Rihanna's comment earlier this week that "if you don't send your boyfriend naked pictures, then I feel bad for him" seemed shocking, but it may simply reflect how common the practice has become. An AP-MTV poll surveyed 1,247 young people between 14 and 24, and found that about a third had either sent or received naked pictures via text or email. This might sound like standard rainbow-party-style alarmism — but the poll also found that 61% of those who'd sent a picture of themselves felt pressured to do so. A Louisiana 25-year-old explained, "It's just when you're talking to a guy who's interested in you, and you might have a sexual relationship, so they just want to see you naked." The AP and MTV apparently don't count this kind of pressure as a form of "digital abuse," but they still find that said abuse is prevalent — about half of respondents have suffered it. Those who have experienced digital abuse are three times as likely to consider suicide as other young people, and three times as likely to think about dropping out of school. 12% of kids who had engaged in sexting had considered suicide, although the study didn't examine whether their suicidal thoughts were prompted by the sexting itself.

The AP and MTV's definition of digital abuse encompassed behaviors like digital blackmail, but the most common form was a smear campaign. And this, essentially, is what happened to Hope Witsell. Below is her mother's appearance on the Today Show yesterday morning.

Hope Witsell committed suicide after a topless photo she sent to a boy she liked made the rounds at her school, and led not only to unrelenting taunts by her classmates but to a suspension from school. The latter — and the tone of MSNBC's accompanying article on the tragedy — indicate that adults might still be taking the wrong approach to sexting. Michael Inbar writes that "one impetuous move robbed Hope of her childhood, and eventually, her life." He also says, that Hope's "life, once so promising, unraveled after one mistake." But while sending a topless photo isn't a smart thing for a 13-year-old girl to do, it wasn't her "mistake" that caused her death — it was the harassment she endured. And while it's wise to teach kids not to sext each other, it's not fair to suspend them for it without punishing the kids who subsequently bully them.

Obviously it's easier for schools to target the subject of a naked picture than the many students who forward it around. But it's those kids — the ones who think a naked picture makes a girl a "slut," or that it's okay to call her one in the hallways — who most need to change their behavior. The AP-MTV study is most useful insofar as it shows how common it's become for young people to use technology to abuse one another. It's this abuse that needs attention — and appropriate punishment — if we want to prevent tragedies like Hope Witsell's death from happening again.

Poll Finds Sexting Common Among Young People [AP]
Survey: One Third Of Youths Have Engaged In Sexting [Wired]
‘Sexting' Bullying Cited In Teen's Suicide [MSNBC]

Details of Kim's death are still emerging. This morning, Paris Match wrote that sources inside the police investigation say the model left a suicide note. Fellow gossip title Le Parisien stated that "multiple sources" are saying that Kim's father, a Samsung executive, does not believe his daughter killed herself. Kim's mother flew to Paris on Friday, and her father arrived in the city today. An autopsy is to be performed tomorrow — standard police procedure for violent deaths — and the pathologist's findings may be known as soon as the end of this week.

Friends of the young model are also speaking to the press. Several people told the Telegraph that Kim, in the words of reporter Kim Willshire, "had become fed up with modeling and its demands, considering her life was too frenetic and incompatible with forming the sort of long-term relationship she hankered for." Another anonymous friend said Kim would sometimes dodge her agency's calls in order to carve out some time for herself. One of Kim's former agents said, "She was an excellent model, but she used to say she had hard times off the job."

But the richest source of information on Daul Kim remains her blog. The temptation of recent posts that referenced feeling "mad depressed and overworked," a poem that reads in part, "i just know / the more i gain / the more lonely it is," and, most of all, the fact that her last post was titled "say hi to forever," has apparently been too much for major news sources to resist. These mostly quote selectively, ignoring the fact that Kim said she felt depressed and overworked in Seoul and was happy to be leaving for Paris, that Kim titled virtually all of her posts with "say hi to..." and that the post in question was just a YouTube clip of one of her favorite house DJ's tracks, and that in her poem, the lines about feeling lonely were followed directly by lines about falling in love. "but when people grow together," wrote Kim, "its something that is not easy but is nice / and that is something."

It's probably a good thing Kim died in Paris, not in New York, or else we'd have to contend with Geraldo Rivera's opinions of her verse, and television cameras filming the removal of her body, as we were treated to last year, when 20-year-old Kazakh model Ruslana Korshunova jumped to her death in the financial district.

