Mom warns of risks after daughter's death revealed links to online nihilists

Thirteen-year-old Audree loved to play Nirvana connected guitar, gully anime characters and work the bid "Spy School," her mother, Jaimee Seitz said.

"She had her ain personality, her ain hobbies, her ain everything," said Seitz, who lives successful Kentucky. "Audree was 1 of a kind."

A week aft her 13th birthday, Audree died by suicide. "I ne'er believed ever my kid would instrumentality her life," said Seitz. "I believed it was an accident."

Days later, a detective called Seitz to archer her that Audree's diary contained drawings of schoolhouse shooters. On Roblox, Discord and TikTok, she had been interacting with children and adults successful the online True Crime Community, oregon TCC, who glorify wide shooters and promote unit and self-harm. Seitz said Audree was lone 8 years aged erstwhile she was archetypal exposed to TCC.

"I deliberation she felt a consciousness of comfortableness with this group, with being a portion of something, and I judge that they pushed her to bash it," Seitz said.

Extremism experts classify TCC arsenic a subculture of nihilistic convulsive extremism, successful which participants are not motivated by a peculiar ideology but alternatively driven by a mostly misanthropic worldview. Some are driven by a tendency to execute notoriety wrong online communities done unit oregon aforesaid harm, portion others people and exploit susceptible individuals.

The FBI has seen a 300% summation successful nihilistic convulsive extremism cases from September 2024 to September 2025, according to FBI Director Kash Patel. In December, Patel wrote connected X that the FBI is pursuing hundreds of nihilistic convulsive extremism cases, including galore from different web called 764. 

"This is 1 of the astir superior issues successful America," Patel wrote connected X.

The FBI confirmed to CBS News that it had been successful interaction with Audree's family, but declined to remark further connected her lawsuit oregon reply wide inquiries astir nihilistic convulsive extremism. 

"It's thing that was truthful caput blowing — that it started astatine specified a young property and that she was groomed into this ideology of worshipping schoolhouse shooters, " Seitz said. "It's hard to wrapper your caput around."

What is TCC?

People who place arsenic being a portion of TCC go fascinated with wide killers and make fan-like behaviors, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a nonpartisan, nonprofit enactment that works toward solutions to combat extremism.

While the fixation connected high-profile killers predates the internet, the Columbine High School shooting successful 1999 ushered successful a caller epoch of fandom. 

"We've seen this behaviour with respect to serial killers and to wide shooters going backmost good earlier Columbine, Cody Zoschak, a elder manager astatine the institute, told CBS News. "What Columbine did was it gave it a chiseled aesthetic."

TCC fans substitute aesthetics for ideology, according to researchers — specified arsenic dressing successful perpetrators' benignant and taking up their interests, similar favourite songs, alternatively than adopting their peculiar motivations.

Online, those progressive successful the TCC stock convulsive "gore" videos, make and committee instrumentality creation of wide shooters and sometimes interact with radical plotting attacks, said David Riedman, an adjunct prof astatine Idaho State University who created a database to way schoolhouse shootings.

Illustrations, video edits and photograph collages romanticizing and sympathizing with perpetrators of the Columbine, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook schoolhouse shootings are casual to find successful TCC-tagged posts connected platforms including Tumblr, TikTok and X. The assemblage is considered niche — CBS News identified posts connected these platforms with "likes" ranging successful the thousands. 

Riedman said fewer radical successful TCC circles volition really spell connected to perpetrate acts of violence. But a tiny information do, with devastating consequences. 

Seven caller shootings successful U.S. K-12 schools person been linked to TCC, according to Riedman's data. Eleven radical were killed and 53 much were injured successful the attacks, which took spot implicit the past 2 years. Five of the shooters took their ain lives arsenic well. 

Just past month, constabulary charged a 17-year-old successful Indiana linked to TCC who was allegedly plotting to transportation retired an attack. A hunt of her telephone revealed a drafting of the Columbine perpetrators and screenshots from a Discord speech betwixt her and a person who encouraged her to livestream an attack, an affidavit obtained by CBS News alleged.

When radical progressive successful the TCC transportation retired shootings, they sometimes go caller idols wrong the assemblage and animate much violence. The 15-year-old miss down the December 2024 shooting that killed a teacher and a pupil astatine Abundant Life Christian School successful Madison, Wisconsin, is 1 example. 

A period later, a Tennessee teen she followed connected X shot a pupil successful his schoolhouse and past himself. Posts from an X relationship believed to beryllium his encouraged her to livestream the Wisconsin attack, CBS News found. In the days after, helium posted defending her and calling her a hero. 

In August and September, 2 much individuals linked to TCC, 1 successful Minnesota and different successful Colorado, carried retired deadly schoolhouse shootings earlier sidesplitting themselves. The Colorado perpetrator posted connected convulsive gore sites astir erstwhile shootings, the Anti-Defamation League found. YouTube videos posted by the Minnesota perpetrator and reviewed by CBS News showed written references to schoolhouse shooters — including the sanction of the Abundant Life perpetrator — connected his weapons and a journal.

The perpetrator down the Abundant Life shooting "wanted that notoriety," Zoschak said. 

"It was astir her," helium added. While ideologically motivated unit aims to person an effect connected society, helium said, "nihilistic unit is astir fulfilling an inward-focused need."

