Typically, photos, videos shot with Snapchat are automatically erased from the app after they are viewed.
Hours after the first day of school let out in September 2014, several teenagers lounged on an abandoned floral couch behind an elementary school in eastern Massachusetts and passed around a bottle of vodka.
A 16-year-old girl in the group later admitted that she had taken a prescription painkiller earlier in the day to get high and "was not sober" when she got there, according to the Patriot Ledger.
Things got hazy.
A woman with blue hair started to grope and kiss her, the 16-year-old later told authorities. Then, she said, she saw camera flashes. Then darkness.
"I remember saying, like 'Stop taking pictures of me. Stop. I don't understand what's going on,' " the girl, now 18, said this month in Essex Superior Court in Salem, according to the Boston Globe.
Cellphone videos showing the girl partially nude, stumbling and slurring went live on the social media app Snapchat. Another teen watching from home later said that in one video, Kailyn Bonia, now 20, had the girl "almost in a headlock," kissing her neck and that, in another, Bonia had her on her knees, trying to make her perform a sexual act on Rashad Deihim, now 21, according to the Boston Globe.
"I immediately ran to my mother," Sydnee Enos, 18, said last week in court. "Something was definitely wrong with her."
Deihim and Bonia were found guilty Tuesday of assault to rape, indecent assault and battery and kidnapping. Deihim was also found guilty of posing a child in the nude with lascivious intent. The two are scheduled to be sentenced in September.
On Sept. 3, 2014, Enos was watching TV at her home in Saugus, a town outside Boston, when a Snapchat video popped up on her phone, she said in court. Then two more. The videos appeared to show a girl she had known for years being assaulted.
Enos told police at the time that in one of the videos, it appeared Deihim had his pants unzipped and the other teenagers were pushing the girl's head toward him as she shook her head "no," according to the criminal complaint. In another video, Enos told police, it appeared that the girl tried to run but was so impaired that she did not make it and they dragged her back, according to court records.
"I was completely mind-blown," Enos testified in court, according to the Saugus Advertiser.
Enos said she started taking screenshots of the videos and then contacted the teen, Timothy Cyckowski, who was posting them. She said she asked him where they were and alerted her father, who dialed 911, according to the Boston Globe.
"I called him to ask him what he was doing because what he was doing was completely wrong," Enos said in court, according to the Globe.
Saugus police were called about 11 that night in September 2014 and searched the woods behind the elementary school until they found the girl - "extremely intoxicated" and lying half-nude under a tree, according to the court records.
She was covered in dirt, grass and leaves.
Officer Timothy Fawcett testified in court that the girl "was curled up, almost in a fetal position," according to the Saugus Advertiser.
She was unable to walk, police said, so first-responders carried her from the woods on a backboard and transported her Melrose-Wakefield Hospital, according to the records. She was ultimately moved to Boston Children's Hospital.
Authorities said the girl had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in her system along with oxycodone and a chemical found in marijuana.
Medical personnel twice administered Narcan, an opiate antidote used to treat overdoses. Doctors and nurses told police that the girl was "foaming at the mouth" and had abrasions all over her body, according to the court documents.
"I was in so much pain," the teen testified this month, according to the Boston Globe. "My whole body was killing me."
"She was literally within hours of dying from the amount of intoxication she was under and she was not capable of defending herself against her so-called friends," Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall said, according to the Advertiser.
Later, when investigators tried to speak with the teen, they said she told them she could not remember most of what had happened that night, according to the documents.
"No, please," she told police at the time, according to the criminal complaint. "I just want it to go away. I really can't remember."
Prosecutors said that throughout the investigation, they had a hard time convincing the teen that she had been victimized by her friends. Earlier this year, she wrote a letter to the judge, arguing that the disturbing sexual encounter that night had been consensual and, once in the courtroom, she admitted that when it first happened, she just wanted it "to go away," according to the Advertiser.
"I really thought they were my friends," she said in court, according to the Boston Globe. She said she did not want them to go to jail, adding: "It was a weight on me."
"I didn't want to incriminate them," she added.
"The whole world knew what had happened to her and she still wanted to believe that these people were her friends," the assistant district attorney said, according to the Saugus Advertiser. "She would have said or done anything to just make it all go away, to make them her friends again."
At trial, prosecutors relied heavily on Enos's video screenshots. They also obtained one video from Snapchat through a preservation order, but the judge ruled that it could not be used as evidence unless Snatchat experts testified - and they refused, according to the Boston Globe.
"We produced all available information that was responsive to the search warrant," Snapchat spokesman Noah Edwardsen said in a statement Wednesday to The Washington Post.
Typically, photos and videos shot with Snapchat, an image-messaging application, are automatically erased from the app after they are viewed, and Edwardsen said they are also wiped from the company's servers.