It's understandable that reporters would look to a blog for insight into its author's mind when the author is no longer available for questioning, but it should be done in such a way that the excerpts accurately reflect the whole. Kim often wrote about being busy, yes, and sometimes seemed lonely — but she also wrote about loving Milan Kundera, Klaus Kinski, and Boy George, joked about how she would make a good wife one day, and posted pictures of her paintings. (She had a solo show in Seoul in 2007.) In one of her earliest posts to I Like To Fork Myself, she wrote mock-seriously about ending her life, and then immediately followed up: "KIDDING. I'm fine. Just tired." The overwhelming impression given in her blog wasn't that of a depressive lost soul crying out for help in post after tragically ignored post: it was of a smart young woman with an interesting life, managing bewildering array of responsibilities with a wickedly dark sense of humor. And some issues with insomnia. Not everything in her life should now be re-evaluated in light of her death. To try and turn it all into a series of "signs" diminishes the person that she was.

While it's natural that her next of kin would want to put a stop to quoting out of context, Kim's words have already been featured in articles published from here to Australia. The "I know I'm like a ghost" quote, the "mad depressed and overworked" quote, they're out there. They will be repeated from article to article, from broadsheet to broadsheet to tabloid to tabloid, until all context is erased. Ending access to Kim's blog, while it may tamp down interest in the short term, in essence only serves to deny interested parties a chance to glimpse the wider context of Kim's life. Or at least to see her life as she wished it to be understood. While of course, in the case of a 20-year-old's death, there are no parties more "interested" than her actual family, blogging was evidently important to Kim — she found time to write sometimes several times daily, even as she traveled to three or four countries in a week — and in my opinion, it would be a shame if the record of her life Kim chose to publish were to go permanently dark after her death.

I Like To Fork Myself [Official Site]
Daul Kim: Model 'Had Become Fed Up With Work' [Telegraph]
Daul Kim, La Jolie Fleur S'est Fanée [Paris Match]
Daul Kim S'est-Elle Vraiment Suicidée? [20Minutes.fr]
Enquête Relancée Après Le Suicide Du Mannequin Daul Kim [Le Parisien]
I Know I'm Like A Ghost: A Cry For Help Before Dying [Sydney Morning Herald]

Earlier: 5 Fashion Model Blogs That Are Actually Interesting

According to the AP, four Palo Alto teenagers, the youngest just 13, have committed suicide on the CalTrain tracks in the last six months. (Another boy was saved from doing so when his mother followed him there.) Greg Hermann, a spokesman for the city, says "there is no single answer" to why the kids died, but "there are intelligent steps we can be taking." These include keeping what now looks like a suicide "cluster" from growing — Merily Keller, a founder of the Texas Suicide Prevention Council, says, "One of the biggest risk factors is knowing another kid who has died by suicide." Parents, teachers, and kids at Henry M. Gunn High School, attended by three of the victims, are doing everything they can to lessen this risk. Students have created a peer support group, t-shirts that say, "Talk to Me," and a no-suicide pact. Teachers are giving out their home phone numbers, and parents are following advice to ask their kids directly if they would ever consider suicide. Madeline Gould, a Columbia University psychiatrist who has studied suicide clusters, emphasizes that prevention is necessary and possible:

These poor kids died from an untreated psychiatric illness, or undertreated. It's not as if it's a mysterious thing and it's not as if it's not preventable. Unfortunately, there is the misconception that if someone wants to die by suicide, it's inevitable. That's not the case. The impulse to kill yourself waxes and wanes.

Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among Americans between 15 and 24, and while their act is sadly common, the four teens' method may seem unusual. But for Palo Alto, it isn't. For two years, I lived in an adjacent town on the San Francisco Peninsula, and I took the CalTrain to work every day. During that time, at least three people died on the tracks — it happened often enough that the CalTrain authorities at one point placed printed notes on each of the seats, apologizing to riders for the deaths. After a man committed suicide at my stop, just minutes before I got there, I learned that the CalTrain is one of the few commuter trains in America that passes through densely populated areas almost exclusively at street level — it's a very convenient mode of transportation, and also a disturbingly convenient way to kill yourself.

