FAIR HAVEN, Mass. (WTNH)– A Massachusetts teen has been charged with manslaughter after encouraging her friend to commit suicide and then raising money for mental illness in his name.
18-year-old Michelle Carter of Fair Haven, Massachusetts, is accused of urging her friend, 18-year-old Conrad Roy III, to kill himself, The Sun Chronicle reports.
Roy did commit suicide in an idling truck last July in the parking lot of a K-Mart. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Police found him there after his parents reported him missing.
On February 5th, Carter, an honor roll student involved in several charities, was indicted on manslaughter charges as a youthful offender.
The Sun Chronicle say police went through Roy’s cellphone and found text messages from Carter right up to the time he died. In the texts, Carter allegedly pushed Roy to go through with the suicide.
In a police report, Detective Scott Gordon said “not only did Conrad tell Carter in several of his texts prior to his death that he was scared and didn’t want to leave his family, she continued to encourage him to take his own life, and when he actually started to carry out the act, he got scared again and exited his truck, but instead of telling him to stay out of the truck … Carter told him to ‘get back in.’”
The spokesperson for the Bristol County District Attorney Quinn said in a statement that not only did Carter have first hand knowledge of his suicidal thoughts, “instead of attempting to assist him or notify his family or school officials, Ms. Carter is alleged to have strongly influenced his decision to take his own life, encouraged him to commit suicide and guided him in his engagement of activities which led to his death.”
Carter then flooded social media with posts about how much she loved him and missed him. The Sun Chroniclereports that she even organized a fundraiser for him called “Homers for Conrad” where she wrote “life can be tough, but helping others makes it easier.”
She also often wrote about suicide prevention on her twitter and Facebook pages in honor of Roy.
Carter was released on a $2,500 bail and can not use the internet other than for school work, must stay off social media and can’t send text messages to anyone other than her parents.
Carter’s attorney, Joseph P. Cataldo , believes her manslaughter charges will be dismissed stating “they’re trying to claim there is manslaughter, when they freely admit the boy took his own life. You can’t have it both ways.”
Roy was planning to attend Fitchburg State University.
If you know someone with suicidal thoughts, visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or call 1 (800) 273-8255.
No comments:
Post a Comment