Messaging app Kik under scrutiny after murder of US teen Nicole Lovell

NICOLE Lovell, 13, died after her online fantasy world with an older man exploded into real-life murder.

NICOLE Lovell didn’t know what she was getting herself into. The 13-year-old just wanted a boyfriend, and told her friends she’d met an older man online.

That much was true. But the man she met and exchanged secret messages with was the man police say abducted and killed her in the US state of Virginia.

It was a fantasy world for Nicole, who survived a liver transplant and cancer as a child, only to die violently years later. She first spoke to 18-year-old David Eisenhauer online, then through her bedroom window, sealing their friendship with a “side hug” and promises of further meetings.

Murder squad detectives allege the next time they saw each other ended with the young teenager’s death.

For Nicole, their liaisons were the ultimate escape, a fantasy — but police allege that for Eisenhauer the motivation was far more sinister.

Within days of her disappearance last week from the Virginia town of Blacksburg he was the police’s prime suspect in her alleged abduction.

Nicole, who was bullied at school and had few close friends, led an active imaginative life online where she gossiped about boys and romance, asking them if she was cute, sharing images and flirting.

But she was still just a young girl. When she slipped out of home through her bedroom window to meet her mystery man — and police say that was Eisenhauer — she took a blanket covered with the Disney characters Minions with her.

Like many teens, she knew her way around an app, be it Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat or Kik. And it may have proved fatal.

By the time her stabbed body was found on January 30, dumped like rubbish on the side of a highway, Eisenhauer had already been charged with abduction. With the discovery of the body came the murder charge.

A female friend, Natalie Keepers, 19, has been charged with being accessory after the fact of murder, accused of helping him to dispose of Nicole’s body.

The officer leading the murder inquiry, Blacksburg Police Chief Anthony Wilson, has been reluctant to provide details about how the two met, only telling reporters they were known to each other and Eisenhauer used the connection “to his advantage”.

Nicole Lovell.

Nicole Lovell with her mum Tammy.

Nicole Lovell was social media savvy.

But he hinted at a social media link and said police had “taken apart” the life of Nicole to find clues.

Just what they found is now starting to become clear.

It has emerged the pair had exchanged messages on Kik, a free, instant messaging app similar to Snapchat, where you are only identified by your username.

Law enforcement officials are concerned the application is dangerous because parents cannot reliably prevent anonymous strangers from contacting their children if they use it, the Associated Press reports.

In response to the concern and amid mad publicity brought on from Nicole’s death, Kik made an updated guide for parents available on its website.

“We are trying to educate all users, parents and teens,” company spokesman Rod McLeod said this week, while attempting to distance his company from the murder inquiry. He pointed out that other social networks operated in a similar manner.

He told Fox 13 Kik had co-operated fully with authorities, including the FBI.

“This involved responding to multiple emergency requests under our Emergency Disclosure Request policy, according to which we release certain account information to law enforcement agencies for cases that involve imminent threat of death, loss of security or serious physical injury to any person,” Mr McCleod said.

The case against Eisenhauer and Keepers is in its early days. But prosecutors have used preliminary court hearings to allege that the murder was premeditated.

Montgomery County Commonwealth’s attorney Mary Pettitt told a bail hearing for Keepers the pair bought a shovel, selected a secluded location and then planned to lure Lovell from her home with the promise of a date with an older boy.

Natalie Keepers.

David Eisenhauer.

Police search a duck pond near where Nicole’s body was found.

According to The Roanoke Times, Keepers told police she had never met or spoken to Nicole, but helped David Eisenhauer load the teen’s body into the trunk of his car.

Ms Pettitt said both of the accused maintained they were not present when Lovell was killed — however she told the court of preparations the pair allegedly made in the days leading up to Nicole’s disappearance.

They bought a shovel at Walmart, selected a secluded location and drove past Nicole’s home to scope the area out.

The prosecutor alleged the plan was to lure her out of the safety of home on the pretences of a date — but once they got to the secluded place he would cut her throat.

Eisenhauer has told police he spoke to Nicole before she died and visited her the night before she went missing. They spoke, he said, through her bedroom window just after midnight and when he left he said he gave her a “side hug”.

He then returned to Keepers’ dorm on the Virginia Tech campus, the Times reported.

Later, it was alleged in court, the pair brought cleaning supplies from Walmart. Ms Pettitt alleged that while the purchases were being made, Nicole’s body was in the car in the parking lot.

Keepers took the stand during the hearing and disclosed a mental health condition she’d struggled with while at university — however she did not address anything relating to Nicole’s death.

The judge denied her bail and she remains in custody, segregated from other inmates because she “lacks street smarts” her father Tim Kepper said after the hearing.

When police arrived at Keepers dorm to speak with her she allegedly sent Eisenhauer a text message that said “POLICE”.

Inside her room, the Minions blanket was allegedly found.

While no motive was discussed in court, CNN reports police believe Nicole was about to expose their friendship.

Jane Vance taught at Nicole’s school, situated near Virginia Tech, and bonded over their love of animals. She told The Guardian she laid the blame for what happened to Nicole in one place.

“There is only one source of her murder and that is her predator … Nicole’s naivety is conjectural — she’s not here to defend herself. The fact is what we need to look at is sexual predators, perverse sexual violence and why that happens.”

Her family though just want to know what happened and why.

Coley, as she was known to them, survived a liver transplant as a baby and then non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma when she was four, reported WBDJ. At one stage she was given a 1 per cent chance of survival.

“Nicole was a very loveable person. Nicole touched many people throughout her short life,” her mother Tammy Weeks said.

Her family are just holding onto that while they wait for answers about the fantasy world their little girl lived, loved and died in.

Originally published as Messaging app Kik under scrutiny after murder of US teen Nicole Lovell