Woman who urged teen to suicide gets 15 months

Coaxed boyfriend to ‘take action’ in series of texts

Michelle Carter, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for urging her boyfriend through calls and text messages to commit suicide, was sentenced Thursday to 15 months behind bars.

A Massachusetts judge ruled Carter, 20, was responsible for Conrad Roy III’s death because she had placed him in a situation that led to his suicide.

During Carter’s sentencing, Bristol County Juvenile Court Judge Lawrence Moniz called Roy’s death a tragedy for two families.

Roy’s family members — who asked she be imprisoned for 20 years — gave emotional statements before sentencing. Roy’s sister, Camdyn Roy, called him her “best friend” and “role model” and said she will always be haunted by his death.

Roy’s father, Conrad Roy Jr., said he was heartsick.

“I cannot begin to describe the despair I feel over the loss of my son,” he said. “I am heartbroken. Our family is heartbroken. My son was my best friend.

“Michelle Carter exploited my son’s weaknesses and used him as a pawn in her own well-being. How could Michelle Carter behave so viciously and encourage my son to end his life? Where was her humanity? In what world was this behaviour OK and acceptable?”

Roy and Carter met in 2011 and later struck up a romantic relationship — mostly online. Her attorney said they had met only a few times in person over the course of two years before Roy’s death.

Roy had a history of depression and had attempted suicide in the past, but his family was hopeful he would get through it. However, police said text messages they recovered suggest that by 2014, Carter had tired of Roy’s idle talk of suicide and wanted him to go through with it.

Weeks before Roy, 18, committed suicide, he texted Carter, telling her, “we should be like Romeo and Juliet at the end,” according to court documents.

“F--- NO! WE ARE NOT DYING,” she responded.

Days before his death, Carter urged him to get help. “But the mental hospital would help you. I know you don’t think it would but I’m telling you, if you give them a chance, they can save your life,” she wrote. “Part of me wants you to try something and fail just so you can go get help.”