Facebook Won't Yank Pics of Woman With Her Killer

Facebook memorializes profiles as they are when someone dies
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 2, 2015 7:18 AM CST
Facebook Won't Yank Pics of Woman With Her Killer
Hollie Gazzard was stabbed on the job at at a beauty salon in Gloucester, England, and died in the hospital.   (Courtesy of Gazzard family)

When 20-year-old Hollie Gazzard was stabbed to death by ex-boyfriend Asher Maslin in February 2014, Facebook froze the UK woman's profile to memorialize her, as it does with users when they die. Only Gazzard's account contains nine images of herself with Maslin—who was sentenced to life in prison five months after her murder—making her Facebook profile a place that her father says is "distressing" and "makes me sick," reports the BBC. "We understand in tragic cases such as this it may mean there are sometimes painful reminders, but memorialized accounts are designed to preserve the privacy of the deceased," a Facebook rep says.

So her father, Nick Gazzard, has started an online petition at Change.org to remove the nine images, most of which are only viewable to those who were Facebook friends with Hollie Gazzard. "While we appreciate that Facebook [has] to have policies in place, all we are asking for is for them not [to] take a blanket approach and dismiss individual requests," he tells the Gloucester Citizen, adding: "While this is an issue on Hollie's account, I am sure that we are not the only ones in this situation and there will be many more going forward." Gazzard's petition had just over 10,000 signatures as of this writing. (Facebook answered this dad's plea related to his dead son.)

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