CROSS LANES, W.Va. — The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department and FBI continue the investigation into the death of a Cross Lanes teenager believed to have been targeted by an online sextortion scheme.
According to the sheriff’s office, deputies responded to the scene of a shooting on Kelly Road in Cross Lanes on November 6 to find 15-year-old Bryce Tate deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Examination of Tate’s cell phone revealed communication indicating he had been a victim of sextortion, a form of exploitation where offenders pose as teenagers on social media and coerce victims into sending sensitive or intimate images before giving demands.
“Normally they target a young adult audience, in the teenage years up through high school, sending pictures, explicit pictures, and then trying to extort money out of them,” Kanawha County Sheriff Joey Crawford said Monday on MetroNews “Talkline.”
Examination by the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office Digital Forensic Lab revealed the communication began around 4:30pm on November 6 and continued until minutes before Tate took his life that same day. According to Crawford, authorities are doing their best to track down the offenders, but cases like these are difficult because the perpetrators are often outside the United States.
“We have several of our members of our investigative detective bureau that are assigned to the FBI task force, so they’re actively looking at that case, obviously working it the best they can,” he said.
Crawford said the Tate family has been cooperative throughout the process and vocal about what happened to their son. He believes their bravery could help another loss like this be avoided.
“I want to commend them for being able to get this out there so maybe another parent doesn’t have to endure what they’re going through at this point in time,” he said.
The sheriff wants the public to know how important it is to have conversations with their family members about the dangers posed by sextortion. Crawford said starting with a simple discussion can be a big step.
“I think it behooves all of us that have children, grandchildren, to sit down and have these conversations so we don’t see this tragic event unfold again,” he said.
FBI Pittsburgh is taking part in the investigation as a result of the interstate and digital nature of the case.