A 22-year-old man convicted of cyberstalking and carrying out numerous bomb threats and swatting attacks — including a 2013 swatting incident at my home — was arrested Sunday morning in the Philippines after allegedly helping his best friend dump the body of a housemate into a local river.
Suspects Troy Woody Jr. (left) and Mir Islam, were arrested in Manila this week for allegedly dumping the body of Woody’s girlfriend in a local river. Image: Manila Police Dept.
Police in Manila say U.S citizens Mir Islam, 22, and Troy Woody Jr., 21, booked a ride from Grab — a local ride hailing service — and asked for the two of them to be picked up at Woody’s condominium in Mandaluyong City. When the driver arrived the two men stuffed a large box into the trunk of the vehicle.
According to the driver, Islam and Woody asked to be driven to a nearby shopping mall, but told the driver along the way to stop at a compound near the Pasig River in Manila, where the two men allegedly dumped the box before getting back in the hailed car.
The Inquirer reports that authorities recovered the box and identified the victim as Tomi Michelle Masters, 23, also a U.S. citizen from Indiana who was reportedly dating Woody and living in the same condo. Masters’ Instagram profile states that she was in a relationship with Woody.
Update, 12:30 p.m. ET, Dec. 24: Both men have since been charged with murder, according to a story today at the Filipino news site Tempo, and the police believe there was some kind of violent struggle between Masters and Woody.
“Police eventually recovered the box that contained the naked body of the victim that was wrapped in duct tape,” Tempo reports. The local police station head was quoted as saying “the victim was believed to have been killed in the Mandaluyong condominium she shared with Woody, her alleged boyfriend. He said medical examination showed scratch marks all over Woody’s body.”
Original story:
Brooklyn, NY native Islam, a.k.a. “Josh the God,” has a long rap sheet for computer-related crimes. He briefly rose to Internet infamy as one of the core members of UGNazi, an online mischief-making group that claimed credit for hacking and attacking a number of high-profile Web sites.
On June 25, 2012, Islam and nearly two-dozen others were caught up in an FBI dragnet dubbed Operation Card Shop. The government accused Islam of being a founding member of carders[dot]org — a credit card fraud forum — trafficking in stolen credit card information, and possessing information for more than 50,000 credit cards.
JoshTheGod’s (Mir Islam’s ) Twitter feed, in April 2012 warning fellow carding forum carderprofit members that the forum was being run by the FBI.
In June 2016, Islam was sentenced to a year in prison for an impressive array of crimes, including stalking people online and posting their personal data on the Internet. Islam also pleaded guilty to reporting phony bomb threats and fake hostage situations at the homes of celebrities and public officials (as well as this author).
At that 2016 sentencing, Islam’s lawyer argued that his client suffered from multiple psychological disorders, and that he and his co-conspirators orchestrated the swattings out of a sense of “anarchic libertarianism.”
Islam was let out of prison under supervised release before serving the whole sentence, but soon was back inside after violating the terms of his release. Earlier this year, Islam filed a typosquatting lawsuit from prison that named Woody Jr. In that bizarre handwritten complaint (PDF), Islam refers to Woody as “TJ,” and says the two men were best friends and have known each other for eight years.
An anti-cybersquatting domain dispute filed by Mir Islam earlier this year while in jail. In it, Islam refers to Woody as “TJ” and says the two have been best friends for years.
Troy Woody Jr. describes himself as an “early crypto investor,” but sources say Woody — like Islam — was a core member of the UGNazi group who went by the nicknames “MrOsama,” and “Everlife.” His Instagram profile suggests he was in a relationship with Ms. Masters. Both are pictured in the first of the three large photos below, taken from Woody’s Instagram account.
The Instagram profile of Troy Woody Jr., a.k.a. “titled,” and “MrOsama,” one of two Americans arrested today for allegedly dumping a woman’s body in a Manila river. The woman pictured on the left is believed to the victim, identified as Woody’s condo roommate, Tomi Michelle Masters, 23.
People are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, at least in the United States. But I can’t say any of this surprises me. Most I’ve encountered who were involved serial swatting and stalking attacks definitely had a few screws loose and were fairly scary individuals. Case in point: Tyler Barriss, the 25-year-old admitted serial swatter and stalker who pleaded guilty to a swatting attack last year that ended with police shooting and killing an innocent, unarmed man.
Update, 7:13 p.m. ET: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the accused hailed an Uber.
Update, 12:20 p.m. ET, Dec. 24: The television news station GMA News has video footage from a surveillance camera at Woody’s condo showing the two men loading a large box into the back of the hailed ride.
Maybe instead of being extradited he could be handed over to Duterte’s Medieval Unit.
They wont be extradited as they committed probable murder in the Philippines so thats where they will be sentenced.
Tomi did not deserve to die this way. She was my friend and she deserves justice for this heinous crime. I hope they rot in that jail there. She will be missed by her family and friends. God rest her soul.
This was my niece (by marriage) and a former employee of mine. She was the sweetest, kindest, loving girl I knew. I hope we get the whole story. I wish they would send them to where her family lives, they wouldn’t live 2 minutes. You are loved Tomi aka “Hippie Chick”
Geeze, Brian, you run with a tough crowd.
A lot of people have “psychological disorders” but they don’t go out and commit heinous crimes , unless you have sense of entitlement ( “anarchic libertarianism.”)of thinking that you are above the law and or won’t get caught.
You mean like the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania AVE, NW, DC?
What does politics have to do with this?