And it's a pretty public way to go. When someone died on the tracks, the trains would shut down in both directions for about half a day. All the commuters had to find another way to work — I remember shuffling onto buses along with a lot of shocked people in business suits, thinking that we had essentially become the suicide victim's funeral procession. The train employees were probably even more deeply affected than the passengers — especially the conductor who had the unenviable job of checking if victims were still alive. Usually when a private citizen commits suicide, family and friends grieve, but the wider world hears about the tragedy through a small notice in the paper, if at all. But just as trains bring together people whose lives wouldn't ordinarily intersect, a suicide on the tracks has a collective impact: it's an oddly civic death, one that becomes an entire community's to analyze and mourn.

Because of this, the Palo Alto train suicides seem uniquely suited to a communal response. Gunn High School's programs are a start. I know that CalTrain was working on suicide prevention back when I lived in California, but I also know that it remained pretty easy to get out onto the tracks. Better fences and gates might save lives. But Palo Alto might also think of the cultural implications of its suicide cluster. Do kids at Gunn — a major feeder for Stanford University — feel insurmountable pressure to achieve? Do the economics of Palo Alto, a high-income community that stands in stark separation to its lower-income, higher-crime neighbor East Palo Alto, contribute to this pressure? Might kids in both places do better if this economic segregation could be lessened? Hermann is right that "there is no single answer" for why four teens committed suicide, but there are many possible answers. And because of the nature of the suicides, Palo Alto is uniquely placed to seek these answers collectively, and to teach the country how to do so.

Anguish Over Calif. Teen Suicides Spurs Action [AP, via MSNBC]

• A recent poll found that Russians are the most snap-happy - and possibly the most vain - people in Europe. Russians are also more likely to post pictures of themselves online than any other group studied. • Several schools in the UK have halted HPV vaccination following the death of a young girl. Although officials say the vaccine is safe, the batch that was administered to Natalie Morton is under investigation. • The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has temporarily shelved the approval of Cervarix, another HPV vaccine marketed as an alternative to Gardasil. Officials state that this is unrelated to the recent death in Britain, but the vaccine is under review. • And in other cervical cancer news, a HPV vaccine will be available in Japan by year's end, according to a government panel. • The Detroit City Council are considering an amendment that would ban lap dances and require club workers to get certified for their positions. • Lawmakers across the pond have announced that starting today, police will have the power to ban anyone arrested for domestic violence from their home for up to 14 days. They hope that the new domestic violence protection orders - known as "go orders" - will give victims some much-needed "breathing space." • New research indicates that elderly men are more likely than elderly women to attempt suicide. Researchers also report that women who attempt suicide multiple times are likely to "complete suicide." • Maoist activists gathered on Thursday to protest the "Miss Nepal" pageant. "The contest is a forum where women are used by companies to popularize and sell their products," said protest leader Manu Humagain. "It is a blow to the dignity of the women. We oppose it." •

• "The truth is that a lot of these moments that seem period and horrible for women come directly from experiences that I and the other women writers have had in our lifetimes," says writer Robin Veith. • A recent study of 1,000 low-income families found that one in four children between the ages of 11-16 are sexually active. The average age at which these teens and preteens lost their virginity was 12.77. Researchers also found that boys reported their first sexual experience at younger ages (average: 12.48) than girls (13.16). • Research from the University of Washington indicates that US-born Asian American women are at a higher risk for both contemplating and attempting suicide. 15.3% of Asian American women have admitted to thinking about suicide, compared with the national estimate of 13.5%. • Here is some totally obvious information: White men have an easier time finding jobs than women or minorities. A new study reports that white males receive more job leads for managerial positions, but black men and women get more leads for positions that would not require them to supervise any other workers. • President Obama is drawing criticism from gay rights groups for his failure to overturn a Clinton-era law that gives states the right to refuse to recognize marriages performed in other states. "It is not enough to disavow this discriminatory law, and then wait for Congress or the courts to act," said the president of the Human Rights Campaign. • Researchers have found that increased sexual activity can lead to increased productivity in the workplace. Apparently, sex can improve problem-solving skills and creativity. • A new book, Das KZ Bordell, details the horrible reality of life in concentration camp brothels. The Nazis suspected that their prisoners would work harder if they were given an incentive, so they enlisted women from the camps to work as prostitutes, which were segregated according to race and closely monitored (read: peepholes) by SS officials. • Get a load of this: "Morning chicness" barf bags. Because if you have a vagina, even your vomit has to be pretty. • A study of women's magazines found that more than a third of the mags examined depicted babies sleeping in unsafe positions. • An attorney for the Marriott hotel in Stamford has said he is not responsible for the victim blaming defense that the hotel is not responsible for a woman who was raped in their parking garage. He says the insurance company has been handling the whole thing, and that he asked for the defense to be withdrawn weeks ago. •

