INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Frederick Jay Bowdy’s Facebook Live Suicide Highlights Scary Trend In Broadcasting Tragedy On Social Media [Opinion]

By Shaunee Flowers
Published on: 04:08 PST, Jan 25, 2017

Aspiring actor Frederick Jay Bowdy has achieved a level of fame after his death that, based on the captions of his Instagram posts, he was hoping to achieve in his life and career. According to the New York Daily News, 34-year old Bowdy broadcast his suicide on Facebook Live after earlier making threats to harm himself.

Bowdy is just the latest person to use a social media live stream in order to end his own life. The tragic trend is gaining in popularity, leading some to think that maybe Facebook should rethink the feature that allows users to broadcast whatever they are doing to all of their online friends.

Jay Bowdy committed suicide in his car in Los Angeles on Monday while streaming the shocking tragedy while several people watched on Facebook Live. According to the report, a concerned family member contacted the Los Angeles Police Department around 5:30 a.m. on Monday because Bowdy had already been on social media threatening to take his own life.

Officers were able to track down Bowdy’s car, which was parked on the street in the Hollywood Arts District but it was too late. Bowdy was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:33 a.m., with the cause of death being a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Craig Harvey, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office, said in a statement that they believe Bowdy may have shot himself as police officers approached his car. Right now, they are still investigating but believe his death is a suicide.

Jay Bowdy was arrested last Thursday on suspicion of sexual assault and was released on $100,000 bail on Friday. It’s not clear if that arrest led to his decision to commit suicide on Facebook Live, but it was reported that he had not been formally charged.

News of Bowdy’s suicide comes alongside the Facebook Live suicide of 14-year-old Nakia Venant from Miami. According to the Miami Herald, Venant streamed live for two hours from her bathroom before crafting a noose from a scarf and hanging herself from the frame of the shower door.

Just three weeks ago, a 12-year-old from Georgia also committed suicide while viewers watched on Facebook Live. Katelynn Nicole Davis live-streamed for 40 minutes as she took her own life. After the fact, a family member removed the shocking video from her Facebook account, only to have it reposted by those who viewed the shocking footage, causing it go viral.

These aren’t the only suicides broadcast over Facebook Live in less than a year that the service has been available, they are just the most recent. With the technology available in our voyeuristic society, it is becoming increasingly popular to live-stream tragedy.

Live-streamed suicides aren’t the only shocking events that are being broadcast across social media platforms either. Just in the last month, there have been reports of hate crimes, a gang rape, and even child abuse recorded via Facebook Live for all the world to see. In those cases, while the morbid appeal of watching violent crimes as they happen is worth noting, the Facebook Live footage also serves as evidence and helps to catch and prosecute offenders. In the case of live-streamed suicide, it’s just downright tragic.

Social media live-streaming is one of the newest trends in technology and Facebook Live is a great way for friends and family to show off whatever they are currently doing. However, this latest tragic trend of using services like Facebook Live to end one’s own life is disturbing and painful for the family of the deceased.

It’s hard to understand why Jay Bowdy, Nakia Venant, or Katelynn Nicole Davis would want to air their own death on Facebook Live but the trend to do really bad things live on social media is growing rapidly. Even more disturbing are those who tune in with hopes to witness the final act.

[Featured Image by Denniro/Shutterstock]

Share this article: Frederick Jay Bowdy’s Facebook Live Suicide Highlights Scary Trend In Broadcasting Tragedy On Social Media [Opinion]
More from Inquisitr