Twins Learn of Brother's Fatal Car Crash on Facebook
Feb. 10, 2010— -- Australian twins Angela and Maryanne Vourlis logged on to Facebook the morning of their 20th birthday, expecting to find birthday messages from friends, but instead they learned the heartbreaking news that their 17-year-old brother was killed in a fatal car crash.
"I didn't get it. All these people were writing, 'RIP Chris Naylor' and 'RIP Bobby,' and I thought: 'What's going on?'," Angela Vourlis told the The Daily Telegraph in Sydney.
Wondering if there had been a mix-up, she tried to call her brother. When she failed to reach him, she called their mother.
"So I rang Mum and said, 'Chris Naylor must have died -- I just read it on Facebook. But where's Bobby? People are writing 'RIP Bobby' too," Angela Vourlis told the Telegraph. "Mum said 'Bobby was with Chris Naylor last night'."
When the family called the police, they confirmed the news that had already spread across Facebook -- their son and brother had indeed died.
"It's every parent's worst nightmare to lose a child in a car accident, but to have to hear it on Facebook, then have to chase up the police yourself, is just horrifying," Peter Matelis, Bobby's uncle, told the Telegraph.
A spokesman for the New South Wales Police Force confirmed for ABCNews.com that the Vourlis family had learned of Bobby Vourlis' death on Facebook, before authorities had a chance to alert the family themselves.
But he defended the police department's actions, saying that due to the nature of the crash, it took longer than usual to confirm his identity.
"[Police] can't jump to conclusions," he said. "Police understand the trauma of families in these situations and sympathize with the plight of the Vourlis family. But St. Marys Police [which is one station in the greater New South Wales Police Force] believe they did all they could in these circumstances to inform the family as soon as they did."
