Message from woman who allegedly encouraged boyfriend to kill himself: ‘It’s my fault’

A YOUNG woman who has been charged with involuntary manslaughter for encouraging her teen boyfriend to kill himself told a friend: ‘It’s my fault’.

Defendant Michelle Carter inside Taunton Juvenile Court during a pre-trial hearing in Taunton, Mass. Picture: Patrick Whittemore/The Boston Herald via AP.

A YOUNG woman charged with involuntary manslaughter for encouraging her teen boyfriend to kill himself wrote to a friend after his death: “It’s my fault”.

Michelle Carter, then 17, cajoled Conrad Roy III, 18, to kill himself in July 2014 with a series of texts and phone calls, prosecutors alleged at her trial on Wednesday.

Mr Roy died by suicide in his truck at a carpark in Fairhaven, US. The court heard he went to back out of the plan but Carter encouraged him to go through with it.

“It’s my fault,” Carter texted to her school friend Samantha Boardman two months after Mr Roy’s death.

“I could have stopped him but I told him to get back in the car.”

Defendant Michelle Carter inside Taunton Juvenile Court during a pre-trial hearing in October 2016. Picture: Patrick Whittemore/The Boston Herald via AP.

Michelle Carter is charged with manslaughter for sending her boyfriend text messages encouraging him to kill himself. Picture: Faith Ninivaggi/The Boston Herald via AP.

Ms Boardman was among several of Carter’s friends and acquaintances who took the witness stand on the second day of the involuntary manslaughter trial in Taunton juvenile court.

Carter’s lawyer disputed a crime took place.

Lawyer Joseph Cataldo said Mr Roy was depressed, had attempted suicide before, researched suicide methods online and was completely responsible for his own death.

He said Carter’s text messages are protected by free speech laws.

Defendant Michelle Carter looks on as a string of her text messages are projected behind her in court. Picture: Mark Stockwell/The Sun Chronicle via AP.

Samantha Boardman, 20, of Norfolk, Mass., a former friend of defendant Michelle Carter looks over photos that were taken at the Homers for Conrad fundraising event that Carter organised several months after Conrad Roy III died by suicide. Picture: Mark Stockwell/The Sun Chronicle via AP.

Carter, now 20, also told Ms Boardman that she feared getting in trouble after she found out that police had Mr Roy’s phone.

“I’m done,” Carter wrote in one text displayed in the courtroom.

“His family will hate me and I can go to jail.”

Two other friends said Carter texted them saying she was on the phone with Mr Roy as he died.

“I was talking on the phone with him when he killed himself ... I heard him die,” Carter texted to Olivia Mosolgo days after Roy’s death, Mosolgo testified. Carter also expressed remorse in a message to a friend: “I’m the only one he told things too. I should have gotten him more help,” she wrote.

The police detective who conducted the criminal investigation also testified. Fairhaven Detective Scott Gordon said he found Roy’s phone and discovered the text conversation between Roy and Carter.

The case is being tried without a jury, and a judge will deliver the verdict. The judge visited the site where Mr Roy’s truck was found on Wednesday afternoon.

Originally published as Message from woman who allegedly encouraged boyfriend to kill himself: ‘It’s my fault’