Instagram under fire after photos of Bianca Devins's bloodied body left online for hours
Updated about an hour ago
Bianca Devins in her bedroom with pink hair, and iron maiden t-shirt and drawn on devil ears
PHOTO: Bianca Devins posted this selfie to Instagram back in May. (Instagram: escty)
Soon after Bianca Devins was killed on Sunday morning, pictures of her bloodied body were circulating online.
Police found the 17-year-old Instagrammer's body by a car in Utica, New York, along with a seriously injured man, who police identified as 21-year-old Brandon Andrew Clark.
Mr Clark and Ms Devins, who went by the Instagram name @escty, had met on the social media platform about two months ago before meeting up in real life. They had even met each other's families.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzqyQbrB...ource=ig_embed
But early on Sunday local time, Mr Clark reportedly posted a photo of Ms Devins's dead body on his Instagram with the caption "I'm sorry Bianca". It is also believed he posted photos of the killing on gaming platform Discord.
Those who had seen Mr Clark's posts began to phone police, before Mr Clarke himself called 911 to report what he had done.
He has since been charged with second-degree murder.
Ben Dennis
@broadcastben_
Confirmed?Utica police indentify East Utica homicide victim is 17-year-old Bianca Devins of Utica. Her alleged killer is 21-year-old Brandon Andrew Clark of Bridgeport. Police say the two met on social media, and had a relationship. Investigation ongoing #WUTR #WFXV
35
3:33 AM - Jul 16, 2019
Instagram slammed for delayed response
The pictures of Ms Devins's lifeless and bloodied body were still up on Mr Clark's Instagram on Sunday night for the world to see.
His post was only veiled by a sensitive content filter, which blurs the post but also provides the option to tap through to see the image.
By Monday Instagram had removed Mr Clark's account and begun efforts to remove reposts of the image, but the delayed response prompted a wave of criticism against the platform
Misery
@miseryangel8
@instagram please take down this account! He doesn?t deserve anything but hell. #ripbianca
90
6:56 PM - Jul 15, 2019 ? Los Angeles, CA
Bartek Kowal
@KowalBranding
? Jul 15, 2019
Replying to @MadeByTrace
Bro wtf happened.. how do I not know about this
trace av
@MadeByTrace
A person name Brandon Andrew Clark killed a girl called Bianca. I'd highly recommend not searching for the photo as it is quite disturbing, he posted it on his Instagram story. It also makes me sick to see it is still up there.
10
11:18 AM - Jul 15, 2019
As the story spread and #ripbianca began to trend on Twitter, people began to search for the photos online.
Several private Instagram accounts popped up telling users to request to follow the account and view the images via its Instagram story before Instagram removed the account.
Many urged others not to seek out the pictures or repost them.
grace
@abstractneutral
do. not. post. the pictures of bianca?s body. don?t give her killer what he wants. remember her as she was, not as he wants the world to remember her #ripbianca
390
3:03 AM - Jul 16, 2019