Start United States USA — Criminal Death by Text: The case against Michelle Carter

Death by Text: The case against Michelle Carter

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TEILEN

The groundbreaking trial of a crime of the digital age — should a young woman go to prison for sending texts to a friend who took his own life?
Produced by Ruth Chenetz, Jamie Stolz, Marcelena Spencer, Liza Finley and Susan Mallie
CASE UPDATE: A young woman who urged her boyfriend through text messages to kill himself has been ordered to jail to begin serving her jail sentence for involuntary manslaughter. Michelle Carter showed no emotion as she was taken into custody at the end of a brief hearing before the Taunton Trial Court Monday afternoon.
On February 6, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the involuntary manslaughter conviction of Carter in the death of Conrad Roy.
On August 3, Carter was originallysentenced to serve 15 months in jail, pending the decision of the Supreme Judicial Court, for using text messages to encourage her friend to commit suicide. In June, Carter, now 20, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the 2014 death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III.
Carter’s legal team responded to the February 6 decision via Twitter:
Carter and Roy met in 2012. Though they lived an hour apart in Massachusetts, they communicated almost exclusively via texts, online and by phone. It’s a case that’s been followed nationwide because it hinged on the power of words — Carter’s words — and whether they could be deadly.
One month before 18-year-old Conrad Roy took his own life, when the minds of many teens wander to carefree summer days, Conrad’s thoughts were more serious and introspective:
Sitting at his computer in his home in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, Conrad recorded his thoughts on coping with his depression.
Lynn Roy: He wanted to excel. He was — just wanted to… be this, like, great person. But in my eyes, he was all that.
In her first television interview, Conrad’s mother, Lynn Roy, explains that her son could be his own toughest critic.
Lynn Roy: He was rough on himself. …he really, really struggled with — just disappointing I think myself and his dad.
Lynn Roy thought her son was feeling better; he was getting professional help and was on an antidepressant, Celexa. He’d been licensed to be tug boat captain, like his dad, and had just graduated high school. College, with a scholarship, was on the horizon.
Lynn Roy: He was doing everything that was positive, that was, you know, lookin‘ towards his future.
But, on July 12,2014, Conrad drove to a parking lot, and using a gasoline-powered water pump, sat in his pickup truck as it filled with carbon monoxide, knowingly inhaling the deadly fumes, killing himself. All the while, his friend, Michelle Carter, then 17, was encouraging Conrad, from more than 30 miles away on her phone, to take his own life.
Lynn Roy: I don’t understand why would you want someone that was so beautiful inside and out, that had so much — that was such a kind person to die.
Erin Moriarty: How do you describe what this young woman did?
Lynn Roy: I cannot. Only — only she — she can.
The intersection of the lives of Conrad Roy and Michelle Carter has left a trail of heartbreak and questions about the circumstances that led to such a tragic death.
Lynn Roy: He’s one of the kindest persons. …he grew up very sensitive.… Very humble and kind.
Erin Moriarty: Happy child?
Lynn Roy: Very happy. Many pictures of him smiling, laughing.…until he — became a teenager and I don’t know if it was the hormones… He just, you know, became anxious.
Conrad was the oldest child in the family, with two sisters, Morgan and Camdyn. Lynn and Conrad’s father separated when Conrad was 16 – and their divorce hit him especially hard.
Lynn Roy: Think he was just more worried about me. That’s what boys do. They worry about their moms — a lot.
Conrad would confide in his friend Aryanna Taylor as they spent hours walking along the water.
Aryanna Taylor: The lighthouse is beautiful and you have a clear view of, like, the ocean around you. And we would just go there and hang out.
The setting was beautiful, but sometimes, the talk turned dark.
Aryanna Taylor: He didn’t really — wasn’t able to explain it to me in a way that I could understand. So he kind of just described it as like a „darkness“… And how there would be — times where he just kind of wanted to isolate himself from everybody.
Conrad’s anxiety and self doubt had troubled Lynn since he was 16.
Lynn Roy: He’s — he started havin‘ trouble sleeping — and we got him treated at hospitals. And then he had his first — suicide– attempt a year after. The age of 17.
Conrad had overdosed on acetaminophen.
Lynn Roy: I worked in a psychiatric hospital and I never at — at that time never imagined that one of my children would have those feelings.
Erin Moriarty: And do you think he really intended to kill himself at that point?=
Lynn Roy: He did contact a friend, so.
That friend was Aryanna.
Aryanna Taylor: He told me that he was really sick and that his mom had just left and that he wanted her to come back.
Aryanna immediately got in touch with Conrad’s parents, who brought him to the hospital.
Lynn Roy: He told me, „Mom, I will never do that again.“ He was sorry. And I was sorry as well that he felt that way.