• Spencer Pratt says that when he did the Today show, he thought that Al Roker was a "fan" "off the street." And! Heidi Montag's command for Al Roker?

"Please do not be rude to women in the future. Please do not be rude to me. Please watch your tone, especially if you have a mother or a wife or a daughter. I don't think that they would appreciate you talking to them like that." Ugh. Seriously? Anyway, Al Roker, Heidi forgives you. [Us Magazine]

• Al Roker's Twitter reads: "Heidi and Spencer are an interesting couple. famous for...being infamous. Bad and vacuous behavior. I think we're at minute 11 of their 15." And! "Amazed at the fact that Ann Curry had an terrific interview w/ Benjamin Netanyahu but what gets picked up is my goofy interview w/ Speidi." Good point. [Gatecrasher]
• Madonna calls her new adopted daughter on the phone every night. [The Sun]
• Remember that voicemail Alec Baldwin left for his daughter? The one in which he called her a "rude little pig" who needed to have her "ass straightened out"? After the message leaked, Baldwin considered killing himself, he tells Playboy: "I spoke to a lot of professionals, who helped me… If I committed suicide, [Kim Basinger's side] would have considered that a victory. Destroying me was their avowed goal." [People]
• A source says that when Lindsay Lohan was at a photo shoot in London, she "kept going on about the jewels, asking if she could have them." Later? They went missing. [MSNBC]
• Look! Lindsay Lohan with a pregnant belly. It's for that flick, Labor Pains, which will air on ABC Family July 19. [EW]
• Lindsay Lohan: Spotted at a club "not acting normal." [Page Six]
• Words you never really thought you would read: Katie Holmes is taping her guest appearance for So You Think You Can Dance today. [Us Magazine]
• Teyona Taylor, who was with Chris Brown at the Lakers/Magic game on Sunday, says Chris Brown did not use her for a PR stunt. As for looking like Rihanna, she says: "I've always dressed like that. I've always had style ... I've had that Mohawk now for months." [TMZ]
• Chris Brown being out and about — instead of keeping a low profile — is part of his "strategy." [TMZ]
• David Letterman apologized again for the joke that involved Sarah Palin and her daughters. [NY Times, TV Week]
• Oh, look: A Fire David Letterman campaign. And a protest. [NY Daily News]
• Jeff Foxworthy on David Letterman: "I don't think any kind of joke about someone having sex with a teenage girl is funny." [CNN]
• BREAKING: Sarah Palin has accepted David Letterman's apology. [AP]
• If you're still interested in Carrie Prejean, here's a story about how she's "considering legal action" against the Miss California USA pageant and how her book deal may have been one of the reasons she was fired. [Radar Online]
• This report claims that the pageant threatened to sue Carrie Prejean, for her "churlish insolent misbehavior." [TMZ]
• David and Victoria Beckham have received a High Court apology from their former nanny, who gave an interview to the News Of The World after she resigned and spilled all kind of private information. [BBC News]
• Bad news for Patrick Swayze: A&E's series The Beast has been canceled. [NY Times]
• Why hasn't Mischa Barton been at any of the promotional events for her new model show, The Beautiful Life? Weird, right? [Pop Wrap]
• Peaches Geldof is being linked to an L.A. stylist named Sandra S. This paper takes it as a sign "she may be off men for good." [The Sun]
• Adrien Grenier and Twilight's Ashley Greene: It's on. [Page Six]
• Gerard Butler and designer Rachel Roy? Getting cozy? [Page Six]
• Steven Spielberg and Noah Wyle are working on an alien-invasion TV series for TNT that sounds kinda like V. [EW]
• Natalie Portman is in talks to star in a supernatural thriller set in the world of New York City ballet (?!?!) directed by Darren Aronofsky, of The Wrestler and Requiem For A Dream. Intriguing! [The Hollywood Reporter]
• Leonardo DiCaprio will star in a flick about Costa Rica-based online casinos, written by the guys who did Ocean's Thirteen and Rounders. [The Hollywood Reporter]
• Wow. A documentary chronicling Tilda Swinton as she bikes along what used to be the Berlin Wall. Sign us up! [Reuters]
• What the world needs now: R. Kelly will make his first trip to Africa and perform at the Arise Africa Fashion Awards gala in Johannesburg, South Africa. [WWD]
