Someone e-mailed horrifically graphic photos of dead girl to her parents nsfw
 

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister...le_1538883.php

Lasting images
Parents fight to clear the Internet of photos taken of their daughter after she was killed in a car crash.
By GREG HARDESTY
The Orange County Register

LADERA RANCH – Lesli Catsouras hasn't opened her e-mails in weeks.

Her husband, Christos, dreads having to use the Internet – fearful of what he accidentally may see.

They have banned their daughters – ages 15, 13 and 8 – from going online.

Losing oldest daughter Nikki, 18, in a car crash on Halloween has been hard enough on the Catsouras family.

Now, their heartache is compounded by outrage.

Graphic accident-scene photos, including close-up shots of Nikki, who suffered massive head trauma, have been leaked onto the Internet.

The images have turned up on hundreds of Web sites and in countless chat rooms and e-mails – from Australia to Italy. The photos often are accompanied by debates about the merits of the images, with many viewers even vilifying the dead teen.

"We're still just starting to deal with Nikki's death, and now this," said Christos Catsouras, 43. "People are sick."

The family blames the leak on the California Highway Patrol, the agency that is investigating the crash. The family has filed a claim against the state as a precursor to a civil lawsuit. The CHP is investigating.

As they continue to grieve, members of the Catsouras family also find themselves struggling to restore some dignity to Nikki's memory – and facing seemingly insurmountable odds to establish some decency in the sometimes insidious, unforgiving grip of the Internet.

The photos are so pervasive, Nikki's 15-year-old sister has stopped going to school out of fear of opening her locker and seeing a photo of her dead sister. She now is being home schooled.

A 12-year-old neighbor who accidentally saw the images is seeing a counselor, according to Christos Catsouras.

Some people have anonymously sent cruel, taunting e-mails to Nikki's relatives – including one to her father that read, "From Dead Girl Walking: Woo Hoo Daddy, I'm Alive."
CHALLENGE

A CHP official in Sacramento said the agency cannot discuss the claim filed by the Catsouras family and said the issue of the leaked images remains under investigation.

"We're trying to find out if these are our photos and, if they are, how they were made public," CHP spokesman Tom Marshall said.

Accident-scene photos are meant only for investigative purposes. CHP policy and the state vehicle code forbid them from being distributed publicly.

The CHP is sending notices to operators of Web sites that have posted the images, demanding that they immediately be taken down.

"We certainly do feel sorry for the family," Marshall said.

The Catsouras family has hired a company, Reputation Defender, also to demand that Web site operators remove the offending pictures.

The Catsouras family may face an uphill battle in trying to control use of the pictures on the Internet, said Brian Daucher, a civil litigator and partner with the Costa Mesa office of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton who specializes in Internet-related litigation.

"Unfortunately, the law is not always great at regulating human decency," said Daucher, who is not involved in the Catsouras case.

Rights that protect a living person against defamation or invasion of privacy don't necessarily extend past death, Daucher said.

The pictures of Nikki's body also have turned up in at least one class for DUI offenders in Orange County, even though alcohol did not play a factor in the 1:45 p.m. accident, according to the CHP.

Toxicological and autopsy reports are pending, the coroner said.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving strongly opposes the use of gory or graphic images.

"The gore factor doesn't necessarily translate to behavioral changes," said Gail Butler, executive director of the Orange County chapter of MADD. "It would be nice if things were that easy."

One Internet expert theorized about why people would view and circulate such images.

"In the online world, a person can be totally disconnected from the consequences of their actions," said Nancy Willard, executive director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use in Eugene, Ore.

"They can have no empathy. They can't see the harm being done."
FREE SPIRIT

By all accounts, Nikki was not the rich, spoiled partygoer who got drunk and crashed a Porsche given to her by her father – a fiction circulating online.

"She was a sweet, wonderful girl who never hurt anyone," said her mother, Lesli Catsouras.

Nikki had just started taking classes at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo. She had a passion for photography.

Nikki actually loved thrift stores and wanted to buy a beat-up '80s car, Johnson said.

In its claim, the Catsouras family cites emotional distress, loss of earnings and loss of consortium and seeks punitive damages, said attorney Tyler D. Offenhauser of Bremer Whyte Brown & O'Meara in Newport Beach.

"These images were posted solely for their 'shock and awe' value, without any consideration whatsoever for the feelings of the family," Offenhauser said. The 911 calls also are circulating online, he said.

The Catsouras family found out about the photos a few days after Nikki's funeral.

One of her cousins, Zoe, 19, got a text message on her cell phone.

When she opened it, she saw thumbnail images of the accident scene – one of Nikki shown slumped over and still strapped into the driver's seat, most of her head and face missing – and threw her phone down in shock.

The night before she died, Nikki had gotten into an argument with her father about "typical teenager stuff," Christos Catsouras said.

He disciplined her by taking away the keys to her car.

Nikki's mother said her daughter wasn't feeling well Oct. 31. She had a 3 p.m. appointment to see a doctor.

Christos Catsouras had lunch at home that day. He works five minutes away at a real estate office.

He recalled telling Nikki before he went back to the office that he loved her. She blew him a kiss and flashed him a peace sign.

After he left, Nikki walked to a key rack in the house and took the keys to her father's $150,000 Porsche – which Nikki had never driven, her father said.

The keys were hanging where they always were, with all the others.

Lesli Catsouras heard the garage door open and the car leave and called her husband, who called 911. He immediately drove around looking for her.

Nikki had taken off down the Eastern (241) Toll Road in his black 911 Carrera.

As she tried to pass a car that was going about 70 mph, she clipped it and lost control of the Porsche, the CHP said.

She slammed into a toll-booth building at Alton Parkway in Lake Forest.

Christos Catsouras' mind continually goes back to his last moments with his daughter.

