The family of Shariah Casper, grieving the death of their teenage daughter, has another thing to lose sleep over – a Facebook page which was originally made to memorialize and remember Casper has been vandalized with photoshopped pictures of the girl and her friends, porn and fake accounts posing as the Casper’s close friends.
Casper was hit and killed by a Utah Transit Authority TRAX test train June 8. Casper’s death has been highly publicized by Utah news outlets like KSL news, raising concerns about safety procedures regarding TRAX. Lindsay Hellan, who attended school with Casper for two years and became close friends with the teenager, has different concerns.
“Shariah doesn’t deserve what’s being said on this page and the family doesn’t either. I just hope and pray that people will remember Shariah for Shariah and the amazing life that she led on. Not for ‘that’s the girl that had the porn and rude comments on her R.I.P page on Facebook.’ That’s the last thing that anyone would want that knew her,” she said.
The memorial page, entitled “R.I.P. Shariah Casper” has been plastered with offensive images and phrases intended to provoke readers. It is unconfirmed whether the memorial page was set up by Casper’s family, as messages on the Facebook memorial page have suggested the page is a fraud. For people who knew Shariah like Hellan, it’s issues like this that need to be confronted.
“It’s so hard because Shariah was a great person and she stood up for you no matter what. Seeing the things that are written on that page makes me feel horrible. I can’t explain it. Shariah always backed everyone up and it’s so hard because I feel a deep obligation to stand up for her now, just like we did for each other.”
A private memorial group has been started on Facebook by Casper’s family to prevent further vandalism and provide a safe place for others to remember her and pay their respects at facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_228407913838538.
