Hoax: Photo of 8-Year Old Boston Victim

A photo claims to show an 8-year old Boston Marathon victim who died while running in support of the Sandy Hook victims.

It’s a hoax.

The caption claims:

See this little girl?
She died today
She was running the marathon for the Sandy Hook kids.
She’s 8.
Repost for respect of her.
Wear red tomorrow to support her and all the others who died.

Wrong Gender

Of the three Boston Marathon bombing victims, the only child killed was an 8-year old boy named Martin Richard. It appears that this image was created and circulated in the initial hours after the attack, before the gender of the victim was known.

The Real Photo

The actual photo was published on May 20, 2012 in an article entitled Hundreds turn out for 3rd annual Joe Cassella 5K by The Saxon Scope Online. (See a cached copy of the page here.) The article describes the event as:

This year’s run was dedicated to Gianna Hess, daughter of Langley Coach Travis Hess, who is fighting Hepatoblastoma, a rare form of liver cancer. Coach Hess, his wife and Gianna were all present at the race.

The Joe Cassella Foundation, named after Joe Cassella who died in 2009 after a battle with Mesothelioma, offers financial assistance to the families of children who are ill in the Washington DC Metro area.

The photo was taken 7 months before Sandy Hook and 10 months before the Boston Marathon bombing.

Note that even the image being circulated shows “Joe Cassella 5K” on the girl’s number!

Here is the full image of the runner:

Bottom Line

This is another pathetic attempt to gain Facebook likes by using an old photo and attaching a fake story related to a tragedy to it.