10 Times the Internet Got It Wrong in a True Crime Case

MsMojo

When tragedy strikes, the internet often rushes to find answers — but sometimes that leads to devastating mistakes. From the Boston Marathon bombing to recent attacks in Australia, innocent people have been wrongly accused online, suffering harassment and defamation. Join us as we explore disturbing cases where online detectives got it very wrong, highlighting the dangers of misinformation and digital witch hunts.

Transcript

00:00The search for a missing Brown University student comes to a tragic conclusion.

00:04Welcome to Ms. Mojo. And today we're looking at some of the worst examples of amateur online

00:10detectives accusing the wrong person. Because someone is walked out by police with handcuffs,

00:17that does not make them a suspect. It doesn't make them guilty of anything.

00:22Bondi Junction Killer. In April 2024, a suburban Sydney shopping center fell victim to a terrifying

00:29attack. The culprit, Joel Couchy, stabbed multiple people, killing six.

00:35Sydney has suffered a horrifying and violent attack on innocent people who were doing

00:41something everybody does on the weekend and that is going shopping.

00:45It ended when he was shot by a police inspector who he tried to attack. Afterwards, the internet

00:50got involved and incorrectly identified Ben Cohen, a university student years younger than the actual

00:57criminal. It went so far that even a local news network falsely named Cohen. Now he's trying

01:03to take legal action against those responsible for the false claims. Meanwhile, Australia's e-safety

01:10commissioner is trying to get Elon Musk's ex to remove footage of the stabbing as part of the

01:15country's online safety act. 2015 Bangkok Incident. In August 2015, a violent explosion went off at a

01:24shrine in Bangkok. It resulted in 20 deaths and 125 injuries. He was seen apparently dumping his

01:31backpack not long before the bomb went off and they're now investigating links into the other blast that

01:36rattled Bangkok today. Police arrested two suspects, both Uyghurs from Xinjiang, China. One confessed to the crime

01:44but retracted it later, claiming he only confessed because of violent police mistreatment. So the real culprit is

01:52likely still out there. Police found two more explosive devices following the deadly blast last

01:57night, which bomb disposal teams were able to defuse. This motivated the internet to get involved, which

02:03quickly started to think that Sonny Burns, an Australian actor and model, was responsible. After hearing the

02:10rumors, Burns went to the local police to proclaim his innocence and they believed him. Burns later said

02:16online that he still loves Thailand. Riverside, California fight. In August 2017, a fight broke out

02:24between two men in Riverside, California. Adam Vallès's attempt to break it up turned out to be fatal.

02:30Yeah, he was trying to break up a fight, but his good deed cost him his life. Police released images of the

02:35two men responsible, asking the public to speak up if they recognized them. This caused the internet to point

02:41the finger at two separate men, who weren't at all responsible. One was Tyler Dancy Washington,

02:48whose details were leaked on social media. This led to him receiving incredibly brutal messages,

02:54some threatening his life. Police had to delete comments mentioning the innocent man from their

02:59social media. And they also released a post absolving him of blame.

03:04The man died trying to help break up a fight. Now his family's asking for the public's help to get him

03:09justice. Michael Brown shooting. It all started with the fatal shooting by police of an unarmed

03:14black teenager. 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot in St. Louis County, Missouri in 2014.

03:21Police officer Darren Wilson was found to be the culprit. Does it look like Michael was trying to

03:26get into the car to you or he was trying to get away from it? It looked as if he was trying to pull

03:29away. I saw his hand like pushing up against the vehicle as he was pulling off, trying to get away

03:35from the cop. But before that discovery, the hacker group Anonymous got involved. They did an

03:40amateur investigation, which yielded a wildly incorrect answer. Anonymous concluded that a man

03:47named Brian Willman was at fault, even though he wasn't even a police officer for the correct

03:52department. Willman became so terrified by all the threats, the police had to provide protection.

03:58Anonymous's defense was that they didn't fully dox him, only releasing his name and photo, but they

04:04should have foreseen the internet's response. Brown's father told the crowd, the pain has not

04:09eased. University of Idaho deaths. In November 2022, four students died from knife wounds in

04:17Moscow, Idaho. The current suspect is Brian Christopher Koberger, who is now at risk of receiving the death

04:23penalty for his crime. Koberger watched a video that included this quote, something is wrong with me.

04:29I can't be who I need to be. Something is wrong with me. Will it last for eternity?

04:35Before he was the main suspect, a TikTok psychic named Ashley Gillard accused University of Idaho

04:41history professor Rebecca Schofield. She's shining on social media and whole time Rebecca Schofield is

04:47watching. But her theory was proven wildly incorrect and police determined Schofield was not a suspect.

04:54Still, that didn't stop the TikToker from releasing fairly intense videos targeted at Schofield.

05:01While seeming to remain entirely convinced her theory was correct.

05:05Three lawyers. Why does she need such a big defense team if she's so innocent? Why does she need all of

05:10that for me? The false accusations resulted in a defamation trial that Schofield ultimately won.

05:17The statements made about Professor Schofield are false, plain and simple. This lawsuit became necessary

05:22to protect Professor Schofield's safety and her reputation. Sandy Hook tragedy.

