LISBON — When Rosemarie Maneri read the story of a recent teen suicide in Potsdam that was sparked by an online blackmail, the similarities to the death of her foster daughter were striking.

Shylynn Dixon, 18, of Lisbon took her own life on March 3 after what appeared to be an ongoing online harassment and blackmail for a year and a half, Maneri said.

Due to the case involving a suicide, and that it is currently active, State Poice could not comment on specifics of the investigation, said Trooper Jennifer Fleishman, State Police spokesperson.

However, Fleishman told North Country This Week that the Dixon case and the Basford case shared some similarities.

“It was very similar to what happened to Riley (Basford of Potsdam),” Maneri said. Basford took his own life on March 30 after he was blackmailed and harassed online for suggestive photos.

“She was always smiling, always happy,” Maneri said. “We didn’t find out until she left a note.”

“She was just pushed to the limit. . . It was an absolute complete shock,” Maneri said.

“She left a note, went upstairs into my bathroom, took one of my guns and shot herself. There are no words to describe what goes through a mother’s head. The phone call was something I will never ever forget,” she said.

Maneri said Shylynn’s family learned what was really going on, unbeknownst to them, after speaking with investigators who had reviewed Shylynn’s phone.

She said it was just a name online, on Facebook. Maneri said they started following the man’s profile and by the Friday after Shylnn’s death he had just disappeared. She said investigators said they believed the profile was connected to someone in Pakistan.

Shylynn had lived with Maneri as her daughter for the last year and a half, had been a part of her family for the last five years, and was thought of as a sister to Maneri’s birth daughter. She had just turned 18 this year and seemed to have a happy, well adjusted life.

Maneri said it appears that the harassment and blackmail had started about a year and a half earlier.

Maneri cautions parents with children online to be wary, and has strong words about social media.

“Facebook needs to be shut down. Facebook is the worst thing that was ever put up,” Maneri said.

According to Maneri, investigators said foreign parties obtain photos through social media accounts from unwitting teens by posing as other teens online. They then take the photos and sell them on the black market where they are then purchased by online pornography sites.

State Police recently released information for parents on how to protect their children from this type of online extortion from unknown operators on social media sites.

Tracking down perpetrators in cases like these can be difficult and take time. In this case, Maneri said State Police are still waiting on a warrant to be able to access Shylynn’s Facebook account so they can get the IP address of the blackmailer.

“It’s absurd,” she said.

Investigators told her at the time of the death, that Shylynn was not the only child this was happening to and investigations are happening in other states as well and that Homeland Security was involved.

While they could charge the blackmailer with extortion if they locate them, Maneri said the charge really should be murder.

Maneri has set up a memorial fund in Shylynn’s name to fund the purchase of a memorial stone on Go Fund Me. Visit the site at https://www.gofundme.com/f/shylynn-dixon-memorial to donate.

Read Shylynn’s full obituary at https://fraryfuneralhome.com/tribute/details/4784/Shylynn-Dixon/obituary.html#tribute-start.