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Millions of Emily Kisser’s social media followers had sent prayers about the drowsing incident involving the three-year-old before police confirmed it was her son.
On May 18, Trigg, the son of a 26-year-old influencer, died a few days after he was unconsciously pulled from a backyard pool in Chandler, Arizona, and was killed at Chandler Police Department’s public relations officer.
Kiser has not been spoken publicly before the May 12 accident. However, within hours of the 3-year-old Trigg’s hospitalization, speculation began to swirl online.
“If the rumors about Emily Kiser are true, I’d actually get sick,” one person wrote to X on May 15th. A few days before the child’s identity was confirmed.
The tragedy and the online rumors surrounding it underscore the lack of influence in modern privacy.
The internet appears to connect photos of Emily Kiser with her house
All speculation around Kaiser’s son appears to come from photos from local news articles.
KPNX 12News, a local television news station based in Phoenix, Arizona, reported on the death of his 3-year-old child on May 12th.
The article was accompanied by photos from outside the home where the incident occurred, and promptly sparked online speculation that Kiser’s son was involved, according to a social media post.
Kiser never shared her address online, but some users cross-referenced the home’s previous real estate listings and the house image in the story.
Kiser’s Tiktoks showing her home in the background coincided closely with the images in the listing, and many believed it happened in her home.
“I’ll be here when I’m ready.”
In subsequent eras, Kiser’s name was one of the most searched terms on Google.
According to a review of Columbia Journalism, a social media feed where people closely track influencer’s online activities – Kaiser has a social media feed that has become private until further notices “before family.”
The 26-year-old, who posted multiple times a day on social media prior to the incident, has not updated his account since May 12th.
But in the meantime, her views and followers have continued to grow, with the recent video having received over 36 million views as of May 20th.
Even before Kaiser’s son is confirmed to be involved with the child, the comments are flooded with messages of support.
“We’re here when you’re ready, we love you!” one commenter wrote on May 18th.
From May 17th another person said, “Literally every comment here should just pray, in every respect.”
Influencers are “a lot easier to use than celebrities,” the professor says
Popular influencers like Kiser develop close connections with their followers through parasocial relationships. This is according to a 2024 survey that “the fantastical interaction between social media users and influencers consumes influencer content.”
Parasocial relationships have historically been applied to the attachments fans have with celebrities.
But social media influencers are offering their companions to connect with the people of John Powers, an assistant professor of interactive media and design at Quinnipiac University.
“The idea is that I feel like this is the average person you live in a normal house and lives like me because the social media influencer could be me,” Powers said. “But they lose that separation when they have millions of followers and people who are constantly checking in.”
However, unlike celebrities, Powers said that when influencers both overlap, they must maintain a balance between their professional and personal lives.
“Part of their appeal is that they’re normal and they want to be inside their homes and show you your average kitchen, your average living room, your average backyard, and more,” Powers said. “It can be important to make sure the information you see is very general.”
In cases like Kiser’s, when tragedy hits, Powers said that social media users shouldn’t remember that not everything unfolds online.
“I think that people are misled – they’re invited into her life, but it’s certainly her public life. It’s her influencer’s life, she has a private life too,” Powers said. “And as consumers of that kind of connection, we sometimes get fooled by being actually closer to us than we really think.”
Trigg Kaiser’s death is still under investigation, police say
The CPD is investigating the situation regarding the case, WASU said on May 18th.
Additional details will not be published until the investigation is complete.
“Our idea and deepest pathos are with our children’s families and loved ones in this unimaginable time,” WASU said.
Melina Kahn is a national trending reporter for USA Today. She can be contacted at melina.khan@usatoday.com.
