Amanda Todd committed suicide after a stranger she met online shared naked pictures to all of her friends and family, leading to relentless bullying and a spiral of depression and drug abuse for the 15-year-old. Now police in Canada are on a frenzied search to find the man responsible, and so far have collected hundreds of tips.
The RCMP announced Saturday that more than 400 tips from around the world have come to a special email account set up for the case, the Vancouver Sun reported. This comes as the story of Amanda Todd’s suicide has spread across the world, with publications in England, the United States, Australia, and Asia reporting on it.
“At this point, we’ve got upwards of 20 to 25 full-time investigators that are working on this to try to gain enough information and enough evidence to potentially lay charges against any individual individual that may have played a role here in some way,” said Sgt. Peter Thiessen.
Amanda Todd had posted a YouTube video in which she described the depths of her bullying. As The Huffington Post noted, it tells of how in 7th grade she and friends met a stranger while talking on a webcam who lured Amanda Todd into flashing the camera. A year later, the man contacted her on Facebook and threatened to send pictures of her topless if she didn’t “put on a show.”
When she didn’t, he sent the pictures to all her family and friends, leading to her being shunned and bullied at school. Amanda Todd left for a new school and a fresh start, but the man found her again, this time creating a fake Facebook page with her naked photo as the profile picture.
Police in Canada say they are prioritizing the tips in the Amanda Todd suicide investigation to see which need to be acted on first.