'The enemy has upgraded': Parents devastated after sextortion scheme leads to KY teen's death

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Just a few weeks ago, "sextortion," or sexual extortion, was a completely unfamiliar term to Shannon Heacock and John Burnett — until their 16-year-old son, Elijah Heacock, suddenly took his own life after someone threatened to expose explicit images of him online.

Heacock and Burnett described Elijah as a "smart, happy kid," but everything changed in an instant when he died by suicide Feb. 28 after being financially extorted. His death rippled through the community of Glasgow, leaving dozens to mourn the loss of a friend and classmate.

"Everybody got hit by this ... and this happened in one hour," Burnett said, describing the hundreds of people at Eli's funeral service. "This was not the depressed kid that just had enough. This was a happy young man that did more for other people than he did himself."

Their community isn't alone. Reports of sextortion — the act of deceiving or manipulating minors into creating sexually explicit material, then threatening to release it publicly to extort money or more material out of them — has been on the rise in recent years, including in south-central Kentucky.

According to a report from the FBI, the crimes most often impact teenage boys ages 14-17 with more than 13,000 reports of financial sextortion reported nationwide between October 2021 and March 2023. In Kentucky, more than 300 offenders have been arrested in connection with sextortion cases since 2019, according to the Kentucky State Police.

"Our team is committed to tracking down the people who hide behind the keyboard to target our young people, Electronic Crime Branch Commander Lt. Mike Bowling said in a statement issued in early March.

Kentucky teen described as 'creative,' 'smart' and 'resourceful'

Elijah, known as Eli by friends and family, was described by his parents as having "a heart of gold" and the "class clown" with a "crazy sense of humor," recalling stories of how he switched out photos on a teacher's desk with his own and made swords out of pool noodles for sporting events.

He was an athlete, playing tennis, track and field and formerly football for Caverna High School, and was involved in extracurricular activities like the Beta Club and being vice-president of his school's chapter of Jobs for America's Graduates. The sophomore was also a twin with a total of five siblings, and his parents called him a "friend" who touched multiple counties in the area.

Burnett said what they loved most about Eli was him being "an absolute terror" who wouldn't take no for an answer and his overcoming of obstacles that he wouldn't let define him.

"Eli was a healthy, well adjusted young man and I'm not just saying that because I'm his parent. He was very creative. He touched a lot of people," Burnett said. "He was very resourceful. If you told him no about something, that wasn't going to be the end of it. He was very much into problem solving. He was very smart."

Eli had an array of rare diseases from eosinophilic esophagitis to ehlers-danlos syndrome, which required a feeding tube — something people outside of his family knew little about.

"He walked right past it because he didn't want to be known for that," Burnett said. "He wanted to be known for Eli, not the kid with EOE."

Heacock said she last spoke with her son at around 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 27 where they made plans to grab a coffee the next day, and shortly after, began receiving phone calls from his friends. When Eli's twin sister Palin went to check on him, the family quickly realized something was wrong.

Eli was rushed to T.J. Samson Community Hospital in Glasgow by first responders where the family was met by authorities with the FBI before he was airlifted to UofL and died the next morning. FBI officials alerted the family that Eli was likely a target in a sextortion scheme.

In Eli's case, the photos were "completely fabricated" and AI generated images of him where his predators opted for financial extortion, which has been on the rise, with a request of $3,000. After sending a small sum of $50, which he received from an older brother, Eli attempted to take his life within an hour of receiving the threatening messages.

"We do know for a fact that all of Elijah's pictures were AI generated," Heacock said. "There's two parts to this. It's ... whoever's doing this is harming our children, causing their suicide, but then you also have the fact that it's considered a homicide ... through the FBI."

More: These teenage boys were blackmailed online – and it cost them their lives

'The enemy has upgraded': Family speaks out, demands change after loss of son

Burnett said when the FBI realized Eli's case could be part of a sextortion scheme, they quickly placed his phone on airplane mode to preserve evidence.

"Airplane mode saves the information that was on the phone for the authorities to help track down and build their case against the individual that did this, or individuals," Burnett said. "When we spoke with the FBI, it is possible that this was a network that was involved in this."

Heacock said she and Burnett believed they "were doing enough" with checking Eli's phone often, but with modern day technology, Burnett said predatory interactions are more advanced.

"The enemy has upgraded. They don't need your kids photo," he said. "They can do it on their own."

Burnett said the family was unaware of situations like these and were more concerned with internet scams and cyberbullying, and want to educate on resources available to prevent a similar situation from happening to another family. He said Take It Down is a resource The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children will use to scrub sexually explicit photos of minors from the internet for free when being extorted.

Burnett and Heacock also hope to see change through Senate Bill 73, which was signed into law by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear last Wednesday. The new law makes sextortion a felony in Kentucky.

"Our focus at this point is making sure that what happened to Eli does not happen to anybody else,” Burnett said. “We understand there's going to be rumors and criticism of our parenting skills and what we could have done, what we should have done. I guarantee you the guilt is there for both of us, and we’ll gladly ride that happy little train to the end if it'll help somebody else not go through this.”

Reach Marina Johnson at Marina.Johnson@courier-journal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Sextortion scheme in KY leaves teen dead, community devastated