MA - Conrad Roy, 18, urged by friend, commits suicide, Fairhaven, 13 July 2014

[Cubby]

Mental illness is nothing like drug addiction, nor do the mentally ill exhibit any of the tendencies or behaviors associated with addiction.

The majority of addicts are self medicating due to an untreated form of mental illness. I am a both a recovering alcoholic and I suffer from depression, which by the grace of God is under control due to non habit forming medication.

 

[Schuby]

THANK YOU for this awesome post. What you have summarized so beautifully is so true. No one can 'save' a suicidal person IF that person is dead set on killing themself. That person needs to save themselves. However, as you so beautifully expressed, it sometimes takes friends to reach out and help the person through the land mines. I am so happy that you had true friends as roomies, instead of a cold blooded snake like MC.

I agree with everything you wrote here. But no one is arguing that she's a great friend to those in need. The point of contention is criminal culpability, and if your argument is "well maybe he'd be alive if she'd acted differently," then I'm sorry but that just doesn't hold water. We don't indict and convict people based on "what if." If you're charging someone with manslaughter you better be able to demonstrate that this person would be alive if not for the actions of the defendant. That just isn't here in this case.

 

[Cubby]

I know someone will ask me for a link. Google mental illness and addiction, there are more than 28 million hits.

 

[Schuby]

The majority of addicts are self medicating due to an untreated form of mental illness. I am a both a recovering alcoholic and I suffer from depression, which by the grace of God is under control due to non habit forming medication.

Agree, many addicts are mentally ill but most mentally ill people are not addicts and do not exhibit addictive behavior.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

No where in MSM did it say Conrad was currently seeing a therapist and currently taking medication.

snipped for focus

Lynn Roy told Gordon that her son took medications for depression and saw a cognitive behavior specialist in the weeks before his death.

Source:
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20150228/News/150229439

 

[DexterMorgan]

I agree with everything you wrote here. But no one is arguing that she's a great friend to those in need. The point of contention is criminal culpability, and if your argument is "well maybe he'd be alive if she'd acted differently," then I'm sorry but that just doesn't hold water. We don't indict and convict people based on "what if." If you're charging someone with manslaughter you better be able to demonstrate that this person would be alive if not for the actions of the defendant. That just isn't here in this case.

She preyed on his mental illness and now she is going to do jail time for that. Imagine she did what she did to a suicidal person who contacted her through a suicide hotline. She would get charged with negligent homicide.


So lets not act like what she did is not worthy of involuntary manslaughter.

 

[katydid23]

I agree with everything you wrote here. But no one is arguing that she's a great friend to those in need. The point of contention is criminal culpability, and if your argument is "well maybe he'd be alive if she'd acted differently," then I'm sorry but that just doesn't hold water. We don't indict and convict people based on "what if." If you're charging someone with manslaughter you better be able to demonstrate that this person would be alive if not for the actions of the defendant. That just isn't here in this case.

BBM

We do not know everything that the prosecution has in this case.

 

[pwesterner]

THANK YOU for this awesome post. What you have summarized so beautifully is so true. No one can 'save' a suicidal person IF that person is dead set on killing themself. That person needs to save themselves. However, as you so beautifully expressed, it sometimes takes friends to reach out and help the person through the land mines. I am so happy that you had true friends as roomies, instead of a cold blooded snake like MC.

Thank you so much for your kind words! I still tell them how grateful I am for their compassion and friendship during that time. I truly am lucky. Now I look back and just cannot imagine being in that state and not having that kind of support... or worse: having someone straight up mess with my already heightened emotions the way MC messed with Conrad. It's so disturbing and sickening on so many levels. I can't get this case off my mind and shudder every time I think of her.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

She preyed on his mental illness and now she is going to do jail time for that. Imagine she did what she did to a suicidal person who contacted her through a suicide hotline. She would get charged with negligent homicide.


So lets not act like what she did is not worthy of involuntary manslaughter.

She wasn't working a suicide hotline so it's irrelevant.

 

[Schuby]

She preyed on his mental illness and now she is going to do jail time for that. Imagine she did what she did to a suicidal person who contacted her through a suicide hotline. She would get charged with negligent homicide.


So lets not act like what she did is not worthy of involuntary manslaughter.

Except she wasn't answering a suicide hotline? Since when do we allow facts to be subjugated to hypotheticals?

 

[katydid23]

Agree, many addicts are mentally ill but most mentally ill people are not addicts and do not exhibit addictive behavior.

I am not sure that is true that 'most' mentally ill people do not exhibit addictive behavior. Almost every mentally ill person that I have known has shown a lot of addictive behaviors--most notably to tobacco, and alcohol, and some to sexual behavior.

My younger brother is a schizophrenic and often has lived in a halfway house for those with mental health issues. Many smoke like chimneys therer on the porch---and there are regular AA meetings in the community room each afternoon.

 

[Schuby]

BBM

We do not know everything that the prosecution has in this case.

