一名来自俄亥俄州哥伦布市的女子在 TikTok 上直播了她发现并在后院深埋近两英尺的一块卷起的地毯的过程，并记录了警方对此进行的调查情况。不过，当周五这位名为 Katie Santry 的 TikTok 用户透露那块被找到的地毯中并没有尸体时，许多一直在猜测这件可能与重大犯罪有关的事件的 TikTok 观众表示失望。
Katie Santry 女士在她的 TikTok 帐号上迅速增粉，在故事发展的过程中从 6000 多名粉丝增加到了超过160万名。周五她直播了警方搜索的过程，有超 150,000 名观众观看。随着调查的进展和事件的揭露，一些用户仍然在评论区提出自己的猜测并推测该地区是否可能存在与哥伦布地区的冷案相关的失踪人员被埋于此。
哥伦布市警察局在接受 NBC 新闻采访时确认，周四他们动用了警犬资源进行了现场挖掘，并表示未发现人类或动物遗骸。调查结束后，在9点左右开始挖掘，移除了地下的一些地毯碎片，所有的测试结果都显示没有生命体存在，目前没有计划进行进一步的检测。
尽管调查并未发现尸体，但用户们对于真相的热情和推理并未因此消散，他们继续呼吁 Santry 和警方去其他地方寻找线索，比如家中的露台下。这种情况成为了在线“推理狂热”现象的一个最新实例，在这种现象中，网民自行深入调查以尝试找出自己认为官方可能还未注意到的线索。
这种网民自发进行调查的热情在一定程度上反映了互联网对真实犯罪迷恋以及追求八卦的趋势。这种热情有时也导致了虚假指控和信息传播的问题。之前就有类似事件发生，比如20岁的TikTok 创作者 Mr Prada 就因被指控第二度谋杀与阻碍正义而受到关注，该创作者也被指涉嫌驾驶一名名为威廉·尼古拉斯·亚伯拉罕的69岁治疗师失踪前的汽车。
亚伯拉罕在路易斯安那州塔吉帕霍区的公路上被人发现死亡。这一案件在网络上引发热议后，大量 TikTok 和 X 平台上的帖子都开始猜测 Mr Prada 与亚伯拉罕之间可能的关系，有的视频甚至获得了数百万次浏览。
Katie Santry 自周一以来就不断上传关于地毯事件的视频。她称在后院挖洞安装围栏时发现了那块地毯，并声称认为自己的房子被鬼魂困扰了，因为她在电脑屏幕破裂和桌面物品散乱后发现它失踪了一夜。这一发现促使TikTok 用户鼓励 Santry 联系警方，而最初警方则建议她亲自挖掘。Santry 和丈夫在尝试多次无果之后，一个凶杀案侦探回访并接管了挖掘工作。
网络关注点的高潮发生在周四，当 Santry 在 TikTok 上分享了两只“尸体探测犬”嗅探后院洞口并在其旁边坐下，并认为这意味着这些狗闻到了人体气味时。Santry 对自己所经历的事情表示着像是在看一出犯罪剧的感受。但随着她的粉丝数量激增且更新内容变得愈发严肃，Santry 表现出犹豫继续直播每一步过程。
她说：“假设那里有东西存在，而那对某个家庭来说可能意味着太多。”“我认为这是不尊重的。所以我很抱歉让大家失望了。”
周五的直播中，Santry 解释说地毯里什么都没有，没有骨头、没有尸体，只是一块地毯。“这是一个值得松一口气的消息。”她继续说道，“这应该是个好的结局。”
新闻来源：www.nbcnews.com
原文地址：Police say no body was found inside a buried rug that sparked a TikTok sleuth firestorm
新闻日期：2024-10-04
原文摘要：
A Columbus, Ohio, woman broadcast to millions of TikTok viewers this week as she documented the discovery and police investigation of a rolled-up rug buried almost 2-feet deep in her backyard. But TikTok users — many of whom speculated the rug was evidence of a larger crime — expressed disappointment on Friday when the woman, who goes by Katie Santry on TikTok, revealed that the rug she uncovered didn’t contain a body. The Columbus Division of Police confirmed to NBC News that the investigation, which used K-9 resources, concluded on Friday with no human or animal remains found. “Investigators began digging at the site at approximately 9:00 AM and removed several small rug pieces from the ground,” the police department said in an email statement. “The pieces all tested negative for human or animal remains and, at this time, there are no plans for further testing.” Santry grew her following from 6,000 followers on TikTok to over 1.6 million in under a week as the story developed. More than 150,000 people watched her livestream on Friday, where she documented the police search. She was not immediately available for an interview on Friday. In comments, TikTok users offered their own theories on what they described as “rug gate” — advising Santry to contact lawyers and psychics and asking Santry about her neighbors. Some also speculated that missing people from Columbus-area cold cases could be buried in the rug. User curiosity continued, even as the police said there was no body. Commenters continued to encourage Santry and police officials to search elsewhere, like under the home’s deck. It’s become the latest instance of what has been referred to as “armchair sleuthing” online, in which people do their own deep dives to try and identify clues that they feel officials haven’t come across yet. Experts have suggested people’s desire to sleuth — which at times can spread false allegations and misinformation — is a symptom of the internet’s obsession with true crime and its desire to engage in gossip. Internet audiences had a similar reaction earlier this week after Terryon Thomas, 20-year-old TikTok creator best known as Mr Prada, was charged with second-degree murder and obstruction of justice. The popular Baton Rouge-based online creator was accused of driving the stolen vehicle of 69-year-old therapist William Nicholas Abraham, also of Baton Rouge, who was found dead on the side of a highway near Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, on Sunday. Thomas became the subject of a social media frenzy after claims that he was involved in Abraham’s death went viral. Many posts on TikTok and X, some which garnered millions of views, speculated on the relationship between Thomas and Abraham. Santry first started documenting the rug saga on Monday, when she said in a video that she believed her house may be haunted after discovering that her laptop screen had been cracked overnight and items on her desk were scattered out of place. While digging a hole for a fence in her backyard, Santry and her husband found the rug. TikTok comments encouraged Santry to contact the police, who initially told her to try digging up the rug herself, she said. After a few unsuccessful attempts with shovels, Santry said that a homicide detective returned and took over the digging. Interest from online users came to a head on Thursday, after Santry shared a video on TikTok of two “cadaver dogs” sniffing around the hole in her backyard and sitting down, which she believed was a sign that the dogs detected a human scent. The situation felt to Santry like she was in a true crime TV series. But as her following swelled and her updates grew more serious, Santry appeared to express more hesitation about continuing to document every single update. “Imagine there is something there, and someone has to see that as a relative,” she said in a recent video, explaining she would still go live but not as the investigation unfolded. “I think it would be disrespectful. So I’m sorry to disappoint a lot of you.” On her livestream update on Friday, Santry dispelled rumors that she made everything up for TikTok attention. “What was in the rug? Nothing,” Santry said during the livestream on Friday. “There were no bones, there was no body, it was just a rug … This should be a sigh of relief. This is a good ending.”
