Nikki Catsouras Car Crash Photos

This is a story about a photo—an image so horrific we can’t print it in NEWSWEEK. The picture shows the lifeless body of an 18-year-old Orange County girl named Nikki Catsouras, who was killed in a devastating car crash on Halloween day in 2006. The accident was so gruesome the coroner wouldn’t allow her parents, Christos and Lesli Catsouras, to identify their daughter’s body. But because of two California Highway Patrol officers, a digital camera and e-mail users’ easy access to the “Forward” button, there are now nine photos of the accident scene, taken just moments after Nikki’s death, circulating virally on the Web. In one, her nearly decapitated head is drooping out the shattered window of her father’s Porsche. – from Newsweek

Nikki Catsouras was killed in a horrible car crash on Halloween day of 2006. The 18-year-old Orange County, California, resident had been driving her father’s black Porsche 911 Carrera at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour when she lost control of the vehicle and smashed into a concrete tollbooth. She was killed instantly, and, much to her family’s horror, nine grisly Nikki Catsouras car crash photos found their way onto the Internet and went viral.

A few days after the accident, Nikki’s father, Christos, who is a real estate agent, opened an e-mail that he thought to be a property listing. But that was far form the case. Instead, what he saw his daughter Nikki’s blood-covered face accompanied by the following caption: “Whoohoo Daddy! Hey Daddy, I’m still alive.” – from AC

Nikki, 18, had taken her father’s Porsche without permission and, moving at speeds estimated at 100 mph, was killed when she lost control of the sports car and slammed into a concrete toll booth on the 241 toll road in Lake Forest. Soon, nine images of her nearly decapitated body began appearing on Web sites and in e-mails sent anonymously to her family. Some who posted Web site comments or sent e-mails taunted the family; parents Lesli and Christos and three younger sisters. – from OC

Two California Highway Patrol (CHP) dispatchers, 39 year old Thomas O’Donnell and 30 year old Aaron Reich, leaked pictures of the accident scene and Nikki’s horrific death onto the Internet.

- from here