According to Snapchat's policies: "Snapchat servers are designed to automatically delete Snaps after they've been viewed by all recipients. Opened Snaps typically cannot be retrieved from Snapchat's servers by anyone, for any reason. Also, Snapchat servers are designed to automatically delete unopened Snaps after 30 days."
The idea that Snapchat can retrieve users' photos and videos from its servers for court proceedings has ignited some debate, though Essex County District Attorney spokesperson Carrie Kimball Monahan told the Advertiser, "It's not like anyone can just get an old Snapchat video." Prosecutors in Essex County had to file for a warrant to obtain it.
In a 2013 blog post, Snapchat admitted that "with the right forensic tools," it is possible to sometimes retrieve deleted data:
"While an unopened snap is being stored on the device, it's not impossible to circumvent the Snapchat app and access the files directly. This isn't something we support or encourage and in most cases it would involve jailbreaking or 'rooting' the phone and voiding its warranty. If you're trying to save a snap, it would be easier (and safer) to just take a screenshot or take a picture with another camera.
"Also, if you've ever tried to recover lost data after accidentally deleting a drive or maybe watched an episode of CSI, you might know that with the right forensic tools, it's sometimes possible to retrieve data after it has been deleted. So ... you know ... keep that in mind before putting any state secrets in your selfies."
The victim's mother told the Boston Globe on Tuesday that Enos saved her daughter's life.
"Sydnee is amazing," she told the newspaper. "If it wasn't for her, let me tell you something, I don't think they would have found my kid."
Prosecutors said in a statement Tuesday that after about 10 hours of deliberations this week, jurors in Essex Superior Court convicted Deihim and Bonia of sexually assaulting and attempting to rape a 16-year-old girl.
The judge repealed Deihim's bail and ordered him to return to jail. Bonia was already in custody, according to the prosecutors.
Deihim's attorney, Stephen Neyman, did not respond to a request for comment.
James Caramanica, who represented Bonia, told The Post that he was "very disappointed" with the verdict but could not comment further because his client is awaiting sentencing.
Cyckowski, 19, who filmed the assault and posted it to Snapchat, pleaded guilty in March in juvenile court and will remain in custody with the state's Department of Youth Services until he turns 20, according to the prosecutors.
Cyckowski was also sentenced to four years of probation.
"I want to thank the jury for their careful attention to the evidence in this case," District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said. "I must also commend the victim for her courage in facing her assailants in court.
"I hope that, with this verdict, she is assured that what happened to her was not her fault."
(c) 2016, The Washington Post
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
A 16-year-old girl in the group later admitted that she had taken a prescription painkiller earlier in the day to get high and "was not sober" when she got there, according to the Patriot Ledger.
Things got hazy.
A woman with blue hair started to grope and kiss her, the 16-year-old later told authorities. Then, she said, she saw camera flashes. Then darkness.
"I remember saying, like 'Stop taking pictures of me. Stop. I don't understand what's going on,' " the girl, now 18, said this month in Essex Superior Court in Salem, according to the Boston Globe.
Cellphone videos showing the girl partially nude, stumbling and slurring went live on the social media app Snapchat. Another teen watching from home later said that in one video, Kailyn Bonia, now 20, had the girl "almost in a headlock," kissing her neck and that, in another, Bonia had her on her knees, trying to make her perform a sexual act on Rashad Deihim, now 21, according to the Boston Globe.
"I immediately ran to my mother," Sydnee Enos, 18, said last week in court. "Something was definitely wrong with her."
Deihim and Bonia were found guilty Tuesday of assault to rape, indecent assault and battery and kidnapping. Deihim was also found guilty of posing a child in the nude with lascivious intent. The two are scheduled to be sentenced in September.
On Sept. 3, 2014, Enos was watching TV at her home in Saugus, a town outside Boston, when a Snapchat video popped up on her phone, she said in court. Then two more. The videos appeared to show a girl she had known for years being assaulted.
Enos told police at the time that in one of the videos, it appeared Deihim had his pants unzipped and the other teenagers were pushing the girl's head toward him as she shook her head "no," according to the criminal complaint. In another video, Enos told police, it appeared that the girl tried to run but was so impaired that she did not make it and they dragged her back, according to court records.
"I was completely mind-blown," Enos testified in court, according to the Saugus Advertiser.
Enos said she started taking screenshots of the videos and then contacted the teen, Timothy Cyckowski, who was posting them. She said she asked him where they were and alerted her father, who dialed 911, according to the Boston Globe.
"I called him to ask him what he was doing because what he was doing was completely wrong," Enos said in court, according to the Globe.
Saugus police were called about 11 that night in September 2014 and searched the woods behind the elementary school until they found the girl - "extremely intoxicated" and lying half-nude under a tree, according to the court records.
She was covered in dirt, grass and leaves.
