One of the most difficult aspects of Munchausen by Internet and other factitious disorders is that its sufferers have a very difficult time stopping their behavior of making up illnesses online for…
A couple of the fakers the blog exposed have long histories of making up illnesses and imaginary babies online. Updates on Carissa Hads aka Preacher James Puryear and Jessica Friend
Chelsea “Cheecha” Goldberg had one very devoted friend, Heather Dawson, a 24 year old Texan who followed Chelsea’s cancer journey as if she was a member of her family. Heather even went on support group sites asking for help understanding Chelsea’s cancer (and wondering why Chelsea didn’t want her to visit).
After Chelsea Goldberg was revealed to be Chelsea Hassinger, Heather refused to accept the truth. Instead, she focused all her anger on me, sending me carefully worded “hopes” that me and my family would die painfully and having her friends crank call my phone number. Heather eventually went on my personal Facebook and messaged my friends, accusing me of being a liar. At no point did she post any proof of these lies that she insisted I was telling.
Eventually, I had to call the police and she was contacted by officers and told not to contact me again. I had to change my phone number and block her MANY email addresses. The whole thing was a gigantic pain in the butt.
Unfortunately, she continues to call me a liar, and she still hasn’t posted a shred of proof to back up her accusations.
Recently, I posted a reply on my personal Tumblr to some comments Heather made on her blog.
Here was my reply:
Although I have many faults, being a liar is not one of them.
I take my work as a non-fiction investigative writer very seriously. I’m proud of the reputation I’ve helped my blog, www.warriorelihoax.com, gain over the last year.
In the year I’ve been writing the blog, not once have I lied about anyone I’ve written about. In fact, I try very hard not to pile on evidence once I feel a case has been proved. Anything I’ve blogged about I’ve consulted with a psychologist and in many cases a lawyer. I’m extremely careful that the things I say could stand up in a court of law, where a subpoena could reveal my emails during our investigations and any differentiation could be interpreted as libel.
That being said, for the record, when it comes to the entries I wrote about Cheecha Kicks Cancer, I never refused an offer to Skype. If Chelsea had wanted to Skype to prove to me that she had cancer, I would have been more than willing to do that.
I never heard from a lawyer hired by Chelsea, her family, or the “Goldberg” family.
Chelsea did ask me to remove some pictures and identifying information from the blog. I gladly did that. Chelsea and I have a friendly relationship and neither one of us seems to hold anything against the other.
I am not withholding any information that would prove that Chelsea actually has cancer. In fact, I have a lot more proof that she’s faking, but since she confessed, I don’t see the need to pile on. I’m not a jerk.
If evidence emerged and I found out Chelsea DOES have cancer, I wouldn’t hesitate to publish it. I’d rather write an accurate blog than write a blog that presents me as perfect and lie about things. I’ve admitted being mistaken about aspects of other cases. In this case, I am not wrong.
Chelsea and I have discussed her friend who can’t seem to let this whole thing go. Chelsea claims this friend knows she’s faking cancer, and we both have no idea why this person would continue the online campaign she’s started to smear my reputation.
I am a firm believer in free speech. If someone writes about how they hate me, lists the reasons, calls me names, objects to the premise of my blog or thinks I’m stupid, please, have at it. You can blog about anything you’d like and I’ll send my check in every year to the ACLU to help protect that right.
However, when someone calls me a liar repeatedly, I have issues with that. When someone calls me a liar and writes it in Facebook messages sent to everyone I know, I have issues with that. I’m proud of my reputation and I’m thrilled to have some really exciting projects coming in the future. When someone falsely accuses me of lying and making up evidence and says I falsely accused someone of faking cancer despite evidence proving otherwise, I have issues with that. I will call that person out on it every single time, and if it continues, my lawyers will take appropriate action to protect my name.
Heather wasn’t pleased by this post, but Chelsea “liked” the post (from her new Tumblr, a url I won’t post) and replied “Trufax ma’am.”
Heather, I am asking you, for the last time, to stop messaging people I know to call me a liar. Stop accusing me of ethical violations and of lying on my blog. Feel free to continue wishing that I’d get raped. Knock yourself out, but if you call me a liar again without proof, I’m going to pursue legal action against you for libel and defamation.
Enough is enough. Your friend has moved on with her life. Don’t you think it’s time you did too?