• "Artie Lange won't be appearing on Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show anytime soon: Producers think Howard Stern's sidekick isn't sober enough to perform." [Gatecrasher]
• Ignore any rumors you may have heard about Stephen Baldwin's house being in foreclosure, says Stephen Baldwin's rep. [People]
• As previously mentioned, Scott Weiland's wife is writing a book about their marriage's ups and downs; Scott Weiland says: "My love for her will never end. We just forgot how to be friends. She has now chosen a public career and one that brings both accolades and public scrutiny. There will be more of this sort of thing to deal with as time goes by... both good and bad. Divorce is hell..." [ONTD via All Headline News]
• Hulk Hogan's accusing estranged wife Linda of spending her $40k a month alimony on drugs. Stay classy you guys. [TMZ]
• Michael Strahan and Nicole (ex wife of Eddie) Murphy: Engaged. [People]
• Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey, chim chim cher-ee! Dick Van Dyke is writing a memoir. [Yahoo News via AP]
• Blind item! "Which male music diva kicked a billionaire out of his house - just because he put his dirty feet on a pristine white couch?" [Gatecrasher]
• "Even the people that were shovelling bodies into gas chambers would say 'we're just obeying orders'... you've got to accept responsibility for what you're doing. If your actions as an individual are directly having a negative effect on someone else's life then you can't say 'I'm just doing my job.'" — Pete Doherty on the paparazzi (yes, he's comparing them to Nazi concentration camp guards.) [Mirror]
• "There is a period once you finish a guy — a character — when you're looking to go back to yourself and sometimes it can manifest itself in illness. After I made The Libertine, I was in bed for two weeks. When you're working, you don't get sick, then suddenly it hits you like a two-by-four." — Johnny Depp. [MSNBC via Contact Music]
• "After I was cast and I realized my body would be exposed all the time, I went out and bought some shorts - I owned none - to help me get used to it. You stop thinking, Do I look weird at this angle? I've learned to feel comfortable wearing very little. It's liberating! …I love being barefoot. I'm not going to lie - I love my high heels, too, so I'm completely bipolar in that regard." — Anna Paquin, on exposing herself in True Blood. [Gatecrasher via Self Magazine]
• "When I read the script, I said to myself, ‘OK, well, you're turning 50 this year and you're really heading into the eye of the storm with this one. Then I was working too hard to really think about what was happening. [My birthday] kind of came and went and it wasn't a big deal. Honestly, it was a huge relief when it was over because you realize nothing changes." — Michelle Pfeiffer, on playing a french prostitute in Cheri. [WWD]
• "I had booby stickers on. If I'd been actually topless, I would have sued someone… I know who, and I never did anything about it. It's her karma to deal with, not mine." — Megan Fox, on leaked nude pix. [NY Daily News]

For the first time, the American Academy of Pediatrics's official statement on youth violence — coming out next month — will include a section on bullying. The section includes recommendations for schools based on the research of Norwegian psychologist Dan Olweus, who, interestingly enough, focuses not on bullies or victims but on bystanders. "Olweus's genius," says statement author Robert Sege, "is that he manages to turn the school situation around so the other kids realize that the bully is someone who has a problem managing his or her behavior, and the victim is someone they can protect." Other recommendations include reorganizing the school layout or paying more attention to places — like an "out-of-sight corner" — where bullying can easily flourish.

The new statement comes after a spate of studies showing that bullies, as well as victims, face psychological risks. One study found that both bullies and the bullied were more likely to have suicidal thoughts. Another found that some bullies — specifically those with a condition called conduct disorder — actually enjoyed watching other kids get hurt. And of course, the unique risks of cyberbullying, especially in the wake of Megan Meier's suicide, have been well-documented.