No, nor do we know everything the defense has in this case. But it is the prosecution bringing the charge and receiving vociferous support in the thread so it is their case I'm asking be justified.

 

[pwesterner]

I think a timeline of texts will help clear up some of the confusion here. (though, I don't think we will see the complete picture until trial, should this make it to trial.)

Has anyone started a timeline?

A few things that stick out.

July 10, 3:00 pm (appx) MC texts friend that Conrad can't be found and she texted his mother to see if he is alright.
July 10, 3:15 pm MC receives text from Conrad
July 11, evening unknown time, MC texts a friend stating she still hasn't found him and is a mess.
July 11, evening, approximately 1 hour later MC texts Conrad and asks him "let me know when you're gonna do it"
July 11, late evening. Texts her friends telling them it is her fault Conrad is dead.
July 12, MC spends day speaking with and texting Conrad via phone.
July 12, Last contact between MC and Conrad approximately 6:26pm.
July 13, Conrad's found deceased in his pickup truck behind a store.

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20150227/NEWS/150229466/101194/EDU02?template=printart

I'm sure there is more detail to the timeline between July 10th and 13th when his body was found. This gives us an example of how much time she spent discussing this event with him before it occured. She had days, not hours or minutes, but days to attempt to help him. She did not.

The length of time is where I see the problem. This isn't a momentary thing, or a few minutes where a teen has to make a quick decision and made the wrong one. She had at least 3 days to reach out to someone and try and get help for Conrad.

Some unanswered questions. Did she really text Conrads mom prior to his committing suicide?
Was she communicating with him while he purchased the items used to commit suicide?

Why did she text someone on July 11 saying it's her fault he's dead if he didn't die until July 13??? Am I understanding that right?

 

[wont_stop]

When Roy’s best friend was interviewed by detectives about the “Homers for Conrad” softball fundraiser he helped organize with Carter in the months after the suicide, police say he told them he thought “she was kind of looking for attention” and at one point accused him of “taking credit for my idea.”

“I asked him if he had a lot to do with the fundraiser, and he said not too much but he did try and get her to move it back to Mattapoisett where all of Conrad’s family and friends were but Michelle wanted to keep it in Plainville,” Fairhaven Detective Scott R. Gordon wrote in a police report. “He further explained that (Carter) was getting so involved in it, and he was just curious about how she knew Conrad, and Michelle said that they had been dating on and off for 2 years and (he) said at that point that he had never heard of her, so he didn’t know exactly if that was true or not.”

Roy’s friend went on to tell investigators he had to add Carter as an organizer on the fundraiser’s Facebook page “because it bothered her” that she wasn’t listed.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/02/teens_family_girl_is_not_the_villain

Her family seems to blinded to what seems obvious to me.

 

[Schuby]

I am not sure that is true that 'most' mentally ill people do not exhibit addictive behavior. Almost every mentally ill person that I have known has shown a lot of addictive behaviors--most notably to tobacco, and alcohol, and some to sexual behavior.

My younger brother is a schizophrenic and often has lived in a halfway house for those with mental health issues. Many smoke like chimneys therer on the porch---and there are regular AA meetings in the community room each afternoon.

An estimated 28% of Americans suffer mental illness. Our rate of addiction runs about 8% (not counting tobacco).

 

[wont_stop]

Why did she text someone on July 11 saying it's her fault he's dead if he didn't die until July 13??? Am I understanding that right?

She was setting up her story of caring soooo much and trying sooooo hard to have saved him. She was already basking in the attention.

 

[DexterMorgan]

Maybe some kind of combined "variety of a Münchausen by proxy syndrome" and psychopathy ?

In any case...I hope MC is locked up, either in some kind of mental ward, or prison, for life!

Jodi didnt do it for attention but afterwards she sure took advantage of the limelight. Lol

 

[michmi]

Okay Schuby. Let her walk with no felony so one day you can find out that she happens to be your child's guidance counselor. Or maybe your relative's therapist. No harm no foul. Just charge her with a mis demeanor and let her continue helping others. Ok.

You're not too far off base here - people who are sick like this are often pursue professions where they can manipulate others and I feel that becoming a therapist or any profession where she advises or gives guidance to others would be extremely attractive to her.

 

[DexterMorgan]

Except she wasn't answering a suicide hotline? Since when do we allow facts to be subjugated to hypotheticals?

And this is why she is being charged with involuntary manslaughter and not a homicide.

Also didnt you say that the person would have did it regardless so it shouldnt be her fault.

 

[Cubby]

Why did she text someone on July 11 saying it's her fault he's dead if he didn't die until July 13??? Am I understanding that right?

Yes, you are understanding that correctly. According to MSM she was in contact via text and talking on the phone with Conrad in the 72 hours or so prior to his taking action on committing suicide. She was talking directly to him while telling his parents she was worried about him but did not let his family know she was in contact with him. And she was texting her friends 'soliciting' sympathy from them because she told her friends she was a mess with worry over Conrad.

In one of her texts to a friend she asks if a generator can cause someone to die. I'll find the exact link shortly.