The indictment of Lori Drew in the MySpace suicide case brings a small sense of satisfaction to Richmond-area blogger Sarah Wells.

Wells is credited with being the first person to identify Lori Drew publicly as the person allegedly responsible for creating a fake MySpace account from which cruel messages were sent to Megan Meier, 13, of suburban St. Louis. Though Megan killed herself in October 2006, allegedly in response to the messages, the case didn't become public until an article was published in the St. Louis-area Suburban Journals newspapers on Nov. 11, 2007. Wells posted Drew's name Nov. 13 on her blog, bluemerle.blogspot.com.

A Los Angeles grand jury indicted Drew on Thursday on federal charges of fraudulently accessing MySpace servers, which are located in the Los Angeles area. Missouri officials had said earlier that no state laws were broken.

As Wells explained the charges yesterday in postings on another blog, proteinwisdom.com: "She's being charged with illegal use of a computer system owned by someone else, to hurt someone."

By telephone yesterday, Wells said she felt somewhat obligated to comment on the indictment on her own blog but had made most of her comments on other blogs.

The original Suburban Journals article didn't name the perpetrator of the hoax, but it gave enough clues that Wells was able to work through public records to find Drew's name.

Drew lived on the same street as the Meier family in the suburb of O'Fallon. Wells located a police report that identified Drew as saying a MySpace account for "Josh Evans," a fictitious 16-year-old, was intended to find out what Megan was saying about her own 13-year-old daughter.

Wells revealed Drew's name in a post titled: "What was said to Megan Meier May come back to haunt you, Lori Drew."

Then, Wells posted words supposedly sent by "Josh Evans" to Megan when the MySpace messages between them turned ugly:

"Everybody in O'Fallon knows how you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a [expletive] rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you."

After receiving that message, Megan hanged herself.

For days after the posting, Wells' blog, which she calls "just a little obscure fluff blog," became a focal point for outrage over the crime and lack of punishment.

Wells, 45, knows something about the legal system because her husband, Michael Wells, is a lawyer. They live in the Westham area with their 17-year-old.

"I'm a fairly indifferent blogger," she said. "Here and there, I have something to say. I've got plenty of opinions, and sometimes I'll put them out for people to see."

She was surprised at the reaction to her small part in the Megan Meier case.

"The medium still sort of seems to be the message. I wouldn't say it rises to the level of citizen journalism. I looked up a stinking name. The cyber vigilante accusations were hard to take. I never advocated that," she said.

"Her name was on a public record in connection with this case, at her own instigation. There wasn't any reason to keep it secret."

Contact Katherine Calos at (804) 649-6433 or kcalos@timesdispatch.com.