Mount Pleasant Man Charged With Trying to Help Wife Commit Suicide

“In fact in my thirty years of law enforcement experience, this is the first time that we’ve actually had someone charge with assisting suicide,” Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski said.

An unusual case in Isabella County that nearly had a very different ending.

Mt. Pleasant man Patrick Bergeron was charged with trying to help his wife commit suicide before also trying to kill himself.

The sheriff says Bergeron and his wife decided to try to end their lives on Valentine’s Day.

But a cryptic Facebook post from the wife lead to a 911 call.

Deputies arrived at the couple’s home near Mount Pleasant that afternoon to find them both bleeding, but alive.

“This is very unusual as far as assisting suicide,” Mioduszewski said. “We remember the old days with Doctor Kevorkian, but those are far and few between.”

He says this is the first attempted suicide case he’s seen.

But a message on Facebook stopped the couple’s plan.

“All it said was ‘Goodbye world,’ so I think we can assume that probably something bad was going to happen, and I know that’s why her friend ended up calling law enforcement. ‘Cause she was concerned about that message.”

Mioduszewiski said Patrick Bergeron’s wife asked for help hurting herself because she couldn’t.

“Both individuals had some cuts on their wrists, in fact an ambulance was called right away.”

He said the couple wanted to end it because their family didn’t like them being together.

That’s where hotlines for people who feel out of options can help.

Director of Listening Ear Crisis Center Kathy Tarrant said, “They call us instead of taking a bottle of pills. So we’re saying what’s going on? Can we talk about what’s you’re thinking about? What’s been happening?”

When it comes to suicide prevention, mental health professionals say open dialogue is everything.

“I think that anytime someone is talking about suicide or mentions suicide that we need to take that seriously,” National Certified Counselor Kim Seidel said. She works out of Mt. Pleasant.

“There needs to be an immediate discussion.”

That’s why the friend’s response to the Facebook message was key.

“It very well could have saved one if not two lives,” Mioduszewski said.

Patrick Bergeron was arrested after the suicide attempt for a parole violation.

He’s now also charged with trying to help someone commit suicide and having a dangerous weapon.

He faces up to five years in prison if convicted.