Girlfriend charged in Boston College student's graduation day suicide
An ex-Boston College student has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after allegedly urging her boyfriend in text messages to kill himself before he committed suicide; Molly Line reports on the charges.
A 21-year-old woman has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the suicide death of her boyfriend after a tumultuous 18-month relationship, Boston’s top prosecutor said Monday.
The case against Inyoung You, 21, bore similarities to a headline-grabbing suicide texting case that another Massachusetts prosecutor brought against Michelle Carter in 2017. Carter went to prison after a judge found her guilty of sending texts encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself, which he ultimately did.
Boston prosecutor Rachael Rollins acknowledged the similarities but said there were also differences, such as the complete control You allegedly had over her despondent boyfriend. The young man, Alexander Urtula, 22, of Cedar Grove, jumped to his death from the top of a Boston parking garage on May 20, his graduation day from Boston College.
Inyoung You, 21, right, and her boyfriend, Alexander Urtula, 22, left, were involved in a tumultuous relationship at Boston College before he killed himself, prosecutors said. (Suffolk District Attorney's Office)
“In the two months prior to his May 20 death, the couple exchanged more than 75,000 text messages, of which Ms. You sent more than 47,000,” Rollins’ office said in a news release.
“Many of the messages display the power dynamic of the relationship, wherein Ms. You made demands and threats with the understanding that she had complete and total control over Mr. Urtula both mentally and emotionally. Her texts included repeated admonitions for Mr. Urtula to ‘go kill himself’ to ‘go die’ and that she, his family, and the world would be better off without him.”
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You was Urtula's girlfriend at Boston College. She dropped out in August and flew home to South Korea.
Prosecutors have been seeking her return and were in negotiations with You’s lawyers.
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The news release said that on the day Urtula killed himself, You was tracking his location and went to the garage and was present when he jumped.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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