A Particular Version of Suicidal Coercion: Michelle Carter

Cold Case Murder Mysteries

True Crime

3.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 16 August 2019

⏱️ 104 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On July 13, 2014 the body of 18-year-old Conrad Roy was found inside the cab of a pickup truck in the parking lot of the Fairhaven, MA K-Mart store, a scene which suggested the young man had succumbed to suicide by way of inhaling carbon monoxide from a gas generator found at the scene. Before long, however, police not only discovered his cell phone, but also an extensive thread of revealing text messages inside that offered the notion Conrad's death wasn't quite as it seemed. Soon enough, his girlfriend, 17-year-old Michelle Carter, became a suspect in the case, and was ultimately convicted of involuntary manslaughter for her involvement. But in the process, the legal system, in addition to the public, were asked to answer a question for which there was seemingly little precedent in a burgeoning digital world: Is it a crime to tell a person to kill himself, or is such an action protected by the freedom of speech guaranteed in the US Constitution? Join host Ryan Kraus for a psychological exploration of this event in an effort to understand the mental illness that precipitated the horrifying result.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey everybody welcome back to Cold Case Murder Mysteries. I'm your host Ryan Kraus
0:10.4	returning for another trip down the rabbit hole as we explore the
0:13.8	fascinating psychology lurking beneath the surface of 17-year-old Michelle Carter's
0:19.0	involvement in the suicide of 18-year-old Conrad Roy in Fairhaven, Massachusetts back on July 12, 2014.
0:28.4	It's a case that's drawn a significant emotional reaction from the public, creating a divisive result in which one side of the argument
0:36.2	has demonized Carter for the cold shameless manner in which she encouraged Roy to follow through
0:41.6	on his plan, while the other half believes a person shouldn't
0:45.5	necessarily be saddled with criminal liability for utilizing their freedom of speech.
0:51.3	Needless to say, it's the rare type of case that doesn't offer much precedence
0:56.2	in the legal system and therefore left observers on the edge of their seats wondering how
1:01.5	it would conclude.
1:03.4	Now, for anybody who isn't familiar with this one, essentially what happened is that a long-suffering
1:09.0	teen, Conrad Roy, was drifting toward thoughts of suicide based upon social anxiety, depression,
1:16.6	and related factors that he found difficult to manage as his adolescence got underway.
1:22.4	On July 12, 2014, as his adolescence got underway.
1:22.5	On July 12, 2014, after having attempted suicide in the past, he finally followed through
1:29.1	with an effective plan by getting a gas generator driving to a remote area of a local Kmart parking lot, and
1:36.8	gassing himself with carbon monoxide inside his truck.
1:40.8	After losing consciousness, he soon succumbed.
1:44.0	On the surface, when police discovered his body, it seemed like a cut and dry case of suicide.
1:50.0	There was no evidence to suggest anybody else had been present at the scene.
1:55.0	Conrad Roy had acted of his own volition and had a history of mental health issues to support the notion there was nothing anybody could have done to stop him.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Cold Case Murder Mysteries, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Cold Case Murder Mysteries and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.