Son pleads for true crime TikTokers to stop posting about his mother's murder

A man whose mother was murdered by her mentally ill daughter had called out true crime TikTokers who have created content about the case.

In April 2019, Odessa Carey, 73, was killed at her home in Ashington, Newcastle in April 2019. Her head had been cut off with scissors and her body was also cut open by her daughter, who was also named Odessa.

The now 40-year-old had previously told doctors she believed her real mum had been replaced by an imposter.

In 2020, she was detained to a secure hospital following a jury ruling that Carey was responsible for her mother’s violent death, and it was there she was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Odessa’s son Lawerence Cook has since spoken out and described how difficult it has been for his family to “put our lives back together” following a number of TikTok videos that have been posted about his mum’s violent death four years ago.

He has urged TikToker’s to think about the families behind the tragedies they post about and how seeing videos online would affect them.

“People see it as entertainment, to see how many likes they can get. But they need to stop and think about the real families behind it,” Cook told Chronicle Live.

"It affects all the family, this is about the second one this year I have seen," he said.

"It was hard enough to come to terms with it to start with, it's only four years ago.”

Cook added: “They don't realise that we are trying to put our lives back together then they come along. It just brings us all back to day one."

True crime content on TikTok is a popular video genre on the social media platform, with the hashtag “True Crime” generating 47.4 billion views as audiences and creators continue to grow.

Along with begging true crime creators to think before posting, Cook wants regulation to be tougher on this.

"Unfortunately there is no way to stop it. I think there should be some sort of restrictions,” he said.

According to TikTok’s policy on Sensitive and Mature themes, “they do not allow gory, gruesome, disturbing, or extremely violent content on their platform.”

A TikTok spokesperson also told the publication there are more than 40,000 trust and safety professionals work alongside technology to keep TikTok safe and enforce these rules, while kindness and respect is encouraged.

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