Accident → A Family's Nightmare

Nicole "Nikki" Catsouras was killed in a car accident on Halloween last year. Gruesome photos of the accident scene have spread around the internet, and people have e-mailed the images to Catsouras' family. The pictures, taken by California Highway Patrol officers and e-mailed outside the department, spread around the Internet, making their way to about 1,600 Web sites, according to an investigator hired by family. The images became so persistent that Lesli Catsouras stopped checking her e-mail. Nikki's three younger sisters were forbidden to use the Internet, and 16-year-old Danielle was taken out of school to be home schooled out of fear that her peers might confront her with the pictures. Her family is suing the California Highway Patrol for allegedly releasing the accident photos. On the first anniversary of Nikki's death, the Catsouras family cut together a video tribute with their own pictures of Nikki, set to the song "Angel," which is what her father always called her.