One woman worries about family photos she sent to Swenson

     The U.S. Postal Inspection Service Tuesday added itself to the list of agencies that won't investigate the Internet hoax perpetrated from the home of a Peabody woman.

     "We have not received a single complaint," said Kansas City postal inspector Tom Rebottaro. "Without a complaint, we have nothing to investigate."

     The postal inspection service joins the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which last week said the few hundred dollars Swenson received as gifts did not meet that agency's threshold for an investigation.

     Also Tuesday, Peabody Police Chief Jeff Pohlman confirmed that he has received numerous out-of-state calls from "victims" of the "Kaycee" hoax but that the matter is "out of my jurisdiction."

     "There's not a lot I can do without getting into the federal part of it," he said.

     Pohlman said he has turned over all "information" relating to the hoax to the FBI.

     Three weeks ago, Debbie Swenson, 40, confessed to authoring an online diary in which she posted her daughter's alleged struggle against leukemia.

     For more than a year, Swenson reportedly received many gifts from admirers of "Kaycee," and at least two reportedly mailed cash after Swenson claimed she was taking a leave of absence from her job to care for her ailing daughter.

     On May 14, she claimed her daughter had succumbed to the disease.

     For more than a year, Swenson's fiction lured thousands into the life of young "Kaycee," whom Swenson described as a 19-year-old local basketball star.

     Many logged on to Swenson's Web site, called Living Colours, for daily updates on "Kaycee's" status.

     The married mother of two confessed that "Kaycee" was a composite character who represented three friends she says died of cancer.

Photos exchanged

     One woman not only mailed "Kaycee" a book purchased from Amazon.com but also exchanged family photographs with Swenson.

     The woman, who wished to remain unnamed, e-mailed the Peabody Gazette-Bulletin a photograph in which Swenson is posing with "Kaycee," who turned out to be Julie Fullbright, a former Oklahoma neighbor of Swensons.

     "What concerns me is that Debbie has pictures of my family, knows all about where I live, work, etc.," she said. "I hate that I have exposed those closest to me to her little twisted game."

International attention

     Peabody has drawn international news coverage since news of the hoax broke.

     Two weeks ago, a reporter working for the New York Times spent a day in Peabody visiting with residents, dining in the town's most popular restaurant and eventually interviewing Swenson.

     Dateline NBC also made numerous calls to the Hillsboro Star-Journal asking for additional information on Swenson. Ann Preismann, who works for Dateline, reported that she was flying into Kansas to make contact with Swenson before ABC's 20/20 got to Swenson first.

     A week ago, the Sally Jesse Raphael Show placed a call to the Gazette-Bulletin hoping the office would help the daytime television show corral an interview with Swenson. The show reportedly sent a gift to the Swenson household, hoping to make contact. The Swensons have a new unlisted telephone number and new e-mail addresses.

     Outside the United States, BBC London interviewed reporter Rick Hattersley -- who was the first journalist to interview Swenson -- live on air worldwide, peppering him with questions regarding Swenson's motive.

     The Guardian in London also ran a story on the hoax, as did newspapers in Australia, China and elsewhere.