PHOENIX — When Jocelyn Combs Googled daughter Michelle's name, a listing popped up under the Web site Mydeathspace.com.
Michelle was a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Arizona when she died in a motorcycle accident in Tucson last year.
Like millions of other teenagers and twentysomethings, she had a Myspace.com page.
Myspace.com is a social-networking Web site that allows its users to create profiles, post pictures and write blog entries, and it is becoming increasingly mainstream.
Most parents have heard of it, and most young people have been on it.
But Mydeathspace.com is something new.
After her death, Michelle's name and Myspace account were submitted to Mydeathspace.com, a site that archives the Myspace pages belonging to people who have died. It is not affiliated with Myspace.
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The Web site has been down since Nov. 20, which creator Mike Patterson of San Francisco attributes to heavy traffic. He said the site should be back up in a few days after it gets more bandwidth from its host site.
More than 1,000 people are listed on the Web site, which includes a map of the United States that uses little people figures to pinpoint the location of each death. Black is for those who died; red is for those accused of murder who have Myspace accounts.
The deaths listed range from car accidents to drug overdoses. A brief description or article is included for each person, and people can go on and leave comments. It lists 15 people from Arizona, ranging in age from 15 to 30.
One Arizona murder suspect is listed.
Combs, of Pleasanton, Calif., was not the one to submit her daughter's death to the site. She said she has mixed feelings about it.
"I think death becomes more real the more you realize they're real people. It's kind of the ultimate reality show," she said. "People can get addicted to it. There are some pretty scary things on it."
Patterson, 25, said the site should be used as an educational tool.
"One mother sat her kids down and forced them to look at the site and (said), 'Look, kids are dying,' " he said.
Patterson said he started the site after he read about a man who had strangled his two daughters. He found their profiles on Myspace.com. After that, he said, he would read news articles and then look to see if the person who died had a profile. The site was officially launched in December.
Patterson said he makes money off the Web site through advertisements and selling merchandise such as wristbands and buttons. He refuses to disclose how much money the site is making.
Some critics say Patterson is making money off of people's death, but he disagrees.
"All the sites I get my articles off of, they get advertising," he said. "You need advertising to run."
There is also a forum on the Web site on which Patterson posts the hate mail he receives.
Patterson said it doesn't bother him.
Patterson said he plans to run the site until he gets tired of it or until someone buys it from him.
Mydeathspace.com has brought Patterson public attention, with coverage in national media.
"I'm enjoying the press," he said. "I love it," he said.
Michele Mansfield of Phoenix, whose son, Nick Serna, 16, died last year after playing a choking game, said Mydeathspace.com could help kids see that their choices have consequences.
A note Mansfield had written on Serna's Myspace.com page after he died was submitted to Mydeathspace.com.
"Losing (my son) has been devastating to our family. It is time to make everyone aware of this killer and stop it."
Mansfield said she doesn't know who submitted her note, but is glad he or she did.
"I'm hoping that by seeing that, (kids) will make better choices," she said.
Brittany Oliver, a University of Arizona freshman, has been a daily visitor to Mydeathspace.com since it was created.
Oliver said the site reminds her that death is not something you can always prepare for.
Like Patterson, Oliver said the Web site could open people's eyes to the reality of death.
