For the family of Nancy Ng, the nightmare began on Oct. 19, when the 29-year-old teacher’s aide from Monterey Park presumably drowned in Lake Atitlan in Guatemala during a yoga retreat.
For San Bernardino County Deputy Public Defender Christina Blazek — believed to be the last person to have seen Ng alive — the nightmare began about a month later. That’s when Ng’s family and one of its representatives publicly disclosed Blazek’s name and accused her of being silent and uncooperative in the search for Ng’s body, as well as hindering a Guatemalan police investigation.
The whiff of mystery about Ng’s last moments alive and allegations that Blazek and the retreat organizer had refused to talk to Ng’s family or authorities — possibly rising to the level of a criminal investigation — triggered sometimes wild speculation from TikTok sleuths and YouTubers, as well as widespread media coverage.
In turn, that prompted an onslaught of online hate-mongering, harassment, cyberstalking and death threats against Blazek from as far away as Europe, according to Blazek’s attorney, G. Christopher Gardner.
“A killer you are. You are a killer!” one anonymous caller said in a message left on Blazek’s personal cellphone on Nov. 15.
Another caller left a more ominous voice message on Blazek’s cellphone the following day: “Hi Christina! Where’s Nancy? Huh? Stop hiding the truth. Tell us, tell us now, otherwise we’re gonna come for you.”
“There’s been hundreds of them,” Gardner said.
Not only are the allegations about Blazek untrue, Gardner said, they are potentially slanderous and libelous. And as a result, she is being traumatized all over again, he said.
“I’m appalled at how irresponsible they were by letting her name out, on purpose,” Gardner said in a telephone interview. “What happens if something were to happen to Christina? Are they responsible for that? Everybody knows where they can find her, and that is 100%…
Read the full article here