Erin Moriarty to Aryanna: The fact that he wanted you to call his mother — what does that say to you?
Aryanna Taylor: It just says that he was calling out for help, that he didn’t actually mean what he was doing, but he really needed help and that this was the only way he kind of thought that he would really get help.
And that help seemed to be working.
Aryanna Taylor: He actually was getting a lot better.… He told me about how he was going out and he was going to, like, you know, the high school parties and just hanging out with everybody. I was, like, „that’s amazing.“
Michelle Carter was another friend of Conrad’s. They met in 2012, while both were vacationing in Florida. Conrad and his sisters were visiting relatives, who happened to know Michelle.
Erin Moriarty: How would you describe Michelle? Friendly?
Camdyn Roy: Yeah. She was, like, really friendly. And she always, like, laughed, I remember. Like, she always made Conrad laugh.
As it turned out, Michelle lived just a few towns over from the Roy’s in Massachusetts, and the relationship continued after the vacation. But, while Michelle called Conrad her boyfriend, his family says the two rarely saw each other, and, like so many teens, their interactions were mostly over text messages.
Erin Moriarty: Had your son ever mentioned Michelle Carter?
Lynn Roy: Yes… After they met in Florida.… I met her in 2013 at his baseball game… and that was the only time I ever met her. Second time was at his wake.
Erin Moriarty: Did she even make an impression on you initially?
Lynn Roy: No. I didn’t think anything.
Michelle and Conrad shared something in common that Lynn did not know. Michelle had her own struggles, including an eating disorder, and both teens, at times, took antidepressants.
Ed McFarland: You know, probably the attraction was they both had their issues.
Softball coach Ed McFarland has known Michelle Carter and her family for a decade. The Michelle he knows is an ideal teammate.
Ed McFarland: I’ve never seen her do a mean thing. I’ve never seen her be mean.
Erin Moriarty: Other kids like her?
Ed McFarland: Yeah. …never heard a cross word or … anything of that nature.
And Michelle’s high school yearbook paints a picture of an active, well-liked student—one voted „class clown“ and „most likely to brighten your day.“ But that would not be how her actions would be described on the last day of Conrad’s life.
That day started out seemingly happy for Conrad, spending time with his family.
Erin Moriarty: That morning on the 12th, what was his mood like?
Lynn Roy: It was fine. He wanted — you know, go to the beach with the girls.
While there, Camdyn, at one point, noticed her brother sitting alone, texting.
Erin Moriarty: And did you know who he was texting with?
Camdyn Roy: No.
Erin Moriarty: Now, you think he was texting with Michelle Carter?
Camdyn Roy: Yeah.
Erin Moriarty: But you didn’t know that at the time. And what was his demeanor?
Camdyn Roy: I don’t know. He’s — I don’t know. He kinda seemed, like, anxious.
Conrad then took his sisters out for ice cream, where his mood seemed to lift.
Erin Moriarty: When you think back on that, would you have ever guessed there was anything wrong that afternoon?
Camdyn and Morgan Roy: No.
After going home, Conrad left at about 6 p.m., telling his mother he was going to see a friend.
Lynn Roy: And I asked him if he was gonna be back for dinner and he said he didn’t think so. And that was the last words that he spoke to me.
It was July 12,2014 — the heart of summer in New England.
Bob McGovern: The sailboats were out. … and it was just a beautiful Massachusetts day.
Boston Herald legal columnist and „48 Hours“ consultant Bob McGovern has put together the pieces of Conrad Roy’s final hours.
Bob McGovern: …another Massachusetts kid who just seemed to be living a normal life. But apparently behind the scenes there was something else going on.
Conrad had headed out in his pickup truck around 6 p.m. As the evening passed, Lynn Roy checked to see when he’d be home.
Lynn Roy: And I texted him — I don’t know. Before I went to bed maybe around 10:30,11:00. And then I texted him again in the middle of the night.
Conrad didn’t respond. Still, Lynn figured everything was OK. She believed he had beaten back much of his anxieties. That night, Conrad’s sister, Camdyn, unexpectedly heard from Michelle Carter — that 17-year-old who had battled her own mental health issue and lived about an hour away.
Erin Moriarty: How surprised were you that you suddenly got a text from Michelle?
Camdyn Roy: I thought she was just like — his friend… But in the text, she said, like, „We’re boyfriend and girlfriend now.“ And I was just like — I looked at my mom. I was like, „They are?“
Whether teenage love or something else, Michelle was sending out the word. Had anyone heard from Conrad Roy?
Erin Moriarty: And what did she text you, exactly?
Camdyn Roy: She was like,“Hey, Camdyn, like, do you know where your brother is?“
Erin Moriarty: Was that unusual for him not to come home?
Lynn Roy: Oh yeah, absolutely… That was not like him at all… That was not like him at all.
It was sunrise. And still, not a word.
Lynn Roy:…so in the morning… I went… by Aryanna’s house and he wasn’t there.
Aryanna Taylor: And so that’s when I began to search.… Where would he be? What happened?
Lynn Roy:…we went by Dad’s house and he wasn’t – there was no sign of him.

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