How children get pulled in 

TCC tin clasp an entreaty for young radical who are experiencing bullying oregon consciousness similar they don't place with different kids, Riedman said. 

"You commencement to conscionable radical that volition similar each of your photos and volition stock your contented and are inviting you to travel to their backstage chats," Riedman said. "Now you person this assemblage that you don't person anyplace else."

Seitz said she believes Audree whitethorn person been drawn to the radical for its clasp of kids who consciousness alienated from their classmates.

"It was hard for her to find her spot successful seventh grade," she said. 

Audree is seen successful a photograph shared by her mother, Jaimee Seitz.  Courtesy of Jaimee Seitz

Seth, 29, was a portion of the TCC assemblage and ran a Columbine blog connected Tumblr erstwhile helium was a teenager. He told CBS News helium was struggling with intelligence unwellness astatine the clip and identified with the perpetrators of schoolhouse shootings.

"I was precise angry, and truthful it's like, oh, OK, present are these radical who are angry," said Seth, who asked that his past sanction beryllium withheld. "They're doing thing astir it."

A spokesperson for Tumblr wrote successful a connection that the level "does not let contented that encourages oregon incites unit oregon that glorifies acts of unit oregon the perpetrators."

Seitz wants societal media platforms to look accountability. Despite enabling parental controls connected Audree's phone, she said, her girl was steeped successful TCC contented for years. This fall, she filed suit against Roblox, Discord and TikTok. 

The ailment alleges that the apps prioritize idiosyncratic maturation implicit information and that they are alert that "the plan of their apps makes children casual targets for predatory behavior."

In statements to CBS News, spokespeople from each level wrote that the companies employment technologies to observe harmful contented and region what violates their policies. A Roblox spokesperson said the level bans "content oregon behaviour that supports, glorifies, oregon promotes hatred groups, extremist organizations, oregon their ideologies." A Discord spokesperson said "the actions of extremist groups oregon extremism behaviour person nary spot connected Discord."

After CBS News inquired astir respective TCC-related hashtags, TikTok removed 1 of them from the platform. A spokesperson besides said accounts that beforehand oregon glorify unit are taken down and banned. 

Seitz said she hadn't heard of TCC earlier Audree's death, and she ne'er heard her girl speech astir schoolhouse shooters. But TCC references understood by those successful the assemblage tin alert nether the radar of unknowing parents and peers. 

When Seitz searched "True Crime Community" connected TikTok aft Audree's death, drawings she recognized from her girl flooded the screen. 

"Everything started to click wrong not adjacent 2 minutes," she said.

She realized cartoon illustrations Audree had drawn depicted the Columbine perpetrators. A erstwhile TikTok username of Audree's had referenced 1 of them. 

There had adjacent been a TCC notation successful a T-shirt Audree asked for. The Columbine perpetrators wore T-shirts for a German concern band. The Wisconsin shooter was pictured successful a garment for the aforesaid band, and Audree wanted to deterioration 1 too.

After reflecting connected the mode Audree's telephone was positioned erstwhile she discovered her aft her death, Jaimee besides present believes that her girl was attempting to livestream her termination — thing Zoschak said helium has seen earlier among TCC fans. 

"Whether you deliberation your kid is seemingly happy, you ne'er know," Seitz said. "And that's the scary portion of it — that's what terrifies maine the most."

A caller class of extremism 

The misanthropic violence, absent of ideology, exhibited by attackers progressive successful TCC has been categorized arsenic nihilistic convulsive extremism — a word that has increasingly appeared successful Justice Department announcements of transgression charges crossed the country.

Some nihilistic convulsive extremists transportation retired unit with the extremity of hastening the illness of nine — a doctrine known arsenic accelerationism. 

But for most, experts said, their mindset mostly revolves astir nihilism — the content that beingness and nine are meaningless and that motivation values are baseless.

In caller months, authorities person taken peculiar enactment of the nihilistic convulsive extremist web 764, with much than 300 investigations into the web ongoing, according to the FBI. 

Similar to TCC, 764 lacks a circumstantial ideology, but members much openly promote self-harm and unit than those successful TCC do. Perpetrators associated with 764 promote victims to nutrient videos documenting acts of self-harm oregon kid intersexual maltreatment material. Last month, lawmakers introduced a bill that would marque it a national transgression to coerce children into self-harm. 

Nihilistic online communities similar TCC and 764 are besides often overlapping. 

"They're each alert of each other," Zoschak said. "It's not similar these are isolated ecosystems — they interact with each other." 

Matthew Kriner, enforcement manager of the Institute for Countering Digital Extremism, estimates that determination are astir 10,000 nihilistic convulsive extremism perpetrators progressive successful online grooming astir the satellite — and 100,000 victims. He said these extremist networks are perpetually increasing arsenic members effort to enlistee much victims, and the instrumentality enforcement effect is further analyzable by the younger property groups involved.

"We bash not complaint 13-year-old children with adult-level crimes connected a regular basis," Kriner said.

Seth, who near TCC aft seeking intelligence wellness treatment, said it's important for children who consciousness drawn to the TCC assemblage arsenic an outlet to cognize that determination are different options. 

"I got truly into creation aft I near the community, I got into writing," helium said. "That was a acheronian play of my life, but it doesn't request to specify you."

Anna Schecter contributed to this report.