Texas Man Allegedly Posts Photo of Woman’s Body on Facebook

Epoch Newsroom
5/31/2016
Updated:
5/31/2016

A woman’s dead body was posted on Facebook on Monday after her relatives pleaded with the social media site to remove it, raising concerns about its policies.

Jennifer Streit-Spears was found dead on Sunday morning in an apartment in Plano, Texas, after police got reports of a disturbance.

Suspect Kenneth Alan Amyx, 45, was found outside the apartment with stab wounds, the Dallas Morning News reported.

A woman who chose to remain anonymous told The Daily Dot that she is the sister of Streit-Spears. She said that the suspect posted gruesome images on her sister’s Facebook page with the message, “Please pray for us.”

“I did ask them to remove it several times,” she told the site. “They told me I could block Jennifer if I didn’t like what she posted and gave me other similar options.”

The Dallas News said Amyx’s wounds were found to be self-inflicted after he was taken to a local hospital. He has been previously convicted of sexual abuse of a child in Rockwall County, Texas. Amyx was taken to Collin County Jail, where his bond was set at $600,000. Police said they don’t have a motive for the killing.

Amyx and Streit-Spears were apparently in a relationship, and they had been living together quietly in their apartment.. “I didn’t see them every day. I don’t want to say often, but I mean I never heard anything. Anytime you saw people coming out of there, they looked normal, didn’t look angry, didn’t look like murderers or anything,” neighbor Taylor Dunafan told CBSDFW.

The post and photos are now being used as evidence in the case. They will likely be used in a trial.

Facebook policy problem?

The incident is sure to ignite questions about Facebook’s policy on harmful content.

A spokesperson for Facebook told the New York Daily News that the images were left on Streit-Spears’ profile for some time despite pleas to take them down because the photos may have been a call for help---not a message from the alleged killer.

“Facebook has long been a place where people share their experiences and raise awareness about important issues,” the spokesperson told the newspaper. “Sometimes, those experiences and issues involve violence and graphic images of public interest or concern.”

Facebook was notified by the victim’s family, who said the suspected murderer posted the photo, and only then were they finally taken down from her account. The page has since been turned into an “in remembrance” page.

Her friends were also horrified. “The pictures were not clear although they were extremely scary. I just started to reach out to our mutual friends to see if they’ve heard anything,” Fran Stamey, a friend, told KTVT.

According to Facebook’s help section, one can anonymously report photos that don’t follow Facebook’s terms. “You will not post content that: is hate speech, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence,” Facebook says.

In January 2015, Facebook said it started placing warnings over videos posted to its site, saying it may “shock, offend and upset” if viewed.

The site also said it would try to prevent graphic photos and videos from being shown to any user under the age of 18.

According to the BBC, Facebook bans material “shared for sadistic pleasure or to celebrate or glorify violence.” But, “It allows news reports and other documentary images depicting beheadings and other types of murder to remain online despite the potential for distress,” the BBC said.