The internet’s worst cesspool has gotten cesspoolier. A Port Orchard, WA man named David Kalac allegedly strangled his girlfriend, Amber Coplin, and then posted the photos of her lifeless, naked body on 4chan, saying:
Check the news for Port Orchard Washington in a few hours. Her son will be home from school soon. He'll find her, then call the cops. I just wanted to share the pics before they find me. I bought a BB gun that looks realistic enough. When they come, I'll pull it and it will be suicide by cop. I understand the doubts. Just check the fucking news. I have to lose my phone now.
While other 4chan users assumed the photos were fake, and joked along with how hard it is to strangle someone in real life (obviously that site attracts a bunch of completely cool and socially adept humans), police confirmed the images did match up with a real life crime scene and, as Kalac promised, Coplin's 13-year-old son discovered her body.
Kalac was arrested early Thursday morning in Oregon.This story is a tragedy; that this happened at all is heartbreaking. But the phrase “I just wanted to share the pics” makes my throat close up. The reason Kalac’s actions feel so much more shocking than other recent tragedies is because they manage to bring together a number of women's rights issues — the devaluation of women, domestic violence, and a woman’s right to privacy — into one stomach-churning trifecta.
We don’t yet know what caused Kalac to (allegedly) do what he did, and we may never know, but seeing as how he reportedly wrote “She killed me first” on a picture hanging on the wall in the room where Coplin’s body was found, and since the couple was heard arguing earlier in the day, it’s not impossible Kalac felt betrayed by Coplin in some way. And in Kalac's mind, his assumed right to not be emotionally hurt by his girlfriend outweighed his girlfriend's right to live. It's a terrifying mindset similar to Elliot Rodgers, who went on a shooting spree in California in May because he was tired of being rejected by women. It's also similar to the school shooting last month in Marysville, WA, where Jaylen Fryberg killed three classmates and himself because, students say, a girl he liked wouldn't date him.
Especially jarring, in this case, Coplin didn't have a right to privacy, even in death. As proven by this cat-calling video that recently went viral, and the fact that female celebrity's private photos were stolen and posted all over the internet, a woman's control of her own existence can be threatened or taken away in an instant. And when Kalac posted pictures of Coplin, dead and naked, on the internet, he ensured that carries into death, too. And he did so just because he "wanted to."
Kalac said he wanted to die — he said murdering Coplin was part of a “suicide by cop” plan. He clearly didn’t see much value in his own life, but what is so much sadder is that he saw even less value in Coplin’s life. A man's right to have a woman, and not be betrayed by that woman, is outweighing a woman's right to life at all at an alarming rate, and that is fucking terrifying.
