The online blackmailer promised to destroy everything Jake Darren Curtis loved: his career, his job, his family. Through instant messenger on Kik, the blackmailer told Curtis that he better “find a way to get the money or find a way to kill yourself.” The next day on Friday, Oct. 30, 2015, Curtis got a Benelli shotgun from his family vacation home garage, shot and killed himself. He left behind eight letters, three wire transfers receipts, his smartphone with all Kik messages preserved (even though the blackmailer demanded he erase them) and a car “full of clues,” writes The Daily Beast. Since the leads were all there, Millard County Sheriff’s Office, who investigated the case, could have followed up with Kik and Facebook for information on the subject, but they never did. They also did not reach out to state or federal law enforcement for help when the case took them overseas. The Daily Beast writes that the Millard County Sheriff’s Office investigation “kept it local and repeatedly cut corners.”
Five days before his death, Curtis met someone online. The 21-year-old had put aside his social life for his work and studies, but he was ready to start a new chapter. He had just started dating and had experienced his first kiss. The woman he was talking to online asked for a nude photo, so he sent one. She responded by saying, “Just added and saved all your Facebook friends on my laptop,” and then threatening to send it to his Facebook friends and with Facebook UPS, where he worked the early morning shifts as a truck loader. The blackmailer said they wouldn’t send it if Curtis sent money. It was a textbook example of sextortion.
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