It's such a great story that I hated to find out that it originally came from a satire website, is totally fake, but somehow got loose on the internet.
Sorry MR, didn't happen. (Wish it did.)
I assume plenty of people believed it because it affirmed their bias. There's no greater need for skepticism than one's own beliefs.
"In her police statement, Amanda Watts said : "We just wanted to leave Earth and go to space and do drugs."
We all do Amanda, we all do...