Nicole "Nikki" Catsouras was killed in a car accident on Halloween last year. Gruesome photos of the…

Nicole "Nikki" Catsouras was killed in a car accident on Halloween last year. Gruesome photos of the accident scene have spread around the internet, and people have e-mailed the images to Catsouras’ family. Her family is suing the California Highway Patrol for allegedly releasing the accident photos

Internet Subculture Celebrating Death Feeds Into People’s Perversions, Psychologist Says

With just a few mouse clicks, you can find pictures that are too graphic to show in the mainstream media — images of horrible accidents, mutilations and death.

There’s an Internet subculture devoted to death and gore with thousands of images, each bloodier than the next. For one family, an image that circulated on these types of Web sites added injury to already profound pain.

Nikki Catsouras was an 18-year-old college freshman living in California with her parents and two sisters. She loved to shoot videos on her camera, and ironically, it was a camera that would memorialize Nikki’s life and death as a gruesome and macabre joke on the Internet.

It all started with a typical fight between parents and teenager when Nikki got caught sneaking a cigarette in the house.

"Nikki broke a house rule and we had a disagreement, and I took her car keys away," said Christos Catsouras, Nikki’s father. Catsouras had no idea the next day would be the last time he’d ever see the daughter he called "Angel."

Source: http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=5276841&page=1