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Gruesome photos of slain US teen remain on Instagram for hours

This article is more than 12 months old

Despite user reports, Instagram took hours to remove the account, but it was too late

US Internet personality Bianca Devins, 17, was brutally murdered in Utica, upstate New York, allegedly by her boyfriend, on Sunday. He then posted photos of her bloodied body on Instagram.

They remained there for hours despite people alerting Instagram, Rolling Stone reported.

Eventually, Instagram removed the account for violating its terms of service, but by then the photos had by then spread to other sites.

Users on those websites called the police after images of Bianca's body and boyfriend Brandon Clark's own injuries appeared, BuzzFeed reported.

When police found Clark, 21, on Sunday, he allegedly lay on top of a green tarpaulin covering the body and took a selfie.

Clark has been charged with second-degree murder.

Despite Instagram closing the account, users following Bianca's account continued to receive the bloody photos, Rolling Stone reported.

According to Mashable, some accounts were using the photo in videos and as a profile picture.

Mashable found an account on Wednesday morning using the photo of Bianca's body and claiming it was selling T-shirts printed with the photo.

Mashable said that hours after it informed Instagram, it was removed.

It also said Instagram would not say why its image-blocking was not working automatically, especially with the gruesome profile photo.

A Facebook spokesman said in an e-mail to Mashable that it was disabling many of the anonymous accounts set up to share the photos of Bianca's death, and that policy extends to those accounts using the image as a profile photo.

All of which may be a little too late for Bianca's family.

Her stepmother, Ms Kaleigh Nicole, has already seen the photos, reported the Sun.

She wrote on Facebook: "I will forever have those images in my mind when I think of her."

She added: "When I close my eyes, those images haunt me.

"How about we have some ****ing consideration for her (family) and her friends. How about we have some ****ing consideration for her?"