Who is Jordan DeMay? High school football star, 17, kills himself hours after sick SEXTORTION
Jordan DeMay, a 17-year-old Michigan high school student, killed himself hours after blackmailers threatened to release a naked picture of him in a case of sextortion on Friday, March 25. DeMay reportedly paid $300 to the blackmailers after they threatened to send the nude photo they had tricked him into sending to all of his social media contracts.
As per the police, the blackmailers set up a fake Twitter profile, posing as an attractive girl, and sent a naked photo of the 'girl' to DeMay. In response, he sent a nude photo of himself back, after which they started blackmailing him about leaking the picture. They demanded $300 from DeMay, but even after he paid up, they continued to demand more money and tried to extort $1000 from the teenager. DeMay, who was a student at Marquette Senior High School, killed himself soon after.
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"They told him they had all of his Facebook contacts, and more from other social media, as well as his nude photo. Then they said they'd start to send the picture out. Jordan said he couldn't pay them any more money. He said you win, and that he was going to kill himself, and they said go for it. The Twitter profile showed a beautiful picture of a girl. Soon, she sent Jordan a nude picture, then he sent a compromising picture back to her, then the conversation quickly changed, it became a situation of blackmail," Sheriff Greg Zyburt of the Marquette County Sheriff's Office told The Sun.
Investigators said they treated the case as a "teenage suicide," but when a friend of DeMay came forward, telling them that the blackmailers had contacted her too, they reassessed the case. "The nude picture was sent to a friend of Jordan. She knew Jordan had killed himself, and she saw the picture, and then they started demanding money off her too. She told them he killed himself. They said good, then she hung up and called the police," added Zyburt. Detectives have concluded that DeMay was a victim of internet sextortion. No arrests have been made as of yet, but the investigation is still ongoing.
"Normally, the Sheriff's Office does not do press releases on suicides. The parents of Jordan have requested this information be released. It is believed that Jordan was being extorted through Instagram over pictures that he had taken of himself. Jordan was put under extreme pressure by the perpetrator to pay money in exchange for the pictures not being sent to his family and Instagram followers. These events are believed to have occurred in less than six hours. The Sheriff's Office and the family of Jordan hope this will assist the community in their healing. We also hope this will educate others and spur courageous conversations about internet safety," read the statement from the Marquette County Sheriff's Office.
As per DeMay's Instagram, he had a girlfriend who he had been dating for more than a year. A funeral was held for DeMay on March 30 at the Lake Superior Christian Church in Marquette. Jordan John DeMay, age 17, of Marquette, passed away Friday, March 25, 2022. His obituary reads, "Jordan attended Cherry Creek Elementary, Bothwell Middle School, and was currently a senior at Marquette Senior High School, where he was very involved in the football and basketball programs. Jordan was a compassionate, mature, and team-oriented player who once described his goal to 'be the best I can be as a person on and off the field.' He was a determined young man, who after being sidelined for a year with a serious knee injury, made a decision to rehab himself and made plans to attend college."
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or text the Crisis Text Line (text HELLO to 741741).