
The much-talked about Wikipedia edit about the death of Nancy Benoit was likely the action of a vandalizing teenager rather than someone with prior knowledge of the murder-suicide
Note: Information gathered in this report and more information not published here was turned over to ABC News who subsequently attempted to contact one of the subjects involved. According to their report, the subject flatly denied any involvement. Police know who the person is, but will neither confirm or deny the identity of the Wikipedia user, (whose computer equipment has been seized) at this point. Instead police will be releasing the Wikipedia user's identity next week, according to Lt. Tommy Pope of the Fayette County, Ga., Sheriff's Department.
Yesterday it was widely reported by Fox News, the Associated Press, ABC News, digg and a host of other news sites (and originally on Wikinews) that an anonymous user on Wikipedia altered the online encyclopedia's article on Chris Benoit noting the death of the pro-wrestler's wife some 13-14 hours before police found the dead bodies of Benoit, his wife, and 7-year-old son. The incident is being treated as a murder-suicide.
What the anonymous user on Wikipedia may have failed to realize is that little about your activity on Wikipedia (or the rest of the internet) is anonymous.
Anytime an edit is made to a Wikipedia page, that information along with the user's IP address is logged by the site and publicly accessible. A simple check of these logs paints a much clearer picture of the person who made the aforementioned edits: not someone affiliated with the WWE as the mainstream media suggested, but rather a teenager from the University of Connecticut who just finished his first year of college and vandalizes Wikipedia on a regular basis.
The user who made the Benoit Wikipedia edit also made several changes dating back to May 16th of this year. In one edit to the page on Naugatuck, Connecticut page, he replaces the name of the town's mayor to Marc Dagz, adding Visar Tasimi as the deputy mayor and also adding the name Burton Barnes to the page.
When these names are cross-referenced on the social-networking website facebook, it is revealed that both Dagz and Barnes are friends and current UConn students whose hometown is, unsurprisingly, Naugatuck, Connecticut. A check to Tasimi's facebook and MySpace pages shows he is also a friend of the other two from Naugatuck and attending UConn. All of the three recently finished their first year of college. While not knowing which person made the edits for certain, given the specific nature of the other edits and corroborating evidence, it seems almost certain the edits were made by either Marc D'Agnone (Dagz), Visar Tasimi, Burton Barnes, or one of their close associates (and one might lean towards 'Dagz', given his sudden promotion to mayor of his own hometown).
The IP address associated with the user was also widely reported in the media as resolving to Stamford, Connecticut - the headquarters of the WWE. While these facts are in and of themselves true, what most media outlets neglected to mention was that the IP address resolves to the Internet Service Provider of the user and the physical location of the ISP's server. The ISP in this case is Optimum Online, a provider of high-speed internet access across Connecticut - and the location of this server is less than 50 miles away from Naugatuck.
The user was also warned several times in the past for vandalizing and posting erroneous information on Wikipedia. Among them:
On Stacy Keibler:
People want to @!$%# her in her lovely @!$%# and whip her ass til the dawn of day. Many people fantasize about ramming their cocks up her @!$%#.
Regarding Ron Artest:
Artest is a piece of @!$%# @!$%#!!!!!!!
At one point he also replaces the entire page on the African Wild Ass with, simply, 'piss.'
No, this wasn't a person who had foreknowledge of a tragic murder-suicide, it was more likely an immature college freshman with too much time on his hands and a crass sense of humor... whose vandalism just happened to hit a little too close to home.
UPDATE: Wikinews (a seperate project from Wikipedia) is reporting that the user, logging in under the same IP address as the above edits, admits that it was indeed a huge coincidence. Wikinews administrators (and Wikinews logs) confirm it is the same IP address as the original Wikipedia user.
He confesses:
It is one of those things that just turned into a bizarre coincidence. That night I found out that what I posted, ended up actually happening, a 1 in 10,000 chance of happening, or so I thought. I was beyond wrong for posting wrongful information, and I am sorry to everyone for this. I just want everyone to know it was stupid of me, and I will never do anything like this again. I just posted something that was at that time a piece of wrong unsourced information that is typical on wikipedia, as it is done all the time.
Also, I'd like to apologize for my other wiki "updates" on other pages as they were immature and dumb, but I know I'm not the only one who has done this, but nonetheless I will never post anything like that again as I have learned from this.
UPDATE: The user has been contacted by authorities and his computer equipment tied to the posting has been seized by police.
"It is unbelievable what a hindrance this has put on our investigation," said Lt. Tommy Pope, a spokesman for the Fayette County, Ga., Sheriff's Department.
According to the Lt. Pope via the ABC News report, authorities will reveal the identity of the Wikipedia user next week.
Moral of the story: Your actions on Wikipedia, facebook, and MySpace are hardly anonymous and it would be wise not to treat them as such (and, if given the option, the media will run with half of a story that might turn out to be dubious, in the name of being first and provocative).
Brilliant investigation!
Excellent work. I am very impressed.
Corey, You're starting to get props from news stories
Incredible. I was just talking about this tonight with someone. Didn't make the UConn connection. Great work, Corey. Please update with anything else you happen to uncover.
If this page was indeed updated several hours before the bodies were discovered, it does seem like too much of a coincidence to me though. My guess was that Benoit informed someone (or a few people) that his wife had passed some time on Sunday and somehow that made its way to someone who knew about his Wikipedia page and was familiar enough to edit it.
Even with the update -- it seems like a pretty incredible coincidence. I guess maybe people who "follow" Benoit could have predicted (in a joking manner) something like this, based on his public history -- but still, I'd probably come out and claim coincidence, too.
