Parent testifies to conference committee that online sextortion led to son’s suicide; lawmakers hear but take no immediate vote on inclusion of Senate File 281

Jamie Bremseth, a mental health professional and Olivia, Minnesota, resident, told the Minnesota Legislature's Public Safety and Judiciary Conference Committee on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, that her son died by suicide after he was sexually and financially extorted online and urged lawmakers to hold perpetrators accountable and consider including Senate File 281, which relates to the coercion crime, in the conference committee report.

Bremseth said her son, Carter, died on Dec. 5, 2021. She described a rapid sequence of online grooming and coercion that began on Instagram, moved to Snapchat, and in less than an hour led to demands for explicit images and money. Bremseth told the committee she read the exchanges and that the perpetrator shamed and threatened Carter and later demanded additional money; she said he was asked for an initial $200 and then more. “She absolutely tortured him,” Bremseth said. “My son’s life mattered.”

In her testimony Bremseth said law enforcement later told the family the perpetrator was based in Nigeria and that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the case. She said she has met other parents who lost children to sextortion and told lawmakers she believes national deaths tied to sextortion number “close…