An Army of Ants
I’ve spent years in the trenches of advocacy, walking alongside the families of the missing and murdered. I’ve seen their grief firsthand. And I’ve also seen something else—something colder, crueler, and far more calculated.
It’s what I call the army of ants.
The trolls.
The critics.
The so-called “sleuths” who sit behind keyboards and destroy lives one comment at a time.
These are the people who make it their mission to swarm social media, pick apart families, spread lies, and villainize victims and survivors. They don’t know the people they attack. They don’t sit at the gravesides. They don’t hear the cries at night when the house is quiet. But they still show up—again and again—to insert themselves into someone else’s tragedy.
We’ve seen this play out over and over.
Think about Amanda Knox, a college student wrongly accused of murder in Italy. The press called her everything from a seductress to a sociopath. People who had never spoken to her claimed to know her heart, her guilt, her intent. And to this day, despite her exoneration, the ants won’t leave her alone.
Look at the West Memphis Three case.
People often talk about Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley—and they should. But they rarely talk about the parents of the three murdered boys—Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers.
Those parents buried their children in small caskets under a burning Arkansas sun. They endured unimaginable heartbreak—and what did they get in return?
Accusations.
Whispers.
Conspiracy theories.
People called them suspects. Said they were covering something up. Even accused them of participating in satanic rituals.
The parents of the victims became suspects in the court of public opinion, their names dragged through mud by strangers who only knew what they heard from a sensational headline or a viral comment thread.
And where did these narratives thrive?
In tabloids and now in tabloid podcasts—shows and channels that pretend to be about “justice” or “truth,” but are really about one thing: profit.
They spin half-baked theories, sensationalize every fact, and prey on people’s pain to sell ads, get downloads, or boost their follower counts.
They exploit grieving families like entertainment.
And let’s not forget others who’ve endured the same swarm:
- John and Patsy Ramsey, accused of killing their daughter JonBenét before the sun even rose on her memory.
- Kate and Gerry McCann, whose daughter Madeleine vanished while they were on vacation—and who have been called monsters ever since.
- The family of Brendan Dassey, who were mocked and ridiculed after Making a Murderer aired, as if poverty and lack of education made them deserving targets.
These aren’t isolated cases.
This is a pattern.
A pattern of people tearing down victims and survivors because it’s easier to attack than to understand.
It’s easier to destroy someone from the safety of a screen than it is to sit with the discomfort of their pain.
But what we forget is this: Behind every headline, there is a human being.
A mother who lost her child.
A daughter who was stolen.
A family waiting by the phone, praying for news that never comes.
And what do the ants give them? More suffering.
Justice work is hard enough without having to fend off strangers who make your trauma their hobby.
To the army of ants: If you’ve ever sat behind your phone or your keyboard and picked apart a grieving family, if you’ve ever spun a theory with no evidence, if you’ve ever laughed at someone’s heartbreak for likes or downloads—you are not helping. You are harming.
And to those who create sensational podcasts and viral posts built on these lies: you are exploiting the very people you claim to care about.
The missing and murdered deserve truth.
The families left behind deserve compassion.
And survivors deserve peace, not persecution.
I will never stop fighting for them.
I will never stop speaking their names.
And I will never join the swarm.
Because justice doesn’t live in the comment section.
And cruelty is never a substitute for truth.