(WXMI) — The family of a 14-year-old Rockford teen who died by suicide after being victimized by sextortion is sharing their story to prevent other families from experiencing similar tragedies.
Henry, who was just days away from starting his freshman year at Rockford High School, died in August. His parents described him as an active teen who played soccer, basketball, and ran track. Last summer, he had begun his first job working as a caddy and dishwasher.
He was one of 17 children targeted in an online scheme to get explicit images of the children, then blackmail them into sending more, according to the family.
A 14-year-old boy from Plainfield Township was charged months later in the case.
Kent
Online exploitation: 14-year-old arrested for targeting teens in West Michigan
Now Henry's family is pleading with others to protect their own children.
"We believe we have a responsibility to share Henry’s story publicly in hopes of preventing other families from experiencing the same nightmare we’re living," the family said in a statement. "The most important takeaway we want other kids in our community to know is that sending inappropriate pics is a bad decision, but if someone threatens to spread your photo(s), they are committing a CRIME and you deserve to be protected. If someone is trying to control and humiliate you because of your photos, please reach out for help."
Experts emphasize that help is available for victims of sextortion.
"Offenders for sextortion will try and convince you can't do anything about this, that you are stuck and the only thing that you can do is to keep listening and keep doing what we are doing and that's not true. There are lots of places to get help," said Megan van Wyhe, clinical supervisor at the Children's Advocacy Center of Kent County.
The Children's Advocacy Center of Kent County specializes in working with adolescent victims of such crimes.
"At the Children's Advocacy Center, we have a very specifically trained team. Our entire agency exists because these crimes occur. We have specially trained interviewers who specialize in talking to just kids," Van Wyhe said.
Henry's parents are warning other young people about the dangers of sharing inappropriate photos online. They emphasize that if someone threatens to distribute such photos, they are committing a crime, and victims deserve protection.
According to the family's attorney, the teenage suspect in the case recently pleaded guilty to charges in juvenile court. Details regarding the sentence have not been made public.
Read the full statement from the family below
"We are reaching out to share with the community that our kind-hearted, charismatic 14-year-old son Henry died by suicide in August, just days before his Freshman orientation. Henry was a lifelong Rockford Public School student where he played on the soccer and basketball teams as well as ran track. Henry loved going to the YMCA to workout and play basketball with his friends and he began his first jobs this past summer, working as a caddy and dishwasher. Henry’s death started the investigation which led to the arrest of another Kent County teenager on six felony charges on October 16th, 2024. The Kent County Sheriff’s Office issued a press release regarding the perpetrator’s arrest, which was covered by local media. Our family asked for privacy at the time of the arrest because we were still learning the details of Henry’s victimization through “sextortion.” We learned the male perpetrator attempted to victimize 17 other children in Michigan and other states. He used stolen photos to portray himself as a young woman when interacting with Henry and he threatened to spread an inappropriate photo Henry had shared of himself unless Henry sent the perpetrator more photos, which caused Henry to panic and end his own life shortly after he was threatened. We are choosing to share Henry’s story at this time because the perpetrator recently pled guilty and our family is thankfully able to close this painful chapter of navigating the criminal justice system. As difficult as it is, we believe we have a responsibility to share Henry’s story publicly in hopes of preventing other families from experiencing the same nightmare we’re living. The most important takeaway we want other kids in our community to know is that sending inappropriate pics is a bad decision, but if someone threatens to spread your photo(s), they are committing a CRIME and you deserve to be protected. If someone is trying to control and humiliate you because of your photos, please reach out for help. Our family finds great comfort in knowing Henry helped save the lives of other children through Gift of Life organ and tissue donation and we hope sharing the story of his victimization will also help save lives."
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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