“I know Danny would have made a difference in this world,” Jill Lints says as she sits at the family’s kitchen table in Pilot Mound, Man., 180 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg. Daniel, whom most people called Danny, was the victim of a growing global sextortion scheme that is largely targeting teenage boys. Lints and his wife Jill say they are dealing with unimaginable tragedy. “I feel like he was murdered,” says Derek Lints, Daniel’s father, as tears stream down his cheeks. In minutes he was being blackmailed and within three hours he took his own life. She coerced him into sending an explicit image.
He was a normal and happy 17-year-old until one chilly February day, he accepted a message request from what appeared to be an attractive young woman on Snapchat. He played hockey and was a constant visitor to the nearby community pool. The rural Manitoba teenager had a bright future and loving family. Daniel Lints was kind and responsible with a witty sense of humour.