Klaas writes:

The way we understand bullying has changed, and it's probably going to change even more. [...] But anyone working with children needs to start from the idea that bullying has long-term consequences and that it is preventable.

Nipping schoolyard bullying in the bud — before it can become a lifelong problem — is an important goal, and Klaas's story resonates more than the Times's recent pieces on female workplace bullying. Rather than, as Dodai says, "running panicky stories about ladies misbehaving at the office," let's focus on kids harming other kids and what doctors, parents, and schools can do about it.

At Last, Facing Down Bullies (and Their Enablers) [New York Times]
With Bullying, Suicide Risk for Victims and Tormentors [New York Times]

Earlier: Yup, Bullies Really Are Sadistic Jerks
Female "Bullies" At Work: What Are These Pieces Really Trying To Say?
Bullied At Work? Chances Are, The Abuser Is Another Woman

The story is about men who commit mass-murders and suicides, spurred by several recent cases in which men killed their families prior to suicides. Not one expert quoted in the piece calls it love, though.

Unaccredited researchers said this, though.

For decades, psychiatrists have been studying such cases to determine what mental issues trigger this behavior. A person who kills his family could have control issues that lead him to decide the fate of the children, spouse and pets, researchers said.

Donna Cohen, a professor and head of the Violence and Injury Prevention Program at the University of South Florida, said something similar:

The person with a mental illness views his wife and children as possessions, believing, "I have to keep this. This is mine," Cohen said. "Nobody else is able to take care of them except me. If I can't control this in my life, I'll preserve it in death so that my world doesn't change. It's the psychiatric issues."

She adds that pre-murder domestic violence often plays a large role.

"People don't get involved, even when they know there's threat in violence because they believe they don't think anything will happen," Cohen said. "It's essential to get to domestic violence safe houses and be much more proactive in understanding there are people who have problems."

Louis Schlesinger, forensic psychology professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City thinks that it's partially narcissism.

"They think they're saving their family and that they will be remembered with sympathy," Schlesinger said.

You know, like if CNN memorializes them as having killed "out of love."

Dr. Philip Resnick, director of the division of forensic psychiatry at Case Western, says that the men often suffer from mental illness which wreaks havoc on their perceptions of the world.

"They become very depressed as the breadwinner," Resnick said. "With their distorted, depressive perceptions, they feel that rather than allow their children to go hungry, they may feel they're doing a favor to take their family with them as they end their own life. ... They're not depriving them of life, they're ending what they see as an intolerable life."

Richard James Gelles, dean of the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, agrees that it might be misplaced "altruism" derived from mental illness.

"They couldn't leave people behind to be ashamed and humiliated"

You know what none of them say? That men who kill their families do it out of love. Because they don't.

'Hopeless' Dads Kill Their Families Out Of Love, Experts Say [CNN]

• Several law enforcement officials told The Boston Globe that a preliminary match has been made between the semi-automatic handgun police found in Philip Markoff's apartment and the weapon used to kill Julissa Brisman last week. Officers also said that fingerprints matching Markoff's were found on the plastic restraints and duct tape left at a crime scene, but it wasn't clear what case they were referring to.
• A fingerprint matching Markoff's was found at the Rhode Island hotel where an exotic dancer was robbed at gunpoint last week, according to The New York Times.
• Correctional officers say they noticed "shoelace marks" around Markoff's neck yesterday, leading them to believe that he tried to kill himself, reports The New York Daily News. He was moved to a segregated unit at Boston's Nashua Street Jail and placed on suicide watch. Another source said Markoff is wearing a special restraining suit to keep him from harming himself.
• Yesterday Jim McAllister, father of Markoff's fiancée Megan McAllister, spoke to reporters. According to The Boston Herald:
  

  The father of the bride said Megan McAllister has read all the news reports about the evidence.

  "How could you not?" Jim McAllister said. But he said her faith is strong. "She's still confident in Phil. Other than that, we're saying a lot of prayers."

  Speaking to reporters outside the family's home in Little Silver, N.J., McAllister briefly addressed how his daughter was holding up.

  "As expected, not well," he said in a soft voice, according to video footage of the interview. "She's still confident in Phil. Other than that, we are saying a lot of prayers."