Little Emily Nolan, almost three years old, was diagnosed with leukemia on April 16. Her desperate mother turned to Facebook to raise money for Emily’s treatments, and of course to request gifts fr…
A serial faker from Memphis with a history of online fundraising for her imaginary children.
From the very beginning of our blog, I’ve unofficially consulted with a psychologist about what we post. I’m so happy to say that’s now official and that we will now be working with him to provide a psychological consult to any hoaxer we write about who would like his help.
He’ll be able to pinpoint any specific needs and give his recommendation for future treatment, and he can help find local services for them. All of this can be done over the phone or through email or instant messaging.
Of course, this is only for people who feel they need help, and we’re not here to diagnose anyone. It’s just a new way we’ll be able to provide help for the people on our blog, and I’m really excited about it.
Daughter of Joe Randall and Sarah Price. sister of Robbie Price. my beautiful daughter was born…
We’ve received emails questioning this page about a family whose daughter died at birth. Sarah, Jessica’s mother, heard people were questioning the page and she contacted us with proof. This page is legitimate, and Jessica did indeed pass away. Sarah and her family have our deepest sympathies and I hope any drama involving people questioning her page fades after this.
Police say a 35-year-old Susan Stillwaggon told friends, family and even her own son that he had lymphoma and accepted fundraising money
For crying out loud, people. Would you like a DNA sample too? I AM NOT HEATHER. Christ, for a bunch of super sleuths you really suck at detective work. In fact I have an upcoming post highlighting …
Recently, we’ve had to deal with a very persistent pest. Heather Dawson, a friend of someone we’ve written about on the blog before, has made it her personal mission to discredit Taryn’s name and the Warrior Eli Hoax blog. She posted many untrue, libelous entries on her Tumblr blog before deleting it after her friend begged her to stop harassing us. Unfortunately, Heather crossed the line into genuinely frightening harassment and the police are involved, investigating Heather for digital harassment. Taryn was forced to change her phone number after Heather sent more than 500 texts and emails in the period of a few days. Heather also contacted Taryn’s family and friends under an assumed name, calling Taryn a liar and asking them to visit her blog.
Now Heather has a new blog in which she claims to be a woman named “Kerry” who also has issues with the Warrior Eli Hoax blog. Oddly enough, “Kerry” has exactly the same “voice” as Heather, right down to similar phrasing and misspelled words. Kerry also commented on our blog using the exact same extremely obscure proxy that Heather has used in the past, and she has a @outlook.com email address. The only two people who have used this proxy to comment are Heather and Kerry, and they’re also the only people to use that email server. Curious.
Today, Kerry posted proof that she’s not Heather, a scanned copy of her drivers license. Let’s take a look.
Well, for one thing, that license format is an old form of a California license, but never did the format have “height” spelled out like that.
For another, “Kerry’s” picture is a mugshot of a woman who was arrested for having sex with a minor.
I’ll repeat what I told you yesterday, Heather. If all of this doesn’t stop and the blogs in question are not removed, there will be more blog entries written about you and your friend. It’s not a threat. Obviously if you still have so many unanswered questions, I didn’t do a great job summarizing our investigation, and you’ve made yourself a central part of the story through your reign of terror against me.
And for the record, despite what Heather Dawson is claiming, our group has never requested medical paperwork as proof from a hoaxer. We have never found ways around HIPAA laws and we haven’t made accusations in the past that ended up being baseless.
warriorelihoax answered: Go home. It’s not a race to finish. It took me 8 years and I don’t regret it. Life happens and is more important. xo
I am going home this weekend for my brother’s birthday. I’m hoping this will be enough of a break and I can find a way to make it through the…
I wish you were getting more support at school. I’m here if you ever need to talk, and your family is in my thoughts. xo
This is a terrible story about a mother in Australia who went so far in pretending her daughter had cancer that she gave her chemotherapy medication. Hopefully stories like this will bring more attention to Munchausen by Proxy, a tragic and horrible condition for all involved.
(Also, we’d ask those that know of the little girl’s name to honor her privacy and keep it out of our comment section).
Another hoax in the news. A woman in New York convinced her family and friends (and blog readers) that she had cancer and raised money for her treatment. It turns out she used the donations to fund her heroin habit.
This is the public Tumblr page for the Warrior Eli is a Hoax website.
We out people faking cancer and other diseases online...and in some cases in real life.
If you have a potential faker, please email us at warriorelihoax@gmail.com.