I could understand a coincidence if he did a 'RIP Benoit' as is famous on Slashdot but there is something unusually coincidental about saying Benoit's wife is dead .. doesn't seem to fit with a standard troller. Then again, 'coincidence' is often just coincidence and nothing sinister.
Hi, I'm from Wikinews. I'd like to point out that we are a seperate project from wikipedia. Although we are both hosted by the same people, we are seperate and different. Wikipedia administrators did not confirm it is the same IP address as the original user, Wikinews admins did. Thanks
Cheers,
-bawolff
Nice work, Corey... and welcome back.
Nice job, Corey. Still at the end of it we have some guy, now outted, who claims to know nothing about a death that occurred hours after he posted a very specific comment. Of course, it doesn't mean he's got anything to do with it. Otoh, it doesn't mean he's got nothing to do with it either. I suppose it would serve him right if the police were to remain interested in his 10,000:1 coincidental knowledge for just a bit longer.
So wait, he apologizes for posting incorrect info the one time he actually posted something that was accurate?
Great work, Corey!
I haven't read anything else about this, but I'd be surprised if the police didn't take more than a passing interest in this "coincidence."
Amazing investigative reporting, Corey. Kudos to you! What a bizarre coincidence, to say the least. Hard to believe that with all of the information out there, this guy just happened to pick Benoit. Weird.
Great Job Corey!!!!! That is a full 5, count'em FIVE exclamations.
This is how the 'media' should do updates. I wish Wiki News or some other news affiliate would include this not to take it out on one of three immature preppies, but rather so it's not like a in my opinion, half-assed apology isn't just pass and go.
Thanks for the update.
A very incredible coincidence. We had heard unconfirmed reports two days ago that said WWE related websites were reporting Bonoit would not be performing because his wife and kid were throwing up blood. Supposedly this info was put out by Bonoit himself through cell phone text messages sent after he had already killed his wife last Friday. He then smothered the poor child on Saturday, finally ending his own life on Sunday. Although the info has probably been removed from those site, caches may reveal the truth. Overall, the crimes don't really fit into a "rage" pattern so much as a premeditated effort by him. Sad that so many people now think they have to take out loved ones before doing themselves in. Pretty freaking selfish.
The way he explained himself he made himself look more guilty than innocent. Send the police over to his house and do some investigating. That'll teach him how to grow up.
Very thorough investigation, I had never heard about this. It's quite an interesting "conicidence."
It isn't so much of a coincidence, as someone being an Arse, I mean anytime someone (someone as in a celebrity) misses something, there is almost always someone somewhere posting why they missed it, and in this instance it just happened to be correct. I bet if all the message boards were searched from Sat/Sun, there would be 1000's of "reasons" why Benoit Missed the PPV, and maybe some of them would be correct but the majority would be wrong.
Thanks for the excellent investigation. It's nice to know there are media outlets like this one that like to report the truth and not just spin available informtion into whatever "facts" will give them the best ratings (i.e. Nanct Grace). As stated in the article, just because the IP address was from Stamford, certain media outlets were assuming, and reporting, that they likely came from someone within the WWE, which we now know is obviously false. It's too bad all reporters don't take the time to check their facts. Thanks again for the excellent work.
OK, what are the odds that he not only metioned the death, he lives in the town where Bonoit sent info?
Corey -- I clipped this to my Citizen Journalism group. Maybe you're aware, but I'm constantly trying to push people to make the sort of effort you've made here:
Is there any chance you could post an article which details how you stumbled into this, how you gathered your info?
I think too many people feel that CJ work is "too hard" or "too much work" and in many cases, it's just a matter of aggregating and presenting information that is already available. I have to admit, I'm curious about your methodology on this story, especially since you piqued the interest of ABC news.
At any rate, another great win for Newsvine, and another example for me to cite when I see people slamming Newsvine as irrelevant.
Great job!
Charge the S.O.B. Make an example out of him to deter other idiots from posting knowingly incorrect information. Because of his misinformation, police manpower has been used. What are the penalties for calling in false alarms? Fine him.
Wow, and he wasn't even a clever wiki-vandal.
I wonder if he's crying now that his precious internets got taken away. A true example of "Failing at Life" if I ever saw one.
Way to slander a kid's name without all of the facts. This is yet another perfect example of knee-jerk reporting at its finest. The kid in that picture didn't do it, I can give you my personal guarantee. So, uh, people could, ya know, not be mouthbreathers and post his pic and whatnot.
Journalistic integrity takes another hit.
Way to slander a kid's name without all of the facts. This is yet another perfect example of knee-jerk reporting at its finest. The kid in that picture didn't do it,
Didn't do what? The only thing Corey said he did in this article was something the guy confessed to doing: inaccurately updating a Wikipedia entry. Nowhere in the article does it say that this guy (or these three guys) actually had anything to do with Benoit or his family. In fact, Corey clearly distances these students from the act:
No, this wasn't a person who had foreknowledge of a tragic murder-suicide, it was more likely an immature college freshman with too much time on his hands and a crass sense of humor... whose vandalism just happened to hit a little too close to home.
I'm not sure what problem you have with this article. That everyone is going to know this guy and his friends update Wikipedia with incorrect information even though he, himself confessed to it?
As someone who uses and edits wikipedia regularly, and often having to revert vandalism such as what the Connecticut punks did, I hope this comes to bite him fairly hard, to make an example out of him.
Well, I Googled that info, and that is not me, interestingly enough.
Regardless, I do hope they take care of this.
coincidence my arse ! if so this guy should go buy a lottery ticket . A LESSON TO ALL YOU SO CALLED JOURNALISTS OUT THERE - GET THE FACTS FIRST !!!!!
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