Suicide by sextortion, Wisconsin victim’s parents warn about online sexual exploitation

BEAVER DAM, Wis. (WMTV) – Online sexual exploitation, also called sextortion, is a growing concern nationwide. Sextortion is the practice of extorting money or sexual favors from someone by threatening to reveal evidence of their sexual activity.

Brittney Bird is a mother to a teenage victim of sextortion, who took his own life last Wednesday.

“I went to go just tell him in the morning that they didn’t have school and his alarm was going off but he wasn’t in his room,” said Bird.

That was when her life changed forever.

“I found him and um… I mean I just knew when I saw him,” she explained. “He left a note and stuck it to my husband’s computer and he wrote on it, and he said ‘make sure he gets caught.’”

Bird and her husband quickly learned their son was referring to an online perpetrator, making him a victim of sextortion.

“We think they are just texting their friends or they are on Tik Tok but if they have their phone alone in their room with them, they have the world alone in their room with them,” Bird said.

John DeMay also lost his 17-year-old son to online sextortion plots in a matter of just hours.

“He accepted the friend request around 10 or 10:15, first picture sent around midnight, and 3 to 4 hours he took his own life,” said DeMay.

In Wisconsin alone, 103 cybertips of sextortion have been reported to the Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, so far in 2025.

DeMay now speaks at events, to tell the story of his son and the other children affected by sextortion.

“After a couple of days when we found out what sextortion was, he had not even heard of it, we felt compelled we’ve got to let the public know.”

These parents now telling other teens the advice they wanted to tell their own.

“You are so much bigger than the worst thing you’ve done, and you are going to go and be an adult and you are still going to call for help, and that is okay,” said Bird.

If your or someone you know are a victim of sexual exploitation online, the Wisconsin Department of Justice wants you to know what to do first.

They said not to pay money or comply with the blackmailer’s requests. Then, report the account through the platform’s safety feature. Block the suspect, but do not delete the messages or your profile. Finally, report the crime to law enforcement or click here to submit a cyber tip.

The FBI reminds parents and teens that exploitation is a crime, and should be reported to your local FBI office or by calling the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678.

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