathy and caring, simply because it’s on the internet? That’s WRONG, and you should feel ashamed of yourself for being one of the idiots that not just feels, but actually promotes apathy and heartlessness. You should really rethink what you typed there, and I think you should come back with a retraction and apology.
actually, taking your own life is in nooo way a sin, nor does it EVER saw in the bible that suicide equals damnation, so nice try.
Anonymous wrote: No, i wouldnt turn my back on a thing like this, but i wouldnt cry over it either. People take thier own lives everyday, this incident is special because he did it where others could see and those others didnt stop him…him and his family and friends are still the only ones to blame. If i call the cops every time my life or anothers life is threatened online i would take away from people who need help “offline”. And if you just started blogging peoples of this contraversy please stfu because the internet is full of scammers and liars, i just wish Abraham was a liar and didnt have to go like this.
andrew wrote: Andrew do you read the Bible??? Killing yourself is a sin…It falls under #13 “thou shall not kill”. So sadly yes, Abraham Biggs is in hell
No matter what his fate his…RIP Abraham Biggs
I wish everyone could just leave him alone. I don’t want to hear where is he going….I love him and I wish someone cared to know about the boy the’re condemning.
[...] This page has the suicide note. [...]
@ANDREW:
WRONG. Suicide IS a sin, and an unforgivable one, at that. Obviously, you’re the one that doesn’t read your Bible, or else you’d actually know that. Nice try on the lying and idiocy, though.
i went to high school and college with abe and when we were in school he was such a nice guy i saw this video on the news last week and brushed it off but as i saw friends put up rest in peace abe im like whatt?? it clicked i cant believe he would do something like that wow. im still in shock
THIS IS CRAZY FOR ME TO FIND OUT BECAUSE ABE WAS A FRIEND OF MINE AND HE WAS ALWAYS HAPPY AND MAKING ME LAUGH IN OUR AMERICAN MUSCIAL THEATER MAN ALL I CAN SAY IS HE WILL BE MISSED AND IM SO SAD HE WENT THE WAY HE DID AND IM REALLY SORRY FOR HIS FAMILY ITS CRAZY TO THINK NOT TO LONG AGO I SAW ABE AT THE MALL WHILE I WAS OUTSIDE WAITING FOR A RIDE AND HE SAT DOWN WITH ME AND SEEMED SO HAPPY HE WANTED TO EAT WITH ME BUT I HAD TO LWAVE WELL R.I.P ABE I MISS U AND U ARE REALLY LOVED
I can’t see how someone would say this kid is going to hell because he committed suicide. What kind of fk’d up god would send him to hell? Not my God. This kid was struggling with real issues and no one (including the meds) were able to help him. It’s tragic but this kid suffered enough in life, no way he is going to hell. He’s resting in peace right now.
That’s what I hate so much about Religion, people talking out of their asses about what life is after death and who and who is not going to hell. No sympathy what so ever!!
lolololololololol.. stupid ass
This story is a sad one for several reasons. Number one the family and friends of Abraham Biggs have to live each day of their lives without him. No matter how many mistakes he has made,no family wants to have to deal with the death of their loved one.Especially in such a tragic way. My God, I pray for his mother and father… no matter what this was their child!!!
Number two, we live in such sad and perverse world, where people are actually praising and critiquing this situation. How sick. One blogger even stated that he wished that Abraham would have shot himself instead. What a horrible thing to even think.
Yes, he did choose to end his life, and he will have to give an account for that action when he meets his maker. He has already decided his fate. I hate to say it this way, but there is nothing more that we can do for him.This is now between him and God. None of us have a Heaven or a Hell to put him in. The only thing that we can do is pray for the others out there struggling with the same issues that cost this youngman his life.
Trust me, there is someone looking at all of the coverage that this story is getting and thinking, “maybe that’s what I want to do.” That person(s) needs our prayers. I’m not talking to the ones have nothing but malice and hate in their hearts. No not You.(Although the rest of us will pray for you too. You may not think that you need it, but TRUST …you do.) I’m talking to the others who believe that this doesn’t have to happen again to another person. I’m talking to the ones that have enough of God’s love in their heart to pray for the person who feels that their is no other way out.
Prayer really does change things. I really believe that. I’ve seen it work too many times. AND THERE IS NOTHING THAT ANY NEGATIVE TALKING, UNBELIEVING, DISRESPECTING BLOGGER CAN SAY TO CHANGE THAT! Be blessed.
Generally I do not post on blogs, but I would like to say that this post really forced me to do so! really nice post.
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I’m jus glad da niggers dead he was a waste any wayz oh yeah my lil secret dat I can’t keep no longer is that I’m da last one dat had contact wit him I gave him his last final word to do so. Don’t belive me check the last blog dat was sent 2 him. Exactly. Let’s jus face it the world is better with less niggers. I encourge any other niggers. Felling sorry 4 dem selfs to do exactly what he did. Peace
VRy interesting to read it
