By Steve Huff

(Continued)

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Jonathan Austin went by "Jon" much of the time. Jon had a MySpace account:

http://www.myspace.com/16297585.

At least one news report mistakenly assumed the account above was Stephen Austin's, perhaps justifying this assumption with Jon listing movies like Natural Born Killers as among his favorites. But the MySpace linked above was the victim's, not the alleged killer's.

He also had his own website: www.infothief.org.

On Jon Austin's MySpace account could be found a number of photos of Austin performing and rehearsing. His "about me" blurb was funny, in a droll way: "[Message] me if you think I'm sexy. If not message me and tell me about how ugly I am."

Also, by May 31^st, friends were leaving memorial messages for Jon. A friend named Amanda posted a poem that contained the following refrain; "You were abused in a field/An unnecessary kill. . ."

Another friend named Barr left this message on May 28^th:

"You where like family to me, I loved you like a brother. I'll see you again, I'll keep the beer cold for you. . ."

Jon Austin's page at infothief.org was devoted to an older philosophy of internet usage: that what you found on the web should be free, with few strings attached. Here is part of his introductory message on the web site's main page:

"The goal of this site is to provide a means of finding information without being harassed by paysites and misleading links. The majority of search engines lead people to sites which will try to solicit information and software that is readily available on the internet to unwary victims. People already pay for web access (Some people anyway). Why pay extra for something that's already there? This site stands for freedom of expression and freedom of the undernet. . ."

Austin followed that up with links to various free sites that specialized in information, like Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia edited by web surfers.

Jon Austin also had a profile at a site called bandmix.com, a site established to help musicians the world over form connections. Here is how Austin described himself:

"I play keyboard, guitar, bass, drums, program and sing. I'm also a producer and have a studio in [Upper] Mt. Bethel, PA. I'm looking to start an industrial/experimental band. . ."

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Steve Huff can be reached via the contact form at huffcrimeblog.com

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