'Get Back In': Teen Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter For Encouraging Her Friend To Commit Suicide

Michelle Carter, 18, a senior at King Philip Regional High School in Plainville, Massachusetts, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter for urging her friend to kill himself.

In July 2014, Conrad Roy III, 18, committed suicide in the parking lot of a Fairhaven Kmart. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Authorities recovered text messages from Carter to Roy, insisting he go through with the suicide, The Sun Chronicle reported.

“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,'” said Detective Scott Gordon in a police report.

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Carter was indicted Feb. 5 and was charged as a “youthful offender.”

Carter’s attorney, Joseph P. Cataldo, told The Standard-Times of New Bedford that his client is innocent. “This is terrible tragedy — a young man taking his own life,” he said.

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“I can’t understand why they brought the charge,” Cataldo said. “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.”

After Roy’s death, Carter raised money for suicide awareness. She organized a softball fundraiser called Homers for Conrad, and raised more than $2,300, according to her Twitter account.

Carter is out of jail on $2,500 bail and is banned from using the Internet, except for schoolwork. She is not allowed to text anyone other than her parents and her trial will be made public.

Janice Roy, the victim’s grandmother, didn’t want to say much about her grandson’s death, but she said he earned his boat captain’s license, worked for his family’s marine salvage business, and was a good kid.

Source: The Sun Chronicle Images via The Sun Chronicle

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