Mother reveals the heartbreaking moment she found her 13-year-old son dead in her yard after he fell victim to Snapchat sextortion scheme

A South Carolina mother has revealed the heartbreaking moment she saw her 13-year-old son dead in the yard after he fell victim to a Snapchat sextortion scheme. 

Timothy Barnett's body was first discovered in the family's driveway in Sumter, about an hour outside of Columbia, by his step-father, Geoffrey Hauptman, around 6.30am on April 6, of last year. 

Geoffery, who initially thought 'someone was sleeping in the yard,' quickly called his wife, Timothy's mother, Betsy Hauptman. In what became the worst moment of their lives, they realized Timothy had committed suicide. 

'I woke up to a nightmare,' Betsy Fox News. 

About six months later, Betsy realized that Timothy had fallen victim to a Snapchat sextortion scheme, when an offender persuades a victim to send graphic videos and pictures online in exchange for money or more explicit content. 

Timothy Barnett, 13, committed suicide on his family's driveway on April 6, 2023 in Sumter, South Carolina 

Betsy and Timothy's father, Jamie Barnett, immediately got the Sumter Police Department involved, but the case was eventually closed, labeled as a suicide investigation. 

The family has asked the FBI for help in finding the suspect who drove Timothy to his sudden death, and on May 17 they filed a lawsuit against Snapchat for playing a role in their tragic loss. 

Betsy, who said she had 'no clue what sextortion was,' explained that she and her husband made sure to keep a close eye on their kid's social media and phone usage.  

'I've always tried to make sure my kids are as safe as possible,' Betsy told The Post and Courier. 

In a Facebook post about the horrifying loss of her son, Betsy said that just before he took his own life, Timothy 'sat in the driveway in the wee hours of the morning, pleading with someone on snapchat not to post something online.' 

Initially, the local police department seized Timothy's iPhone and a Chromebook that was issued by his school, Alice Drive Middle School.

After accessing the teen's iCloud account, authorities discovered nearly a dozen drafted suicide notes written to Timothy's family and friends, as well as call history to a number with a New York area code.

Further investigation revealed that the number was sending Timothy links to Snapchat, and that the teen had another account, unknown to his parents, that was reportedly run by a stranger. 

His mother, Betsy Hauptman, later discovered that her son had fallen victim to a Snapchat sextortion scheme

Betsy and Timothy's father, Jamie Barnett, immediately got the Sumter Police Department involved, but the case was eventually closed, labeled as a suicide investigation

Under that account, police found that Timothy and a stranger were discussing a payment for $35 a day via the payment platform CashApp. 

In return for the money, Timothy had asked the stranger to promise not to share a sexually explicit photo of him that he had shared on Snapchat. 

Police discovered that the person that Timothy was messaging was pretending to be a woman and that his parents and his friends had no idea about their online interactions. 

Snapchat is known for its quick photo-sharing technology that deletes sent images within 24 hours. 

Even though Betsy said that she tried to be as vigilant as possible by conducting random 'spot checks' on her kids' phones 'at least twice a week,' the deletion feature on the app snuck right past her and her husband. 

'Hindsight's 20/20, and I really wish that, at least, we wouldn't have allowed Snapchat,' she told Fox News. 

Despite finding a slew of evidence that linked Timothy to Snapchat, the Sumter Police Department closed the case and said that it was not their responsibility to figure out why Timothy decided to take his life.

Initially, the local police department seized Timothy's iPhone and a Chromebook that was issued by his school, Alice Drive Middle School (pictured)

After the Sumter Police Department closed Timothy's case, Betsy decided to contact the FBI herself with hope that they will find the person behind her son's death 

She soon gave up on the local police and decided to contact the FBI herself. 

'Unfortunately, I cannot depend on my city's police department to do their job properly and provide information to those that need it, to those that can actually do something,' she said. 

The teen's father, Jamie, is equally as frustrated with the police department as his ex-wife is. 

'I will not allow these Sumter cops to just dump your carcass off without telling the FBI you were viciously attacked by predators,' Jamie said on Facebook along with a picture of him and his late son at a football game. 

Timothy's parents decided to file a wrongful death lawsuit against Snapchat that alleged that the California-based social media platform was 'defectively designed' and 'unreasonably dangerous' for minors like their son. 

The lawsuit added that the platform is 'unsafe' because it does not have an age verification feature and lacks parental controls. 

'It is well documented that sexual predator's use (Snap Inc.'s) product to target and exploit minors, the lawsuit said. 

'They are drawn to social media because it provides them with easy access to a large pool of potential victims, many of whom are addicted to the defendant's product.' 

The lawsuit is seeking $10million in damages, including burial costs and legal fees that the family has endured. 

The legal filing will join a suit of pending litigation in the Northern District of California against multiple social media platforms that have harmed children like Timothy. 

The family has asked the FBI for help in finding the suspect who drove Timothy to his sudden death, and on May 17 they filed a lawsuit against Snapchat for playing a role in their tragic loss. (pictured: Timothy and his father Jamie) 

A spokesperson for Snapchat told Fox News: 'What happened to Timothy is devastating, and our hearts go out to his family during this unimaginable time.' 

'We have zero tolerance for predators abusing young people on Snapchat and are working constantly to fight this horrific activity. We use proactive detection tools to find and remove these types of criminals and work around the clock to support investigations.

'We offer extra safeguards for teens to protect against unwanted contact and don’t offer public friend lists, which helps prevent predators from targeting a teen’s friends.

'We also want to help young people learn the signs of extortion and have launched in-app education to raise awareness of how to spot and report it,' the spokesperson said. 

His parents have remembered Timothy as a bright and happy child that loved karate, going to the beach and playing the saxophone for his school band

His parents have remembered Timothy as a bright and happy child that loved karate, going to the beach and playing the saxophone for his school band.

They also remembered their son as an honors student that was the 'life of the party.' 

'He was just a goofball,' Betsy said.  

To this day, Betsy and Jamie have stopped at nothing to find out who caused their son to take his own life. 

'I won't rest and I'll die on the hill of finding the person who did this,' Betsy said. 

'I'm so sick to my stomach thinking about this - the entire situation is disgusting, from the person who did this to Timothy, to the way the Sumter Police Department handled this case and is still handling the case.'

In a Facebook post from March, Jamie tagged the Sumter Police Department in a newborn photo of Timothy wrapped in his father's U.S. Air Force uniform. 

'This is Timothy who I didn’t get to meet until he was eight months old upon my return from Afghanistan,' he said. 

'Sumter Police Department say his name!! Absolutely no child’s investigation should be closed like this, but you have messed with the wrong man who will not let it go because I know what right looks like.'