I assume you are just trying to fit in?
And a good number of former and aspiring occupants, also.
So funny.. get this guy a medal….
+1
unless you have sense of entitlement ( “anarchic libertarianism.”
I’m not sure where you think libertarianism advocates wanton murder, maybe revise your comment or worldview? One of the major tenets of libertarianism is non-aggression.
I would say that nonaggression is the primary tenant of libertarian philosophy.
In before someone comments about how we should be hiring these people
I’m sorry for the girl, and i hope they’ll be tried in the Philippines.
Karma is a bitch.
Glad to see you changed your ways. But you are the god of social engineering, mad respect.
Bitch named karma
these 20 somethings need something to keep them out of trouble, like a JOB? no their not interested in working. Sad.
“not interested in working”
Who is interested in hiring them?
Why work for someone when you can make more money working for yourself?
These 20 somethings are doing exactly what everyone tells them to do – being their own boss.
Have a job? You got penalized for something.
Sorry to read about the tragedy of this young lass.
These two a-holes, will literally rot in a Manila jail. And good riddance to them.
I wonder what kind of rating they gave their Uber driver…
Never mind that…I would want to see what kind of rating the driver gave THEM 🙂
And then, of course, any comments…”Couldn’t decide where they wanted me to take them, kept changing their mind. Made me wait while they dumped a body. Worst passengers of the week, aside from that one ride I gave to Duterte this past Monday…”
I am sorry but that made me really LOL
This just, once again, goes to show that these crooks aren’t as smart as they think they are; only a moron would hire an Uber cab to dump a body. I’m glad the slime bags got caught! I hope that justice in the Philippines is severe!
Well the buses wern’t running at that time of night and the Uber was cheaper than a taxi.
From inquirer.net ” Finding the incident weird, the driver reported it to the Manila Police. ” A good example of “IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING”®.
Given how broken our legal system is, I agree with Bart.
Serving less than one year for swatting and phony bomb threats is proof positive that they should not be extradited to the US.
Charges will still have to be filed before the statue of limitations kicks in.
They probably stiffed the driver for a tip so…
It’s more likely that they tipped the driver for a stiff.
too bad he got such a light sentence. i have a feeling mr duerte’s justice system will not be as forgiving this time.
life in a philippine jail will be brutal to say the least.
If the death was drug related, that might explain why they tried dumping the body. They are going to die.
If the death was drug related then why did the suspect have scratches all over his body? Why dump the body when calling an ambulance and pleading ignorance would be the safest course?
I would hate to be a US white boy in a Philippine jail, much less prison. Hell of a way to start the new year! :-O Them countries in that neck of the woods don’t screw around with punishment.
Condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. Y’all deserved better…
Perhaps I’m wrong, but I have a hunch the system there is not wishy-washy like ours!
Interesting to see if the US govt tries to intercede in any way. Why, I couldn’t fathom but bizarre things happen routinely in these times.
Might get a few months or a year confinement for the cyber crimes, but a murder conviction will make life a bit rougher for them, especially in the PI.
Manila prison … yep, sounds like a good comeuppance for these slimebags.
Being pulled out my house by heavily-armed police who’d been told that I had a “hostage situation” would give nightmares for months. Not to mention a slight uneasiness the next few hundred times that the doorbell rang.
Thanks, Brian, for publicizing the existence of these “swatting attacks”.
We all wish a Merry Christmas and a Much More Peaceful New Year for you and your family.
Another news source, rebroadcast by MSN news [1], claimed the transportation was a “Grab” car, along with other details.
None of the articles mention murder, drugs, or foul play. All they have in common is improper disposal of a corpse.
Comments speculating on punishment and cause of death are really stupid, considering the lack of facts.
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-ph/news/national/two-americans-arrested-for-dumping-body-of-american-woman-in-pasig-river/ar-BBRkqVL
“TWO Americans have been charged with murder in connection with the death of an American woman whose naked body was fished out of the Pasig River in Manila Sunday”
http://tempo.com.ph/2018/12/24/2-us-men-charged-after-dumping-womans-body-into-pasig-river/
See you later guys! I’m sure you will receive justice!
Reporting from Metro Manila.
I sure hope so they took an innocent woman my sister, my child’s god mother. The only person who brought light to my life I’m truly crushed but I’ll never forget your huge heart and spirite Aria will always know you Tomi Michelle Masters. Whyyyy.
Chris, thank you for the update.
lol: https://en.bitcoinwiki.org/wiki/Josh_The_God
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1065923/american-woman-killed-body-dumped-in-river <== updated information here
Gary, thank you for the update.
Hiring a ride to dump a body! What morons.
The REAL story here is that Discount Edward Scissorhand’s had a girlfriend.
My address 6465 s. 400 a w: lynn, in come holler at me
Can you imagine having your killers name in hearts and diamond rings on your profile? Someone need to crack that and delete it.
Nothing says “smarts” like hiring someone to watch you dispose of a body… LOL
Haha, nigga flexing a semi ig
BK,
I just watched the video you posted. Whoa, these guys are dopes. Thanks for the updates.
I do undestood if person commit unlawful activity person commit crime for greater monetary gain or making better financial situation.
But i think its just silly to waste time if money not involved!
This kids wasting just their youth.. And time!!
It’s because you are natural born money slave and have your own cell bars builtin right into your head. A pitiful shadow of a human being.
They took my beautiful niece for her family. I hope you’re hey rot in jail. Fly high with the angels Tomi!