Hiccups Lead To Murder

Teenager Made Famous for Non-Stop Hiccups Turns To Murder for an Encore

DAMIEN CAVE
October 25, 2010



MIAMI — Floridians frequently become famous either for heinous crimes or odd achievements, like building the world’s largest rubber-band ball. Rarely, however, do the two intersect, which is why the Sunshine State marveled on Monday at the fate of Jennifer Mee, shown in mugshot provided by police officials.


Ms. Mee, it may be recalled, was the “hiccup girl” of 2007 — the teenager from Tampa whose nonstop hiccups, up to 50 times a minute for six weeks, caught the attention of the nation. Now she is back in the spotlight, facing murder charges.

The police in St. Petersburg say Ms. Mee, 19, lured Shannon Griffin, 22, to a home there on Saturday, where two male accomplices — Laron C. Raiford, 20, and Lamont Newton, 22 — tried to rob him. When Mr. Griffin resisted, he was shot four times and killed, the police said.

Ms. Mee, Mr. Raiford and Mr. Newton are all charged with first-degree murder. A judge on Monday ordered them held without bail.

The police said in a statement that the three had admitted their involvement, but the authorities did not divulge who was accused of pulling the trigger.

Rachel Robidoux, Ms. Mee’s mother, cried in a radio interview on the “MJ Morning Show” on WFLZ in Tampa. “I don’t think she knew what was going to happen, because that’s not Jennifer,” Ms. Robidoux said. “She’s not out to hurt anyone.”

Ms. Robidoux said that she did not know where her daughter might have gone wrong, but that the hiccup fame — “her case wasn’t a case of the hiccups, it was a curse of the hiccups,” she said — might have led to the wrong crowd of friends.

“All of a sudden people knew her name and she would talk to them on different chat sites, and they would act like they knew her when they didn’t,” Ms. Robidoux said. “She’s very naïve, and I just think she was getting herself into stuff when she didn’t know what she was doing.”