KENTUCKY (FOX 56) — More than a year after losing her 16-year-old son to what federal investigators determined was a sextortion scheme, Kentucky mother Shannon Heacock stood outside a federal courthouse with a message for Meta: her son’s death was preventable.
“Would you kindly take out your phones and set an alarm for 20 minutes,” the grieving mother asked.
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Heacock said 20 minutes was all it took for scammers to target her son Elijah through social media, sending more than 150 messages, AI-generated deepfakes, and demands for money before he ultimately took his own life in 2025.
“I watched him lose his battle,” she said through tears. “Before we could plan Eli’s funeral, at 16-years-old, I had the FBI sitting at my kitchen table.”
Special agents explained to her that her son was a victim of sextortion…