Officer Timothy Fawcett testified in court that the girl "was curled up, almost in a fetal position," according to the Saugus Advertiser.
She was unable to walk, police said, so first-responders carried her from the woods on a backboard and transported her Melrose-Wakefield Hospital, according to the records. She was ultimately moved to Boston Children's Hospital.
Authorities said the girl had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in her system along with oxycodone and a chemical found in marijuana.
Medical personnel twice administered Narcan, an opiate antidote used to treat overdoses. Doctors and nurses told police that the girl was "foaming at the mouth" and had abrasions all over her body, according to the court documents.
"I was in so much pain," the teen testified this month, according to the Boston Globe. "My whole body was killing me."
"She was literally within hours of dying from the amount of intoxication she was under and she was not capable of defending herself against her so-called friends," Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall said, according to the Advertiser.
Later, when investigators tried to speak with the teen, they said she told them she could not remember most of what had happened that night, according to the documents.
"No, please," she told police at the time, according to the criminal complaint. "I just want it to go away. I really can't remember."
Prosecutors said that throughout the investigation, they had a hard time convincing the teen that she had been victimized by her friends. Earlier this year, she wrote a letter to the judge, arguing that the disturbing sexual encounter that night had been consensual and, once in the courtroom, she admitted that when it first happened, she just wanted it "to go away," according to the Advertiser.
"I really thought they were my friends," she said in court, according to the Boston Globe. She said she did not want them to go to jail, adding: "It was a weight on me."
"I didn't want to incriminate them," she added.
"The whole world knew what had happened to her and she still wanted to believe that these people were her friends," the assistant district attorney said, according to the Saugus Advertiser. "She would have said or done anything to just make it all go away, to make them her friends again."
At trial, prosecutors relied heavily on Enos's video screenshots. They also obtained one video from Snapchat through a preservation order, but the judge ruled that it could not be used as evidence unless Snatchat experts testified - and they refused, according to the Boston Globe.
"We produced all available information that was responsive to the search warrant," Snapchat spokesman Noah Edwardsen said in a statement Wednesday to The Washington Post.
Typically, photos and videos shot with Snapchat, an image-messaging application, are automatically erased from the app after they are viewed, and Edwardsen said they are also wiped from the company's servers.
According to Snapchat's policies: "Snapchat servers are designed to automatically delete Snaps after they've been viewed by all recipients. Opened Snaps typically cannot be retrieved from Snapchat's servers by anyone, for any reason. Also, Snapchat servers are designed to automatically delete unopened Snaps after 30 days."
The idea that Snapchat can retrieve users' photos and videos from its servers for court proceedings has ignited some debate, though Essex County District Attorney spokesperson Carrie Kimball Monahan told the Advertiser, "It's not like anyone can just get an old Snapchat video." Prosecutors in Essex County had to file for a warrant to obtain it.
In a 2013 blog post, Snapchat admitted that "with the right forensic tools," it is possible to sometimes retrieve deleted data:
"While an unopened snap is being stored on the device, it's not impossible to circumvent the Snapchat app and access the files directly. This isn't something we support or encourage and in most cases it would involve jailbreaking or 'rooting' the phone and voiding its warranty. If you're trying to save a snap, it would be easier (and safer) to just take a screenshot or take a picture with another camera.
"Also, if you've ever tried to recover lost data after accidentally deleting a drive or maybe watched an episode of CSI, you might know that with the right forensic tools, it's sometimes possible to retrieve data after it has been deleted. So ... you know ... keep that in mind before putting any state secrets in your selfies."
The victim's mother told the Boston Globe on Tuesday that Enos saved her daughter's life.
"Sydnee is amazing," she told the newspaper. "If it wasn't for her, let me tell you something, I don't think they would have found my kid."
Prosecutors said in a statement Tuesday that after about 10 hours of deliberations this week, jurors in Essex Superior Court convicted Deihim and Bonia of sexually assaulting and attempting to rape a 16-year-old girl.
The judge repealed Deihim's bail and ordered him to return to jail. Bonia was already in custody, according to the prosecutors.
Deihim's attorney, Stephen Neyman, did not respond to a request for comment.
James Caramanica, who represented Bonia, told The Post that he was "very disappointed" with the verdict but could not comment further because his client is awaiting sentencing.
Cyckowski, 19, who filmed the assault and posted it to Snapchat, pleaded guilty in March in juvenile court and will remain in custody with the state's Department of Youth Services until he turns 20, according to the prosecutors.
Cyckowski was also sentenced to four years of probation.
"I want to thank the jury for their careful attention to the evidence in this case," District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said. "I must also commend the victim for her courage in facing her assailants in court.
"I hope that, with this verdict, she is assured that what happened to her was not her fault."
(c) 2016, The Washington Post
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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