  Asked whether his daughter had any idea about Markoff's alleged double life, Jim McAllister shook his head. "Absolutely not," he said, before walking away from the microphones, according to video footage.

• Megan McAllister wrote and sent another email to the press. People reports:
  

  "Philip has not been convicted," McAllister wrote in an email to PEOPLE. "A policeman who wished to make money off this story sold it to countless companies. Philip is a beautiful man inside and out and did not commit this crime. Unfortunately, somebody else did and needs to be penalized. Philip was set up and you are wrong to be asking me for stories."

• A friend of Markoff's has started a Facebook page titled, "Phil Markoff is Innocent Until Proven Guilty." The purpose: to "Rally against the media who is quick to place blame, against the culture that has forgotten that people like Phil are suspects, not killers." As of this morning it had 199 members.
• A Boston radio station aired an interview with a Cape Cod woman who said she sat next to Markoff at a blackjack table at Foxwoods casino on April 16, two days after he allegedly killed Julissa Brisman and the same day he's suspected of robbing a woman in Rhode Island. People reports:
  

  The Cape Cod woman said Markoff spent about $600 and hardly said a word, bringing down the upbeat mood at the table. His behavior was so odd, she told the radio station, that she mentioned him to her friends after he left. When she saw his picture in a newspaper after his arrest, she said to herself, 'Oh my God, it's him."

• Markoff's former Boston University School of Medicine lab partner, Tiffany B. Montgomery, told The Boston Globe that he experienced mood swings and depression to the point that she considered telling school counselors that he might be suicidal. She said she is "not even remotely surprised" that he has been charged with murder. The Globe reports:
  

  "He just wasn't right in the head, and I knew it, and probably other people did, too," said Montgomery, 26, who spent hours with him each day in the lab.

  "My friends from the lab group have confirmed that 'you weren't the only one feeling that way,' " she said. "I got the impression he was really disturbed."

  Montgomery, who dropped out of medical school last February because of financial problems, said Markoff's mood swings alarmed her.

  "One day, he'd be warm and friendly and smiling," said Montgomery, who now works as a biotech consultant in Boston. "And the next day you'd see him and the clouds had rolled in. And you'd say to yourself, 'This is the 50 percent of the week when it's the upset, brooding Phil, and not the smiling happy Phil.' "

• There are more calls for Craigslist to take down its "erotic services" category, or police the site more. "It is clear that Craigslist is the new frontier," Mark Lagon, executive director of the anti-trafficking group the Polaris Project told the Associated Press. "Ultimately, the 'erotic services' section must be shut down," Lagon said, explaining that a study last year found Craigslist was the site used most frequently by johns seeking prostitutes. Last month in Illinois, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart sued the site, claiming that it has actively created, "the largest source of prostitution in America."
• Prosecutors posted an ad in Craigslist "erotic services" section yesterday in an attempt to find other women who may have been victimized by Markoff. According to CBS News:
  

  "Were you attacked or robbed at a Boston-area hotel after placing an ad on Craigslist?" the ad asked. "If so, you may have information that could aid the investigation into the April 10 armed robbery of a woman at the Westin Copley Place Hotel and the April 14 murder of a woman at the Marriott Copley Place Hotel. Both victims were attacked by a prospective client who had contacted them through ads placed on Craigslist."

Sources: Preliminary Tests Link Gun Found At Markoff's Home To Slaying [Boston Globe]
Fingerprint Is Student's, Official Says [New York Times]
Suspected 'Craigslist Killer' Philip Markoff Tried To Hang Himself In Jail Cell, On Suicide Watch [NY Daily News]
Sources: Cops Make Gun Link In Philip Markoff Case [Boston Herald]
Who Is 'Craigslist Killer' Philip Markoff? [People]
"Phil Markoff is Innocent Until Proven Guilty" [Facebook]
Report: Craigslist Murder Suspect On Suicide Watch [People]
Behind 'Perfect Life,' A Darker Side [Boston Globe]
Craigslist Death Renews Calls For Limiting Sex Ads [Associated Press]
Investigators Turn To Craigslist For Clues [CBS News]

Earlier: Cops: Craigslist Killer Robbed To Fund Fiancee's Lavish Lifestyle
Fiancee Of Accused Craigslist Killer Says He's Innocent

On Friday night, James Harrison and his eldest daughter went looking for her mother, Angela. By tracking her through a GPS feature in her phone they found her with another man at a nearby convenience store, reports CBS News. Angela said she wasn't coming home and was leaving for the other man. The father and daughter got upset and returned to their mobile home in Graham, Washington.

