-Kelly-

Teen's MySpace site may contain murder clue

February 23, 2007 02:36pm

ADELAIDE police have turned to the internet in a bid to solve the murder of teenager Carly Ryan.

Detectives are checking the 15-year-old's MySpace website for clues about her life and leads in the case after her body was found in shallow water at Horseshoe Bay, south of Adelaide, on Tuesday.

A post-mortem examination has determined the cause of death but police have refused to reveal details for operational reasons.

They also have refused to confirm that she suffered head injuries.

As well as taking about 30 calls from the public with information since the murder, major crime detectives have begun checking the dead girl's MySpace website which was believed to feature some disturbing images including a woman with a crucifix rammed down her throat.

Detectives also are checking messages posted on the website from Carly's friends and associates, and websites run by her friends.

Most of those have been blocked from the general public since her death.

So far, the investigation has centred on finding three young men who were seen with the dead girl about 12 hours before her death.

Detective Superintendent Peter Woite said a witness reported seeing a girl matching Carly's description with three men near an area known as Freeman Nob on Monday night.

"We don't have any detailed description of them," he said.

"We don't know who they are, but we're certainly making inquiries."

A search of that area of the beach also revealed signs of a disturbance and turned up a ring and necklace believed to belong Carly.

Before her death the teenager lived with her family after recently leaving high school.

Family members last saw her on Monday afternoon when she told them she was going to visit a friend.

Described as a friendly and outgoing girl, Carly also was associated with Adelaide's emo scene, a youth subculture often characterised by black clothing, rock band T-shirts and angular haircuts.

Short for emotional hardcore, the emo scene was developed by those with a love of the music genre that lies between heavy metal and punk rock, particularly songs about pain and darkness.

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I can not believe kids/teens don't Think First, you shouldn't meet anyone that you don't know.

And now she's Dead poor girl

Lain

Same here. There are people on that site that actually post their phone numbers How crazy is that?

There are very few people online that I want to meet but only because it took me a very long time to trust them and I had to make sure that they're not just messing with my head when they say they are who they are and it turns out they're not.

Why is a 15 year old using MySpace? Some sites, some of these girls are actually 13 and dress up rather...what's the word...skanky. I don't know...my opinion is that it should be for at least 16/17 year olds and up. (Or maybe it's because I joined when I was 17). Gah!

-Kelly-

Post phone numbers? that's asking for trouble

Yeah, 13 year old girls dress like older girls, it's wrong

I'm glad I don't have myspace, it's dangerous...like putting up photos of yourself and other people can put them on any websites

migamoo

I have mixed feelings about meeting people from the internet. I don't think I can say it's completely bad because that is how I met my girlfriend. We did talk for months on the internet before actually on the phone. I don't trust people that much to give out my number and I did take a chance. But I do think that teens especially need to think about what they are doing when they give people phone numbers and addresses to people they meet.

Lain

Yeah, some people's pages have their friends who post their numbers. And these aren't the pages that were set on Friend's mode only.

I hardly do anything on MySpace. I'm still ambiguous on certain things

And Jen- I agree with you. Meeting people from online is not completely bad but I suppose it depends on who you really trust. And for me, that takes a long time to trust online people enough to start giving personal stuff.

elisheva

I don't see why 15 year olds shouldn't be using websites like MySpace as long as there's someone making sure they aren't being dumb about it (giving out too much personal information, putting up publicly viewable pictures). And while I'm totally pro-Internet friendships and even meeting up with online friends (I have, two of my sisters have - my mom is totally okay with it, although she did accompany my youngest sister when she met an online friend), kids definitely need to be careful. No one needs to know your last name, your phone number, your address, any of that.

(I don't have MySpace, but I do have Facebook, and it bothers me that more and more people are allowed to join - seems less safe.)

migamoo

I have both a Facebook and Myspace profiles. It doesn't bother me too much but I am also older and know better.

Starless Night 20

I have a MySpace, but I dodn't have any personal info on it. I have it set to private, but I think that gives a false sense of security. If someone knows how to hack past that, having it set to private doesn't even really matter. I've hardly ever use it anymore, though.

I prefer Facebook, but like elisheva said, the fact that just about anyone can join is somewhat bothersome. You don't have to belong to a college or university anymore. You can just belong to a regional network, like a certain county or area. Basically anyone can join. They do have it set so that if you're not in someone's network, you can't look at his or her profile, and they have a lot of good security options. I just don't think a lot of people utilize them.

rose parade

I have facebook...but no myspace.