DeMay

MARQUETTE — More details have emerged about the suicide of a local teen — a Marquette Senior High School student.

The Marquette County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday reported the suicide of 17-year-old Jordan John DeMay of Marquette Township, which took place early Friday.

MCSO said in a news release that sheriff’s office personnel responded to a residence in Marquette Township at 7:40 a.m. Friday for an apparent suicide.

The agency said it typically does not report on suicides, but DeMay’s parents requested the information be released. It is believed Jordan was being extorted through Instagram over pictures he had taken of himself, MCSO said.

The sheriff’s office indicated the perpetrator put DeMay under “extreme pressure” to pay money in exchange for the pictures not being sent to his family and Instagram followers.

“The sheriff’s office and the family of Jordan hope this will assist the community in their healing,” MCSO said in a statement. “We also hope this will educate others and spur courageous conversations about internet safety.”

The sheriff’s office urges people or their loved ones who are in a crisis to call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room immediately. The phone number of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 800-273-8255.

Marquette County Sheriff Greg Zyburt talked with The Mining Journal on Tuesday about the incident.

Zyburt said the parents wanted information about the circumstances leading to their son’s suicide released to the community so such an incident would not happen again.

Zyburt said MCSO offers its condolences to the DeMay family and their friends and thanked the parents for allowing the agency to get out the message.

“This is an innocent young man who was a victim of cybersextortion,” he said.

In cybersextortion, con men or professional manipulators target an individual through social media and gain people’s trust, he said. In DeMay’s case, the incident took place over 6 hours, from Thursday evening to Friday morning.

“They get the subject, the victim, to send compromising pictures,” Zyburt said. “First, they start sending them back and forth, and then intimate details about themself or relationships or that type of thing.

“And then once they get it, it becomes blackmail.”

Zyburt said perpetrators demand money, which was sent in this case — all through the internet — and even when money is sent with the promise the pictures will be destroyed, more money is demanded.

Zyburt noted the boy’s young age and emotions as factors in the situation.

“Imagine: You’re 17 years old, you’re embarrassed,” Zyburt said. “You’re scared to death, and what do you do? And ultimately, he took his life.”

He said that perpetrators can learn a lot about a person, including friends and an employer, on social media such as Facebook.

“I can go through your list of friends, and this is what (the perpetrator) did,” Zyburt said. “This is who I’m sending it to — your parents, your friends, everything, and (the perpetrator) had a picture of who (the perpetrator) was going to send it to. And ultimately, (the perpetrator) did send it to a friend.”

The friend notified DeMay’s parents, who then notified the MCSO, which originally investigated the incident as a suicide.

Zyburt said the perpetrator sent DeMay a picture of a female and communicated with him in that guise, gaining DeMay’s trust.

He has a suggestion for potential victims.

“You shouldn’t be sending these pictures,” he said. “Once it’s on the internet, it’s there forever. But if you do, if someone starts to blackmail you, you need to notify someone that you trust in authority. It can be your parents. It can be a teacher, a counselor, a pastor, a police officer — someone that you trust.

“But embarrassment of you or family? It’s not worth taking your life.”

Zyburt indicated that the sheriff’s office continues to investigate the incident.

“We’re going to do everything possible to get the people responsible for this,” he said.

Marquette Area Public Schools said it has no comment on the matter.

Teen a ‘team player’

According to his obituary from Fassbender Swanson Hansen Funeral & Cremation Services, DeMay was born June 7, 2004, in Ishpeming, a son of John C. and Jennifer (Dickow) DeMay, and raised in Marquette. His early years were often spent enjoying times with his grandparents in White Pine. “He very early developed a love of athletics, playing baseball, basketball, football and running track,” the obituary reads. “He excelled in basketball and football, with his mother coaching him in his very first basketball game.

“For the rest of his life, Jordan shared his love of basketball with his mom and his love of football with his dad and credited them both with his love of sports.”

DeMay attended Cherry Creek Elementary and Bothwell Middle School, and was currently a senior at Marquette Senior High School where he was very involved in the football and basketball programs.

“Jordan was a compassionate, mature and team-oriented player who once described his goal to ‘be the best I can be as a person on and off the field,'” the obituary reads. “He was a determined young man, who after being sidelined for a year with a serious knee injury, made a decision to rehab himself and made plans to attend college.

“His course of study would be athletic training, based partly on being influenced by the rehab staff at Sports Medicine. Jordan was a team leader who was as much a mentor to his teammates as he was a fellow player. Generous with both his time and talent in whatever he was involved with, his competitive nature earned him Honorable Mention All-Conference Second Team.”

DeMay belonged to many athletic groups at MSHS and lived by the philosophy of “working hard to achieve his best potential,” according to the obituary.

“Jordan possessed a great personality, loved and was very devoted to his family, especially his sisters who simply adored him,” the obituary reads. “He enjoyed going to the beach, being in, on or near the water, and was talented to the point of doing well on many of the things he attempted. He will be remembered for his great smile, fluffy hair, great personality and ability to inspire others.”

A GoFundMe page has been created for the DeMay family at bit.ly/3Lj5n8u

“We created this fundraiser to help support the DeMay Family during this tragic time,” organizer Wendy Hanycz wrote. “We’ve been getting a lot of ‘what can we do to help,’ so we thought this group would be a easy start. We will use the funds to purchase meals, gift cards, groceries, essential items.

“We will purchase and drop off to them directly with a tag with someone’s name on it who donates. That way they will see how much they are loved in this community. Please spread and share the love for the DeMays.”