Kriti Mehrotra
Although Ryan J. Vallee pleaded guilty to 31 counts of interstate threats, extortion, identity theft, cyberstalking, and hacking back in 2016, he had actually begun his harassment in 2011. In fact, as explored on Netflix’s ‘Web of Make Believe: Death Lies and the Internet: Sextortion’ he’d used aliases such as “Seth Williams” to terrorize at least 23 young women in the hopes of getting them to send him sexually explicit photos. Among them was none other than Mackenzie Frazel — so now, if you wish to learn more about her, her ordeals, and the crucial role she played in the matter, we’ve got the details for you.
Who is Mackenzie Frazel?
As an “emo” teenager who’d sadly been beaten, abused, and molested before, as per the Netflix original, Mackenzie Frazel had learned not to cower in the face of adversity at quite an early age. That’s how she got the courage to stand up to “Seth” as well, even though the entire situation genuinely terrified her to the bones because of his cruel physical as well as physiological threats. He’d first messaged her in 2011 — soon after she was sent to live with her grandparents in North Carolina upon graduating from Belmont High — and their innocent exchanges did not last long.
According to Mackenzie’s account in the episode, since her protective mother had banned her from using social media while still in school, she went a little boy crazy once she had her freedom. “I remember getting a message from someone who went by Seth,” she said. “He seemed kind of cute in his profile picture. We had some of the same friends, so we started chatting.”
As “Seth,” Ryan initially gave Mackenzie a lot of positive attention, but it quickly evolved into demanding photos of her breasts or naked body, which she refused from the get-go. He then grew insistent and aggressive. Uncomfortable with his behavior, Mackenzie took a step back, only for “Seth” to hack into her social media as well as email accounts, where he found a nude photo and began blackmailing her.
Therefore, Mackenzie went to the local police in 2012 with screenshots of their conversations and his possible IP address, as per the show, only for them to tell her nothing could be done. However, a year later, when “Seth” re-contacted Mackenzie using the Facebook account of a Belmont girl (another victim’s), whom she recognized, she learned there was a whole case against Ryan Vallee. Mackenzie then agreed to hand over her profile to the FBI, which ultimately helped them catch him red-handed.
Where is Mackenzie Frazel Now?
During Ryan Vallee’s sentencing hearing in 2017, Mackenzie gave an emotional victim impact statement wherein she made it clear that it wasn’t Ryan she was afraid of; it was “Seth,” who was “everywhere, all the time.” In the Netflix documentary, she explained, “When I finally saw him. I felt really relieved. All that could go through my head was, if I had known who this was and I had seen him in person, I don’t think I would’ve been scared.”
Mackenzie added, “I think I had created him to be this really faceless monster in my head. And seeing him in person, he looked like a guy. He looked like someone I would’ve gone to high school with (she did)… Seeing that was a huge relief, especially in orange.” Coming to Mackenzie Frazel’s whereabouts, from what we can tell, the hairstylist and makeup artist is currently based in Massachusetts, where she’s seemingly moving on by living each day to the fullest alongside her husband.
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