'I Am Innocent' Melissa / @.I.Am.Innocent

Submission 20,808

Part of a series on TikTok. [View Related Entries]

About

'I Am Innocent' Melissa or @.i.am.innocent is a TikTok user who, in December 2022, began posting videos denying that she murdered her brother despite an alleged ongoing investigation by police finding evidence that she did. Around the same time, another TikToker named @.i.am.guilty, also known as Daniel, began posting videos denying having a part in Melissa's brother's murder. As the videos gained virality, viewers accused Melissa, Daniel and other accounts playing into the narrative like @donttrustmelissa of faking the story for a school project or social experiment, particularly because nobody could find any stories in the media about the alleged murder.

Origin

On December 21st, 2022, TikToker^[1] @.i.am.innocent posted a video where she claims her name is Melissa and she's a junior in high school. She claims that she was recently accused of murdering her brother but wants to spread the truth and say it didn't happen as there has been lots of false information on the news (shown below). The video garnered over 12.9 million views in a month.

On December 23rd, the same TikToker^[2] posted another video to TikTok where she claims her lawyer is telling her not to speak about the case but that she "won't be silenced," saying that when her brother was killed it was 10:30 and she was at her friend's house at 11:00, gaining over 13.3 million views in a month (shown below, left). On December 27th she posted another video to TikTok,^[3] this time claiming her lawyer wants her to plead guilty due to evidence against her, which would land her in jail for 20 years, but she has decided against taking it, garnering over 3.7 million views in a month (shown below, right). The comment section of each video features users who believe the videos are fake and for a school project.

Spread

On December 27th, 2022, TikToker^[4] @.i.am.guilty posted a video responding to Melissa's video where he also denies having any part in her brother's murder, claiming he's also being investigated, garnering over 433,000 views in a month. Later that day he posted another video to TikTok^[5] explaining the situation, garnering over 3.7 million views in the same span of time (shown below). On December 28th, he posted a video to TikTok^[6] responding to a commenter who questions why he said he and Melissa were at the bowling alley between 10:00 to 11:00 when Melissa said she was at a friend's house. He claims he misspoke.

On December 29th, @.i.am.guilty posted a video to TikTok^[7] giving his full side of the story after commenters accused him of lying about his involvement in the alleged murder. On December 31st, Sportskeeda^[8] reported on the videos. On January 3rd, 2023, he posted a video to TikTok^[9] announcing that he was "pushed to the side" as a prime suspect and that a prime suspect was now in custody and being questioned.

That day, another TikToker,^[10] @donttrustmelissa, posted a video showing what appears to be numerous news stories about the murder case, garnering over 11,000 views in three weeks. Besides the Sportskeeda article, the articles appear to be fake (shown below). On January 4th, Distractify^[11] reported on the videos.

On January 18th, TikToker^[12] @.i.am.guilty posted another update video, claiming that Melissa was now in custody after failing a lie detector test, garnering over 17,000 views in a week (shown below, left). On January 19th, TikToker^[13] @theluncheonlawyer posted a video claiming to be Melissa's lawyer, garnering over 170,000 views in a week (shown below, right).