Rehtaeh Parsons Case Solved By Anonymous In Two Hours

Anonymous says they know who Rehtaeh Parsons’ rapists are, providing a little extra “incentive” for Canadian authorities to re-open the case themselves.

Rehtaeh took her own life last week at the age of 17 after being gang raped in 2011 and relentlessly bullied by her classmates and peers ever since.

A photo of the rape was reportedly circulated throughout her school and community, and she was constantly bombarded by texts from boys asking her to sleep with them and others from girls calling her a “slut” and a “whore.”

Police initially closed the case, saying that there wasn’t enough evidence to charge the alleged perpetrators rapists from the 2011 incident. After Rehtaeh committed suicide last week, it seemed like the tragic end to a pretty horrifying tale.

This week, the Internet hactivist collective known as Anonymous picked up the story, and decided to pursue their own investigation. According to a statement released by @YourAnonNews, one of the largest news handles for Anonymous, the group was able to confirm the identities of the rapists in roughly two hours.

Scary and unpredictable hackers though they are, they didn’t delve into anyone’s Facebook or email accounts to figure out who the rapists are. People close to the individuals in the case flooded Anonymous accounts with testimony.

Anonymous deduced that the primary rapist in the case shouldn’t be all that hard to catch, since he bragged about the crime and took a picture of himself doing it.

You can read the statement from Anonymous here (or watch the video below), but here are some of their best reasons the case should be re-opened (and can be solved):

• Witness testimony – If nothing else, it seems that dozens of teens and adults heard the rapists at least brag about taking part in the Rehtaeh Parsons gang rape.
• EXIF data – since a photo of Rehtaeh’s rape was reportedly circulated among hundreds of students, Anonymous wonders if authorities even bothered to check.
• The school did nothing – they said they didn’t know, but if child pornography is going viral in your hallways, shouldn’t you know?

For now, Anonymous has elected to withhold the names of Rehtaeh Parsons’ alleged rapists in order to allow an official investigation to be re-opened. “What we want is justice. And that’s your job. So do it,” they say.

What do you think should happen in the Rehtaeh Parsons case? You can watch a statement from Anonymous below, and, if you’re not much for the Internet hactivism route, you can sign a petition seeking an independent inquiry into the case (where someone competent from outside shows up and solves it) right here.

[iframe src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/7_D_zvizzKA” width=”560? height=”315?]