Murder of Carly Ryan
2007 murder in Port Elliot, Australia / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Carly Ryan (January 31, 1992 – February 20, 2007) was an Australian teenager from Stirling, South Australia, who was lured and murdered by a 50-year-old serial paedophile from Melbourne, Garry Francis Newman. Newman had posed as a fictitious 18-year-old boy named "Brandon Kane" who had similar taste in music as Carly, as well as the fictitious boy's stepfather named "Shane". Using two fake accounts on the social networking site MySpace, he groomed Carly for over 18 months. Newman eventually traveled from Melbourne to Stirling to attend Carly's 15th birthday party in January 2007, but was told to leave by Carly's mother Sonya Ryan after he was caught behaving inappropriately towards her. Infuriated, Newman returned to Adelaide on February 19, 2007, alongside his 17-year-old son to pose as Brandon, and convinced Carly to meet them without telling her mother where she was going. During this meeting, Newman and his son took Carly to the Horseshoe Bay beach in Port Elliot, South Australia, and murdered her in the late night of February 19 by suffocating her with beach sand. Her body was discovered floating in the water near the shore the following morning, and within 11 days of the murder, law enforcement tracked down Garry Newman's home and collected enough evidence to arrest him for Carly's murder. He was ultimately sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 29 years.
Carly Ryan | |
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Born | (1992-01-31)31 January 1992 |
Died | 20 February 2007(2007-02-20) (aged 15) |
Cause of death | Murder by assault, suffocation, and drowning |
Nationality | Australian |
Occupation | Student |
Known for | Victim of catfishing and Internet homicide by an online predator |
Parent |
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Website | Memorial website |
The case, which highlighted the emerging phenomena of catfishing, child grooming, and online predatory behaviour, was unique at the time, given that Carly was the first person in Australia to be killed by an online predator.[1][2][3] In the wake of the arrest and trial of Newman, public opinion eventually led to nationwide legal changes, nicknamed "Carly's Law", being made to help protect minors online.[4]