"Murder confession" sent to community mail website PostSecret was a hoax, say Chicago police
(CBS) A postcard referring to a dumped body and sent to the community mail website PostSecret prompted police to search a Chicago park, but authorities say they have found no reason to believe there's anything to the suspected murder confession.
Following the search of Chicago's Jackson Park, the supposed confession was "determined to be not bonafide," Chicago police spokesman Mike Sullivan told CBS News' Crimesider.
The apparent confession set off a frenzy among social media users after PostSecret, which solicits readers to mail anonymous postcards with confessional messages, published the note Sunday. It read: "I said she dumped me, but really I dumped her (body)."
The postcard included a red arrow pointing to a spot on a blurry aerial map.
After publishing an image of the postcard, PostSecret tweeted a message asking Reddit users to help identify the location. Users of the news-based social media site determined it to be Chicago's Jackson Park, reports the Chicago Tribune.
Chicago police received an anonymous phone call about the posting Sunday, prompting the search, a spokesman told the Tribune. The information was reportedly passed on to detectives.
PostSecret founder Frank Warren didn't return a call for comment from CBS News' Crimesider. But the website's Twitter account fielded responses from users expressing a wide array of reactions to the posting.
"Posting that photo and map of a where a dead woman's body may lay, is exploitative and wrong. What is wrong with you!?!" wrote Twitter user @coyahope.
Twitter user @PaigeBernard wrote, "Thank you for posting that really chilling confession. Even the scariest secrets need to be heard."
