Elijah Heacock, left, died on Feb. 28. He was the victim of financial sextortion, a crime where a person threatens to release explicit pictures unless they receive payment. Others in the photograph include his mother Shannon Heacock, who is using Elijah's story to spread awareness, and her friend Jennie Watson. Photo courtesy of Shannon Heacock, used with permission.
By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
In tragedy, hope is often an unlooked for guest.
“Out of tragedy usually comes the most meaningful changes,” said Barren County Sheriff’s Deputy Adam Bow, the detective who met the family of Elijah Heacock at T.J. Samson Hospital.
“This will be the hardest thing [I’ll] ever do, but what if it wakes up the world,” Elijah’s mother Shannon Heacock said.
They are referring to the tragic death of sixteen-year-old Elijah Heacock, who died on Feb. 28 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Initially, Shannon said she thought Elijah had fallen from one of the shelves in her “canning” room and hit his head.
“We jumped out of bed and ran to the laundry room,” Shannon said in a written statement. “My thought was Eli had already been up and when he gets it in his mind that something is going to be made, I thought 100% he’d climbed the shelf and fell and hit his head. We never heard anything [but] we did find the gun near Eli’s foot.”
Elijah was a victim of financial sextortion, which, according to the Federal Bureau of Information, is a crime where “the offender receives sexually explicit material from the child and then threatens to release the compromising material unless the victim sends money or gift cards.”
Bow said the crime usually involves making and sending “a collage” of the victim’s friends — such as Facebook friends — with the explicit photo and threatening to send the friends the picture unless they are paid.
“They’ll sometimes send multiple pictures of the [victim’s] friends list and say ‘send us [money] or we’ll send this out,” Bow said.
Ultimately, the money he’d received from his 23-year-old brother Isaac proved to be not enough, Shannon said.
“I saw the message that said ‘that wasn’t enough money,’” she said.
While it is an active case, which barred Bow from divulging specifics, he said it was nearly “a textbook case.” Though Shannon said, based on the skin complexion and other factors, she doesn’t believe they were real photos of her son.
The hope, or silver lining, is the change this tragedy is already making, and its potential to safeguard others.
“I’ve had parents messaging me [saying] ‘I’ve never heard of this…but I’ve sat my kids down; I’ve told them that this is a scam and to come straight to us.’” Shannon said. “Maybe somebody else doesn’t have to go through this.”
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear signed Senate Bill 73 into law, which makes sexual extortion a class D felony and allows for a perpetrator to be charged with assault or murder “if the victim attempts suicide as a result.” Barren County Representative Steve Riley spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives and strongly advocated for its passage, saying he had spoken with Heacock’s family.
“No parent should have to go through this; no parent should ever have to deal with this situation,” Riley said. “This is a problem our young people…are facing that is devastating. Can you imagine the pain a parent has to go through in this situation? Can you imagine a twin having to go through this situation? What kind of low life would use sexual extortion to devastate a human being.”
U.S. Representative Brett Guthrie highlighted Elijah’s death when considering the Take It Down Act, which aims to criminalize the publication of non-consensual intimate imagery, including AI-generated deepfakes, which Shannon asserts was the case with Elijah, and require platforms to remove such content within 48 hours of notification. The act has passed the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent.
“I know we’ve all been touched by cases in our district. We all care. We all want it to be better,” Guthrie said. “We wish we could 100% fix it. We know it absolutely has to be better. The predators always try to stay one step ahead of us, so we have to have these meetings, these hearings. We have to have these bills.”
Bow said they haven’t seen many sextortion cases locally, but it has “picked up” over the years. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received 26,718 reports in 2023, a jump from 10,731 reports in 2022 and up from 139 reports in 2021. Bow said the best thing to do if a person is a victim of sextortion is to report it immediately.
“Time is an enemy for any investigation, but especially for these,” Bow said.
In Elijah’s case, Bow said, the Barren County Sheriff’s Office is handling charges surrounding his death while the FBI is conducting a “parallel” investigation regarding the sextortion.
As with most things, the most powerful, preventative measure is education, Bow said. Caverna Independent Schools is hosting a discussion about online safety Monday, March 31, at the Cave Area Conference Center.
“Bad will come out of anything that can be done good with,” Bow said. “We’ve got to educate our kids, and it’s a hard conversation to have but we’ve got to because there are evil people out there doing evil things.”
“There will be negatives,” Shannon said. “I don’t care if Eli came out here and saved the world, somebody would have something to say, but to get those messages — to get messages from parents — hopefully it’s bringing more people to see it’s not a joke. Don’t let it be taboo.”
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, or go to 988lifeline.org.
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