In 1995, Larry Froistad murdered his five-year-old daughter, Amanda Froistad. After he set their North Dakota home on fire while she was inside, Larry confessed to the crime on an email list with two hundred members. Only a few reported him. This incident is an example of an online version of the

bystander effect The bystander effect, or bystander apathy, is a social psychological theory that states that individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when there are other people present. First proposed in 1964, much research, mostly in the lab, has f ...

. In addition, the incident was a notable failure of

child welfare Child protection is the safeguarding of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for the protection of children in and out of the home. One of the ways to e ...

. Though a therapist reported that Larry had sexually abused Amanda; the authorities of South Dakota, where the therapist practiced, and of North Dakota, where Amanda lived, did not coordinate with each other and failed to protect her.

Background

In mid-1994, Amanda's aggressive conduct at daycare concerned her providers. Amanda's mother, Ann Purdy, took her to a counselor to find out why she was acting that way. The first thing Amanda told the counselor was that she was being molested by her father, Larry Froistad. The counselor, as required by law, reported the molestation to South Dakota's Child Welfare Agency. Because the molestation happened in another state, North Dakota, and due to bureaucratic incompetence, the authorities did not appropriately address the report. Larry was neither punished nor denied access to his daughter despite having sexually abused her.

Incident

In 1995, heavily inebriated Larry Froistad set his house on fire while five-year-old Amanda Froistad was trapped inside. He then climbed out the window. His daughter started screaming; after a while, the screams stopped. Larry then entered the house again, picked up his daughter, and ascertained that she was still alive before climbing back out the window, leaving Amanda in the burning house. He then called the police and pretended to be upset over his daughter's death. Even though the death seemed unusual, the police did not prosecute Larry because the police personally knew Larry and could not believe he would murder someone.

Confession

In 1998, Froistad posted a

confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information th ...

of his murder on an online

email list A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is re ...

. There were many different responses to his email. Some said it was a long time ago and some said he was fantasizing this as a result of feeling guilt over his divorce. Only three of the approximately 200 members of the

reported the confession to legal authorities. The incident has been studied as an online version of the bystander effect. Larry Froistad had also confessed to molesting his daughter to an online group of pedophiles.

Sentencing

In a plea deal, Larry Froistad pleaded guilty to both murder and child molestation. He was sentenced to 30 years of prison time, eligible for parole in 2024.

Reaction

Author

Jeffrey Schaler Jeffrey Alfred Schaler is a psychologist, author, editor, retired professor of justice, law, and society at American University, and former member of the psychology faculty at Johns Hopkins University. He is a prominent critic of psychiatric claims ...

expressed dismay over the failure of leadership of the online group Larry confessed on (a group called

Moderation Management Moderation Management (MM) is a secular non-profit organization providing peer-run support groups for anyone who would like to reduce their alcohol consumption. MM was founded in 1994 to create an alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous and similar ad ...

for people with drinking problems who try to drink moderately) to condemn member Larry Froistad after he admitted his murder in 1998. Because of the Froistad murder and subsequent controversy, Schaler recommended that psychiatrists let their patients know early on that knowledge of a felony involving direct harm to others would cause the presumption of doctor patient confidentiality to be waived.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Froistad, Amanda 1995 murders in the United States 1995 in North Dakota Arson in the United States Bowman County, North Dakota Deaths by person in North Dakota Deaths from fire in the United States Murder in North Dakota