Description
In December 2010, the announcement on Facebook that Laura Jane West has died in a car crash devastates her online friends, and has ramifications in real life for those linked to her and her sisters.
Four months later, Herald on Sunday journalist David Fisher investigates a serial catfisher targeting teen boys in Christchurch.
In his reporting, David would link these two stories together as he uncovered the extent to which the catfisher had created the world around her characters - a world that, 13 years later, he is still trying to make sense of.
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Lifeline: http://www.lifeline.co.nz, call 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (HELP) Suicide Crisis Helpline: www.lifeline.org.nz/services/suicide-crisis-helpline, or call 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) Youth services:
Youthline: Call 0800 376 633 or text 234 What's Up: Call 0800 942 8787 (11am to 11pm) or webchat (11am to 10.30pm) Depression helpline: Call 0800 111 757 or text 4202 (available 24/7) Helpline: Need to talk? Call or text 1737 Aoake te Rā (Bereaved by Suicide Service): Call 0800 000 053 For more information and support, talk to your local doctor, hauora, community mental health team, or counselling service.
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For the first time in 13 years, David Fisher sits down with Natalia Burgess to talk about her catfishing. While he gains new insight into her life, how she operates her false characters, and her reasons for doing it, something's missing. And then an email out of the blue offers the answers he's...
Published 10/21/24
Warning: This episode contains discussion around suicide.
In 2011, after outing her for her catfishing, David Fisher sat down with Natalia Burgess for an interview about why she had done what she had.
13 years later, David revisits that interview as he looks for answers as to why she has done...
Published 10/14/24