Second Life obsessed parents starve two-year-old child
Couple ‘living in fantasy world’ accused of starving girl
Mark Knapp and Elizabeth Pester
This is the second story I’ve heard of parents neglecting their children in favour of Second Life. I saw a feature on Dr. Phil (back in my HSC days) on this game, with a 13 year old girl addicted to it. To me, it looks sort of like The Sims, only a bit more sophisticated. I don’t know much about the game, so I typed the term “Second Life” into urbandictionary.com (where I do all of my serious research) and got this:
“Second Life:
A game where desperate people with no lives or friends get to live out their dreams of social acceptance and sex. The vast majority of Second Life players are unattractive and socially awkward.”
Well, there you have it. Put that definition together with the mugshot and it explains a lot.
Mark Knapp (48) and his blushing bride Elizabeth Pester (33) stand accused of neglecting their 2 year old daughter in favour of looking after their Second Life avatars. The couple were charged with child neglect and abuse after it was found that their daughter only weighed 5.8 kg (13 lbs). She was rushed to hospital in a severe state of malnutrition. On top of being severely underweight, she couldn’t walk or talk, and the back of her head was flat.
When the cops came around to arrest the couple, they found them playing Second Life. Mark asked the officers whether they were here because their daughter had died. NO THEY WERE NOT! They should thank their fucking lucky stars that she wasn’t dead! They were so absorbed in their crappy little game that they didn’t even know their daughter was alive or dead.
The couple were known to authorities, with their daughter being taken away in 2012 for being underweight. She was returned (wtf?) on the condition that she was to be weighed weekly to ensure that she reached a healthy weight. The weigh-ins did not happen! Big fat FAIL.
Elizabeth allegedly rescheduled her daughter’s appointments and requested that the appointments be scheduled for the afternoon, citing that she worked as a DJ and needed her sleep in the mornings. The DJ gig, as it turns out, belongs to her Second Life avatar, DJ Syn. The immersion was that deep, she thought her avatar was actually her. She and Mark also had a virtual wedding and she shared pictures of it on her Facebook, saying
” THE MOST AMAZING NIGHT A BRIDE COULD HAVE I WONT TRADE IT FOR THE WORLD!!!”
The silliness of this would be so funny, if a kid wasn’t near death due to the idiocy of her breeders. She actually tried to pass off Second Life as her own life?? Her real life must be so boring.
Here’s a picture of their avatars (for a comparison to their actual mugshots). The top one is from their fake wedding:
You’re kidding yourselves if you think you actually look like that.
Pester’s fake job as DJ Syn
The ghastly gamers are being held in Tulsa county jail on US$50, 000 each. And no, that’s not in Simoleons. Their little girl is still in a critical condition, trying to regain her real life.
Imagine how good this family could be living if Mark and Elizabeth put in as much effort into their real life as they did building up their Second Life avatars?
PS: If you get the chance, look up Second Life trolling videos on YouTube. These players go to pieces over nothing!
