Facebook defriending leads to alleged murder

Sometimes, the information is all that seems to suffice.

In this case, Marvin Potter, aged 60, is accused of murdering Billie Payne Jr. and his girlfriend, Billie Jean Hayworth.

What might link the couple to Potter? Well, according to the Associated Press, the Tennessee couple had defriended his daughter on Facebook.

(Credit: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

The couple had then allegedly complained to the police that Potter's daughter, Jenelle, had been harassing them.

The only quote that the AP managed to get from the local sheriff was this: "It's a senseless thing." That is very much how it sounds.

Potter stands charged together with Jamie Curd, 38, who allegedly had romantic feelings toward Jenelle Potter.

The implication, however, is that the Facebook defriending somehow led to an unreasonable escalation in relations, leading to this double murder.

There can't be any lessons from such a story. Only that the public dimension of Facebook can make all too public the private dimension of human dysfunction.

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