Victim's brother: Hiccup girl's Internet trap led to homicide

Rachel Robidoux woke up from a deep sleep to the phone ringing.

It was her daughter, Jennifer Mee, who had gained international attention in 2007 for her inability to stop hiccupping for five weeks.

Mee, 19, was calling from jail to say she had been arrested for her part in the Saturday night killing of Shannon Griffin. St. Petersburg police say Mee met Griffin, 22, over the internet and lured him to be robbed.

Robidoux said life for her daughter - who became known worldwide as "The Hiccup Girl" -- has been nothing but trouble since national exposure over her hiccups.

"Honestly, the best way I can describe it, is that they call it a case of the hiccups, but I call it the curse of the hiccups," she said Monday afternoon in a telephone interview. "It felt like a nightmare."

Griffin had come to St. Petersburg from Petal, Miss. about two years ago, according to his uncle, Shawn Griffin. A high school football star who played linebacker, Griffin was getting ready to head back to Mississippi for a family get-together, Shawn Griffin said.

But first, he decided to meet up with Mee, who he was introduced to on a social networking site, according to police. Now his family said they are making burial arrangements.

Speaking at an afternoon press conference, St. Petersburg Police Chief Charles Harmon said investigators have a good idea which site, but won't know for sure until records are pulled.

About 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Mee lured Griffin to the 511 Seventh St. N. , where Laron Raiford, 20, and Lamont Newton, 22, robbed him at gunpoint and took several items and about "$50 or $60" from him, Harmon said. Griffin struggled with the attackers and was shot several times, police said. At the press conference, Harmon said police are still trying to determine who was holding the gun when it went off.

The shooting took place as Mee was leaving the apartment, police say. All three have been cooperative, police say.

Mee, Newton and Raiford were charged with first-degree murder and booked at the Pinellas County Jail with no bail set.

Newton was Mee's current boyfriend, said her father, Chris Robidoux.

Initially, Griffin reached out to Mee via the Internet. Harmon said Griffin "friended" her on a social network site.

News of the killing was a shock to Griffin's family.

"He was a good kid," said Griffin's brother, Javon Merritt said. "He didn't hurt nobody. It just doesn't make any sense for a good kid like that to be murdered for no reason, just to be set up and murdered. He was only 22 years old."

Merritt said that despite the hiccup girl notoriety, he had never heard of Mee before.

Mee appeared remorseful, according to police, who say she became emotional when recounting what happened.

Robidoux said her daughter changed, slowly, after becoming famous.

"I just noticed a big change in her," said Robidoux. "It didn't happen overnight. She wanted to be her own person at a very young age."

Mee "was naive," said Robidoux. "She was easily misled. This is not the Jennifer I know."

Her father agreed that Mee was "easily manipulated."

"Jenifer has never been able to plan anything," Chris Robidoux said. "She is easily manipulated because she is not very intelligent. She is easily duped."

Three years ago, Mee appeared on national news shows because of her hiccups, which were occurring about 50 times per waking minute for more than a month. She became known as the "hiccup girl."

Since then, she had been reported missing twice and found safe: in January 2010 and June 2007.

Mee's MySpace page wallpaper shows stacks of pink money, and she writes that she lives in "St. Pistol," Florida. She calls herself "Diva" and writes that she is the "female version of a hustla."

"Maken so much money idk what 2 do wit it," reads her status, and she describes a life of struggle.

"My name is jennifer, im almost 19 but dont let the age fool you, the struggles ive been through has made me grown up so much. Im always havin fun chillin or vibbin to some gucci:) .... Ive lived in florida for a while now but my heart is still in vermont? im trying to better myself and just move on in life..."She last logged in Sunday.

On her Facebook page, Mee writes about visiting a strip club.

On Sept. 4, she wrote: "DIS WEEKEND IS FINA BE A GREAT WEEKEND. BAE GOT A SHOW THEN A AFTA PARTY. THEN ME N MY BAE GETEN A RENTAL N GOING 2 DA STRIP CLUB."

Mee, Raiford and Newton lived at an apartment building at 610 Fifth Ave. N., according to jail records. Ned Nather, the building's owner, said Mee was a "responsible" tenant of the one-bedroom unit she moved in to four months ago.

"She paid her rent on time," Nather said.

Nather said Mee had a job, but did not know what she did.

In addition to paying her own rent, Nather said Mee also paid the rent of her mother, Rachel Robidoux, who lived at the apartment for a while.

"I am very surprised," Nather said.

Art DeCosmo, who rented an apartment at 2028 Ninth St. N. to Mee for a month this year, said he had to kick her out because of "suspicious behavior" by her and Newton. DeCosmo said Newton was Mee's boyfriend.

"I asked her to leave on Oct. 1," DeCosmo said.

"She just really didn't want to conform," DeCosmo said. "We were getting calls because of loud music, her sitting out front with different people. It appeared they were not doing the right thing."

Mee "always apologized," DeCosmo said, "but a few days would go by, and I would get another call from tenants about the loud music."

DeCosmo said Mee paid her from a government disability check and that he rented to her because he knew Mee's mother, who used to live in another one of his buildings.

Derris Singleton, who knew Mee from middle school, said Mee liked "bad boys" and exchanged text messages about being drunk and high.

"It wasn't being hiccup girl that went to her head," Singleton said. "It was hanging out with the wrong people."

Still, Singleton said he was surprised to hear about Mee's arrest.

"I never knew she was like that to actually help people set someone up," he said about the charges against Mee. "I heard that people do that, but never thought she would be the one who did that."

In school, Mee was "very good at math," another friend, Cornekia Bacon, said.

"She was a nice, smart girl," Bacon said. "She always used to help me on my math work because I sucked in my math. It's just hard to believe that something like that would happen."

Bacon said that Mee used to complain about her home life.

"She used to tell me about her household, and I used to feel very bad for her," Bacon said. "She never met her dad. She told me that there were many people living with them, and she wasn't into school much."

Another friend of Mee's, Kayla Ann Labonte, also expressed surprise at the charges.

The two "hung out a lot" in the 10th grade and "went to Monster Jams together," Labonte said.

Mee "always hung out with the wrong people," Labonte said.

When the hiccups started and her friend "went national," they lost touch, she said.

"She was a good friend," Labonte said. "I just don't know why she would make a stupid choice to do that and throw away her whole life that."