Could this be the blogosphere’s first murder suspect?
“Just to let everyone know, my mother was murdered.”This simple yet startling sentence marks the last entry Rachelle Waterman made in her Internet journal before she was arrested on charges she participated in killing her mother. And it marks the beginning of an online discussion that’s as remarkable for its popularity as its content.Waterman is the 16-year-old high school honor student from Craig jailed with two 24-year-old men who troopers say schemed for months to kill 48-year-old Lauri Waterman.Waterman started her diary on LiveJournal.com in September of last year, and anyone with Internet access can read the 100-plus entries she’s written.She made her final entry Nov. 18, the Thursday after she spent the weekend in Anchorage playing in the state volleyball tournament. While she was at the tournament, police say, her two accomplices killed her mother.The Nov. 18 entry includes two more sentences by Waterman explaining she won’t be online for a while, because police seized her computer.For several days, the Web site was quiet. Then came stories about Waterman’s arrest and arraignment, some of which mentioned the journal. Since then, it’s become a hot spot.On Wednesday, the day of the arraignment, 11 readers had commented on Waterman’s final entry. By midday Friday, the number was up to 256. Twenty-four hours later, it was over 1,600.
Waterman’s blog can be found here. As you can see, her entry after her mother was murdered is disturbing on account of its briefness and lack of emotion. But who knows..perhaps she was in no mood to write at length (innocent until proven guilty). Her user profile describes her blog as “The Inside Look of an Insane Person.” Time will tell whether this is a cute byline..or an eerie foreshadowing.