05:27Police canvassing gun shops and firing ranges within 15 miles of Newtown, Connecticut,

05:32searching for more clues about the gunman and his mother.

05:35One of the worst school shootings in American history occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School

05:40in Connecticut in 2012. Adam Lanza killed 26 people, 20 of whom were children, and six adult

05:48staff members. Lanza then took his own life.

05:51It has built up in him over a number of years. And he decided, I've been powerless all this time,

05:58and now I'm going to empower myself.

06:00Earlier that day, he shot and killed his mother too. On the perpetrator's body,

06:06police found identification for his brother Ryan. Soon after it became public, his Facebook images

06:11were broadcast on news stations across the country. This led to tons of comments on his social media,

06:17saying horrible things about Ryan.

06:19In federal authorities, wrongly identified the shooter as Adam's older brother, Ryan,

06:24a New York accountant. That led to Ryan posting messages on his Facebook page. It wasn't me.

06:30What's baffling is the fact that the shooter was confirmed dead. Therefore,

06:34all the comments were aimed at someone they thought had died. Ryan Lanza declared his innocence online.

06:40We also know that Adam has a brother named Ryan, and initially Ryan Lanza was named as the shooter in all

06:46of this. Charlottesville car attack. We are also learning more tonight about the alleged driver

06:50behind that deadly car attack in Charlottesville, 20-year-old James Fields, charged with murder.

06:55In 2017, a white supremacist named James Alex Fields Jr. drove his car into peaceful protesters in

07:03Charlottesville, Virginia. They were anti-protesters, there to oppose the Unite the Right rally.

07:08Kyle Petrozza took the picture, a photographer from Charlottesville. He went to the alt-right rally

07:13to capture faces of hate. Knowing what he did, it's kind of haunting now.

07:17Shortly after, a right-wing news website, Got News, claimed Jerome Vangelowa was responsible.

07:24According to them, he was, quote, anti-Trump and generally left-wing. They found him by looking

07:31into the vehicle's license plate, which revealed Vangelowa's son had owned the car in 2011.

07:36Turned out, he sold it long before the attack happened.

07:40Fields faces several charges, including second-degree murder.

07:43In response, Vangelowa sued Got News, which had to shut down as a result.

07:49Maryland cyclist.

07:50Maryland police are looking for a man caught on video, violently confronting three young people

07:55that were putting up flyers in support of George Floyd.

07:59Following the death of George Floyd in 2020, there was a huge international movement bringing

08:04attention to police brutality, particularly the Black Lives Matter movement, which garnered

08:09significant opposition. One opponent was a bicyclist in Maryland named Anthony Brennan,

08:15who assaulted three people peacefully hanging up flyers for Black Lives Matter.

08:19Just downright galling to a lot of people because the young people, teens, we believe, were posting

08:26flyers advocating for racial justice. The incident was all recorded by one victim, and after being

08:33uploaded online, it almost immediately went viral. The internet wrongly named Peter Weinberg as the

08:39culprit, which led to his home address getting publicly released. On the bright side, Weinberg received

08:45actual apologies from online abusers, rather than doubling down.

08:50I think the Star Tribune put it well this morning when they said their open wounds are still left to

08:55healers.

08:562017 Westminster Attack. Outside the Houses of Parliament in 2017, Khalid Massoud injured over 50

09:03people by driving his car along the sidewalk.

09:06Massoud mounted the pavement for the third and final time. He then crashed the vehicle before getting out

09:13with two large knives and entering the Palace of Westminster through the east perimeter gate.

09:19This ended with him being fatally shot by a police officer. Afterwards, a man named Abu

09:24Izadeen was initially identified as the criminal. This accusation made its way onto national news

09:30spurred on by internet outrage. On behalf of the Muslim community also, that is, I take advantage of to

09:37really show our condemnation of what happened, and also express our condolence to the victims and to their

09:43families.

09:44Even Donald Trump Jr. retweeted a claim that Izadeen was responsible. Turns out, Izadeen had a perfect

09:50alibi. He was already in prison, making it impossible for him to be there. Channel 4 News was the primary

09:57accuser. After realizing its mistake, it broadcasts an apology for the false accusation.

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10:15sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.

10:19The Boston Marathon Incident. In 2013, the Boston Marathon fell victim to two horrifying explosions.

10:27Three people were killed and hundreds more injured. Two brothers, Tamerlan and Jokar Tsarnaev,

10:34were responsible.

10:36You're my brother. You want to send that?

10:38Yeah.

10:39Are you ready for this?

10:40Yeah.

10:40But before they were apprehended, Redditors awfully blamed a man named Sunil Tripathi.

10:46What's wrong with this world? Because they more or less relate this event to the Boston thing.

10:51He'd been missing for almost a month, and his family had been using social media to try and find

10:56him. Tripathi became target number one for both the internet and the media. It turned out he had

11:02died weeks before the attack, taking his own life on account of his severe depression.

11:07This last month has changed our lives forever, and we hope it will change yours too. Take care of one

11:13another. Lend your hand. Be gentle. Do you think something should be done to stop false accusations

11:19online? Let us know in the comments. It's still a very sad story, and you can definitely tell.

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