Every day, he said, he kisses his daughters goodbye.

That day, he didn't kiss Nikki. In an interview, his eyes welled up. He fell silent.

Lesli Catsouras sat next to him, staring blankly ahead, her arms tightly crossed.

"She was our child," she said.

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Netphoria please promise to me if I ever crash a Porsche and my head explodes and the pictures are leaked all over the internet you do this to my parents.

:love: :blush:

Porsche girl.

oh btw

http://themot.org/gallery/d/60814-1/...rscheCrash.jpg
http://themot.org/gallery/d/60814-1/...rscheCrash.jpg
http://themot.org/gallery/d/60814-1/...rscheCrash.jpg
http://themot.org/gallery/d/60814-1/...rscheCrash.jpg

Beat me to it.

That's nasty.

well said

i'm glad the colleagues aren't around

id fuck her in that last pic still

People who don't know how to drive shouldn't, out of all vehicles, be driving 911s. Not only are they incedibly fast, but they are rear-engine, not even mid-engine, vehicles. Though they have good weight ratios front-to-back, they still have so much weight toward the rear that when idiots like this girl go too fast in them, they brake too hard to slow down. This causes weight to shift to the front of the car, and it lifts up the back wheels enough for them to break traction easily. Then the car spins and you get this wonderful mess.

her cerebellum looks like it might be okay

Duh.

They should be happy she died quick. Look on the bright side people!

that's fucking gross. who the fuck would let an inexperienced driver take that car out though? did they think she'd really do 55mph in it? and yeah ^ they should be happy it was quick. she fucking has no face left, serves as a good example.

Every cloud has a shiny part to it or something.

your avatar kinda looks sad about this news.

man, that's really sad about the porsche too.

Banning their kids from school and the internet? WTF?

Am I going to hell if I don't really feel sorry for any 18 year old that drives around in a fucking Porsche? When I was 18 I was driving a banged up land yacht from the 80's

I was driving this.
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...230_1_full.jpg

(Netphoria, that is my driveway btw. Welcome. You can see part of my sister's car too.)

I drove a Porsche over 800 miles across country when I was 19. It was only a 944, but I had no such problems.

Essentially what you're saying is if the girl had died driving a Volkswagen or a Chevy you would feel sympathy but because she was driving a better car than you could afford at that age, you feel none. That's fucked up.

Sweet, what year? And was it a Turbo?

yeah, i doubt the father or any other family member would accidentally happen upon that image.

anyway, she probably graduated the year after i did, and most everyone from my area goes to saddleback, so there's a chance i know some people who knew her. in any case, tesoro people are an odd bunch, so that explains the bee suit/mask picture.

It was an 88 I think. Around there. I think it was a Turbo. I'm not sure, it was my gf at the time's late father's car.

We took it because at the time I was driving this:
http://www.luckystarz.com/bus/images/image1A.jpg

which doesn't get you 800 miles very fast

That's still pretty sweet. 944s are beautiful cars. Was that the actual van you owned, or is that just a picture of a random one?

944s are the garbage Porsches.

Anyway, that's not my bus, but it is the identical year/model/color as mine.

They are exceptional for autocrossing, now they're cheap, but at the time they weren't bad, especially the turbo! 50/50 weight distribution and rwd makes them pretty good.

Sure, they weren't 911s, but I'd take one.

rip nicole

keep reaching for that rainbow ... wherever you are

At 150 miles per hour...

there was a huge thread about this over on 4ch back when the news broke and they were trying to find her friends and family to harass with the pics but i doubt today's thread calling for verification is going to turn up any results after that guy got arrested for messing with football

This is exactly why I can't post pictures on Netphoria of some of the bad crashes and suicides I run across on the ambulance.

its horrible that they sent them to her parents though.

sucks that it happened, but what are you gonna do you know?

its even more awful that people think they're getting something out of making the parents and siblings that upset? like they weren't upset already? like they were denying it or something? i dont get how that's exactly funny other than the 'i told you so' but um....they probably get it by now.

things like rotten.com are interesting because they're so visceral and bizarre and the like, but its probably a great thing they don't come with contact information.

I guarantee that the cops and medics who rolled up on this had a good laugh at her expense. It is kinda sick yes, but gallows humor is the #1 way to deal with some of this shit. On a side note, the inside of human head smells like ass. I'm sure this was a stinky mess.

yeah i understand that's how you deal with it, but teenagers and idiots who just found these pics thought they'd be 'cool' or 'funny' putting the pics in an email to her fucking father? the child he had raised since she was born from the womb of his wife! flesh of his flesh! and they think they're being fucking FUNNY?

i'm disgusted with people like that

A Porsche Carerra is not worth $150,000. The family probably just threw in that detail in the story to try and show off.

Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what I'm saying. I'm quite an unsympathetic person when it comes to girls from California that I don't even know. She was also doing 100+ mph... not that you deserve to die if you drive that fast, but it's really no surprise.

seriously sending an email like that to her fucking dad 'woo its your dead daughter" that's just despicable and not even remotely funny.
anyone that would do that should be ashamed of themselves, and their parents obviously didn't raise them right.

i can understand how its far removed from most people and how they can say things in an 'i told you so' tone, and that's fine, but to personally go out and attack her family for personal enjoyment is just bizzare as much as it is disgusting.

seriously that's fucked up.

you just don't have the right sense of humor.

:rofl:

i disabled images to read this thread... some of the posters make it sound like it was her porsche.. it says right in the article that her dad had taken away the keys to her car because of an arguement and she grabbed the keys to his porsche, which she had never driven before

also - the juerto, i always kind of wondered about that in the back of my mind (about the smell). i guess i know now :/

So instead of a brat with a porsche, she's a brat who stole her dad's porsche. Whatevs.