‘I told him I loved him’: Trial scheduled for woman accused of encouraging boyfriend to kill himself

Michelle Carter is accused of pressuring her boyfriend to get back in his truck to finish his suicide plans

A 20-year-old Massachusetts woman is scheduled for trial on March 6. She’s facing charges after she reportedly persuaded her boyfriend to take his own life in 2014.

Michelle Carter, of Plainville, was indicted last year as a “youthful offender” after she reportedly encouraged her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, 18, of Fairhaven, to go through with his threats of suicide. In July 2015, Roy sat inside his idling truck while texting Carter, in hopes of dying of carbon dioxide poisoning. Instead of encouraging him to seek help or calling 911, Carter is accused of pressuring Roy to stay inside his truck, even telling him to “get back in” after he opened the truck door and stepped out.

Fairhaven police found Roy in his truck, deceased, in the Fairhaven Kmart parking lot after his parents reported him missing. When authorities went through Roy’s cellphone, they discovered a barrage of text exchanges, allegedly with Carter, in which she gave her boyfriend step-by-step instructions on how to kill himself.

“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 Fairhaven police Detective Scott Gordon.

Carter, who attended King Philip Regional High School at the time of Roy’s suicide, claimed innocence. It took 6 months to secure an indictment for her, followed by an arraignment the following day, on February 6, 2015. Her attorney, Joseph Cataldo, contends that Carter shouldn’t be liable for Roy’s death since her text messages are “constitutionally-protected free speech.”

Meanwhile, prosecutors have already compiled and turned over more than 20,000 pages of information and evidence to the defense, to be used at the March 6 trial.

[Feature Photo by AP]