A teenager from Massachusetts will stand trial on manslaughter charges for sending her boyfriend a string of text messages encouraging him to kill himself.
In the summer of 2014, then-17-year-old Michelle Carter communicated with her boyfriend, Conrad Roy, leading up to and during his suicide. Eighteen-year-old Roy was found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning in a pickup truck.
According to a text Carter later sent to a friend, Roy actually got out of the truck at one point out of fear, and she told him to get back in. She wrote: "I knew he would do it all over again the next day and I couldn't have him live the way he was living anymore."
In one exchange leading up to Roy's death, he expressed concern about how his family would cope without him. Carter replied: "I think your parents know you're in a really bad place. I'm not saying they want you to do it, but I honestly feel like they can except [sic] it. ... But there's a point that comes where there isn't anything anyone can do to save you, not even yourself, and you've hit that point."
WHDH reported this is the first time the state's Supreme Court has "considered the merits of a manslaughter case where the defendant used words alone."
A trial date has not been set yet.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline has counselors available 24/7 to help those in crisis. The number is 1-800-273-TALK.
This video includes an image from andrewjsan / CC BY 2.0 and clips from WHDH, WJAR and WBZ-TV.