After the children went to sleep, Harrison entered their bedrooms and shot them multiple times. Four died in their beds and one died in the bathroom after a struggle. "He wanted the kids dead," said Ed Troyer, spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff. "It wasn't like he shot a few rounds. He shot several rounds."

He then returned to the area near the convenience store and shot himself with a rifle in his car. "We think he was going to go back to kill the wife," Troyer said. "He probably didn't find her and realized the gravity of what he'd done and shot himself."

The mother's aunt, Candy Johnson, said that Harrison was strict and controlling and didn't let Angela make decisions without asking him first. She added that Harrison impregnated Angela when she was 13. "My niece has been so controlled from the time she was young," she said.

Harrison was put on a parenting plan by child welfare officials in 2007 after a "minor assault" on one of the children. Ron Vorak, who lived across the street from the family, said, "He was always hollering at the kids. He seemed to be strict with them," according to the Associated Press.

The oldest daughter, Maxine, was in 10th grade at Orting High School. Jamie was in eighth grad and her sister Samatha was in sixth grade at Orting Middle School. Heather and James were in the second grade at Orting Primary school. "We're going to try to get through this the best we can given the circumstances," said Jeff Davis, Orting School District superintendent. "In a small community like this, we know these kids. Teachers know the kids. All the kids know the kids."

The children's mother was informed of the shootings and is being counseled by a chaplain.

Man Killed 5 Kids Because Wife Was Leaving [CBS News]
Police: Dad Killed 5 Kids Because Wife Was Leaving [AP]

In light of Sylvia Plath's son, Nicholas Hughes, committing suicide this week, as his mother did years ago, CNN is reporting that it's actually common for family members of people who have committed suicide to have suicidal tendencies themselves. A first-degree relative, such as a parent, sibling, or child, of a person who has committed suicide is four to six times more likely to try to kill themselves, said Dr. David Brent, a psychiatrist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. According to studies on twins, suicidal behavior is 30 to 50 percent due to inherited factors. Even suicide victims' biological relatives who were adopted away show a greater rate of suicides.

According to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences depression may also be inherited. Researchers found that the children of depressed people had a similar structural difference in their brain. The data showed that even before the children and grandchildren of depressed people developed symptoms, they had a thinner brain surface than average.

Researchers believe this thinning of the cortex may interfere with the processing of emotional stimuli, but say the cause of depression and suicidal behavior is still a combination of genetics and environment. The rate of suicide in America is 10.9 suicide deaths per 100,000 people, which means suicide is still rare. "Genetics is not destiny," said Dr. Brent. "The odds are still very much against you having this happening to another relative."

But even though having these afflictions doesn't mean they will definitely be passed on, people often feel that they are responsible for their children's genetic disorders. ABC News reports that feelings of guilt may be becoming more common, since with advances in medicine we can often determine which conditions are genetic, or which parent may have passed on the gene for a disease.

Six years ago, when Marietta Drucker, then 76, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, her two daughters tested positive for the breast cancer gene a few weeks later. "I felt devastated. I felt sick about it. How could I give the people most precious to me in my whole life — my two daughters — this awful, awful gene," Drucker told ABC News.

Evolutionary psychologists believe that humans developed the emotion of guilt long ago to help compel us to help others and empathize. However, guilt can also be harmful, as it may cause people to be filled with a sense of shame that cuts them off from others, even when it's not warranted.

Dr. Philip R. Muskin, a psychiatry professor at Columbia University, says that even though technically it is a parent's fault when a child inherits a disease, parents shouldn't feel guilty about it. "A parent can't control the fact that her child has a disease, but she can emotionally take on the burden. Feeling guilty is a sly, emotional way to take control," says Muskin. "Ideally, the parent comes to the conclusion that 'this isn't my fault' and accepts there are things out of our control. Can people reach that point? They can. Is it easy? No."

[Image via Flickr.]

Suicidal Behavior May Run In Families [CNN]
The Heaviest Heart: Guilt And Genetic Disease [ABC News]