A 12-year-old girl shot herself after a catfisher blackmailed her with nude images.
Cimarron Thomas, 12, killed herself with a handgun owned by her father Ben, a US army veteran who took his own life 18 months later.
But for three years, no one knew why this girl from a West Virginia hamlet home to less than 80 people had ended her life with suicide.
The was until police discovered an online chat between Cimarron and Alexander McCartney, 26, on the serial catfisher’s computer.
Posing as a girl called Sarah on Snapchat, McCartney had convinced Cimarron to send a topless photo of herself before revealing his identity and demanding more.
He threatened to send the image to Cimarron’s dad if she didn’t send sexually depraved photos, and even get her sister, nine, involved in sex acts.
Cimarron told him she would rather kill herself than comply, to which McCartney responded by starting a countdown and declaring ‘goodbye and good luck’.
She then shot herself in her parents’ bedroom, where her younger sister found her on the floor with her father’s Heckler and Koch handgun by her side.
Cimarron was one of at least 70 children catfished by McCartney, who targeted girls usually aged between 10 and 16, who were gay or unsure of their sexuality.
He pleaded guilty to manslaughter this year, six years after Cimarron died, having already admitted 184 counts including blackmail and child sex abuse.
But Cimarron’s family are furious that he wasn’t charged with murder.
Speaking to MailOnline, an uncle said: ‘He might as well have pulled the trigger himself and killed both my niece and brother.
‘That man has torn the family apart. He should have been charged with murder and spend the rest of his life in prison.
‘It has been so hard for all the family to come to terms with what he did. We have all struggled.’
They were one of the few family members who felt able to talk about their loved ones’ deaths.
Cimarron’s mother Stephanie has PTSD and doesn’t talk about what happened, according to a family friend who said: ‘When the police from Northern Ireland asked to meet with her she just could not do it,’ said a family friend.
‘It was too much, and she refused to meet with them. I don’t know if she did later meet but we heard it was all too traumatic for her.’
Outside his home in Frostburg, Maryland, the girl’s grandfather Dale has a memorial bench emblazoned with the badge of his son’s regiment, and the words ‘faith had brought us through’ below Cimarron’s name.
Still too distressed to talk about what happened, the 76-year-old said: ‘We just want this all to be over and to end.’
Posting on a funeral webpage after Cimarron died, her schoolmate Emma said: ‘Cim it’s been over a month and I miss you so much I wish we could pass the volleyball and gossip just one more time I wish I could hear u laugh one more time.
‘I just wish I could see and hangout with u one more time losing u flipped my world upside down and I still can’t believe ur gone.’
Her teacher Manda Mosier at Brucetown Mills Middle School wrote: ‘I don’t even know how to put into words the emotions I wish to express.
‘I’ve typed and retyped about 20 times now… how does one put into words how truly blessed they were to have been a part of someone’s life Cimarron, I was lucky to know you. I was your teacher, but in the two years I had you, you my dear taught me more than you will ever know.
‘I always tell my students that they are more like MY KIDS for the year. You will always be one of my favorites. When I think of you, I smile.
‘Seriously, I should be able to write better than this…I am a teacher, yet I chuckle a little because I can hear you say, Mrs. Mosier, that’s alright you can only do your best and not everyone is good at everything.
‘I tell ya kiddo, my heart will always melt when I think of you. I don’t want to mourn for what could have been…because all that you were was pretty darn special.
‘You made an impact on every life you touched. When someone hears your name – they smile…they smile BIG! Fly high sweet girl…you will forever be in my heart! LOVE, Mrs. Mosier.’
As the victim of a sex crime in Northern Ireland, Cimarron was entitled to anonymity for 25 years.
But judge McKeown at Belfast Crown Court agreed there was a public interest in lifting the anonymity order, after media organisations applied to wave it.
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