‘Most terrifying, shocking thing’: 9-year-old dies after attempting social media challenge

The Texas family of a 9-year-old girl is grieving her loss after she died from attempting a social media challenge.

Curtis and Wendi Blackwell told CBS News that their daughter JackLynn loved karaoke and wanted to become a singing star.

‘You could check on your kid, it could be kid-friendly videos, and then three minutes later it could be totally something dark because of the algorithms they start creating.’

“It was just the three of us, three amigos. We did everything together,” Curtis Blackwell said.

They recalled the horror of the last day they saw their daughter alive in the back yard of their home in Stephenville.

“Normal morning, tickle her to wake her up to get ready for school,” the mother said.

“She goes out to play like she always does, out in the yard. I noticed it’s kind of quiet — quieter than it should’ve been,” Curtis Blackwell said. “Then I saw her kind of around the corner that goes to the carport, saw her hair. I said, ‘JackLynn!’ I thought she was bending over playing because she was always in that area playing, but she wasn’t playing.”

His daughter had a cord around her neck when he found her.

“I found her unconscious. She was leaned into the cord,” he added. “I tried to do everything I could to save her. I got her off the cord. I tried to give her CPR until the first responders got there. It was the most terrifying, shocking thing I’ve ever seen. It was horrible to see my daughter in such a vulnerable state because of something so senseless.”

They believe that she was trying the dangerous “blackout” challenge that has caused other deaths and grievous injuries to others. It involves choking oneself in order to obtain a euphoric high.

“My mom told me that JackLynn had shown her a video before of a guy doing that with the cord. My mom told her, ‘Don’t you ever do that,'” Curtis Blackwell added.

About 80 people have died from the challenge.

“She’s our beautiful angel now,” Wendi Blackwell added.

RELATED: Family says their 10-year-old boy died from attempting a dangerous TikTok challenge

The Blackwells said they want more accountability for social media companies over the dangerous trends.

“You could check on your kid, it could be kid-friendly videos, and then three minutes later it could be totally something dark because of the algorithms they start creating,” Curtis Blackwell said. “There’s too many of these kids lost for these companies not to be held accountable in my eyes.”

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