It’s J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter’s birthday, which should mean the week is one full of celebration and joy for fans of the series. However, for one super fan named Jessica Elizabeth Parker, this week is the week that the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a warrant for her arrest. Apparently, she’s been stalking the “webmistress” for popular Harry Potter blog The Leaky Cauldron.
For five years, Parker allegedly stalked The Leaky Cauldron’s Melissa Anelli, sending hate mail, but also doing strange things, including allegedly getting a large tattoo of the webmistress on her upper thigh. The 28-year-old was eventually banned from the website for her hate-filled messages, but Anelli continued receiving e-mails. An excerpt from one of the most horrifying is available, below, thanks to the NZ Herald.
"You will have much to fear from me in the coming months. This is not over until someone is on the floor bleeding their life away."
If you think that’s creepy, over a five year period, things just kept getting stranger, with Parker blaming Anelli for her unhappiness (“I will not sit by as you attempt to crush what little I have left, I would rather slit your damn throat and be done with it.”), sending equally violent voicemails, and even writing a dominatrix-themed short story about the webmistress. This sort of behavior has been going on for so long that the FBI has been looking into Parker’s behavior against Anelli with the help of New Zealand police institutions since 2009. Parker was eventually arrested on initial criminal harassment charges in 2011, but was released on diversion. However, she sent a violent message to Anelli’s parents in January.
"Consider this your first warning before I come back and end you for good."
By March, the woman sent another death threat to the webmistress, prompting the arrest warrant.
Parker currently lives in Wellington, New Zealand, so as long as she doesn’t travel to the United States, she’s safe from any actual arrests from the FBI. Her parents, Elizabeth and Shane Parker, have repeatedly stated their daughter has a “mental condition” that they are working through. Still, her behavior is unsettling and is a step in an even scarier direction than a most stalkers ever actually attempt. Mental issues or no, multiple murder threats should not be taken lightly. A woman named Dawn Wilson sent the same sorts of messages against Tyler Perry a few years back and landed a felony charge.
There are a bunch of weirdos on the Internet and many of them are willing to write outlandish stuff on forums and in comment sections. Needless to say, sending death threats out into the universe is not the best way for a person to express himself or herself. At best, those people will be banned from a site, but at worst, that person could land his or her ass in jail.
