Woman accused of encouraging boyfriend to kill himself releases last text message they sent
A 21-year-old woman accused of encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges after publicly releasing the last text messages the pair sent to each other before his death.
Inyoung You appeared in a Boston courtroom on Friday, where she was taken into custody and had her bail set at $5,000 (£3,896), which her lawyer noted would be paid immediately. Her trial date was set for November 2020.
Ms You and her 22-year-old boyfriend Alexander Urtula exchanged more than 75,000 texts in the last two months of their relationship, prosecutors said, before he killed himself on 20 May — the day of his graduation from Boston College.
Prosecutors described their relationship as toxic and abusive, and that Ms You would isolate Mr Urtula from his friends and constantly tell him to “go die” and “kill yourself”. They also said she had become upset with Mr Urtula after discovering that he was speaking with an ex-girlfriend.
“The defendant became physically, verbally, and psychologically abusive,” Caitlin Grasso, an assistant prosecutor, said about Ms You after reading off several expletive-laden text messages she sent to her boyfriend.
Earlier this week, a public relations firm representing Ms You released the final messages she sent to Mr Urtula, in which she seemingly begged for him to “stop” after he implied he was about to take his own life.
“ALEX. WHAT SRE YOU F****** DOING. IF U F****** LOVE ME STOP. IF U EVER F****** LOVED ME STOP," she wrote.
Ms You then went on to write over a hundred messages following Mr Urtula’s final text.
But prosecutors maintain Ms You is criminally liable. They said her phone location placed her at the parking garage where Mr Urtula killed himself, according to CNN.
A spokesperson for Mr Urtula’s family said in a statement the family has been “devastated” by the loss.
“Not a minute of any day goes by without those who loved Alex grieving and continually feeling the sharp pain of his passing all over again”, the spokesperson said.
The statement continued: “Alex's family respects the process underway in Massachusetts and, because it is ongoing and because the pain of their loss is still so fresh for those who loved him, the family will not be making any further public comments at this time.”
Ms You was born in South Korean and is a naturalised US citizen. She was ordered to surrender her passport.
The case echoes the Michelle Carter case, which garnered national headlines and an HBO film in recent years.
The young Massachusetts woman was sentenced to 15 months in jail after she was convicted in 2017 of involuntary manslaughter for using text messages and phone calls to encourage her boyfriend, Conrad Roy, him to kill himself in 2014.
Carter's lawyers maintained her texts were constitutionally protected free speech. Her conviction was upheld by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court but has been appealed to the US Supreme Court, which hasn't yet decided whether it will take up the case.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
