Conrad Roy, an 18-year-old high school student, was found dead from apparent suicide on July 13, 2014. Roy’s girlfriend Michelle Carter has been found to have persuaded Roy to go through with ending his life via text message.

We can all remember the emotionally confusing and stressful time that high school was. Between balancing grades and trying to find friendships and other more serious relationships, it can be a very exasperating experience.

Add that to a history of serious depression and you have late high school student Conrad Roy III. The one thing that Roy needed most during his last few years was the support and guidance of a good friend. He needed to choose a friend that would listen and help him through this trying time.

Unfortunately, he chose wrong. He chose Michelle Carter.

Roy and Carter, according to The Washington Post, had been involved in a romantic relationship with one another since 2012. Most of this exchange was carried out either online or through text messages.

It was in these texts that Carter encouraged and, at times, persuaded Roy to take his own life.

In July of 2014, Roy came to Carter with his intentions of suicide and Carter replied with, “You’re finally going to be happy in heaven. No more pain.” In another text, she said, “It’s okay to be scared and it’s normal. I mean, you’re about to die.”

She later coaxed him further by researching ways in which he could kill himself. She insisted that he do it by means of carbon monoxide poisoning, saying that it would “100 percent work.”

Even when Roy seemed to be coming back to his normal happy self, Carter would drag him back down to the depths of depression. She would sporadically text him throughout the day, asking him things like, “is tonight the night?” or “When are you gonna do it? Stop ignoring the question???”

The night that Roy went through with the plan that Carter had laid out for him, the two of them texted throughout the night. He used a gas-powered water pump in the cab of his pickup truck.

At one point he tried to get out of the truck, because he could feel the carbon monoxide working.

Carter told him to get back in the truck.

And Roy did.

His body was found on July 13, 2014. He died the previous night of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Fast forward over a year and Carter is scheduled for a hearing on October 2. She is being charged with involuntary manslaughter.

I don’t know about you, but there wasn’t much in those messages that seemed “involuntary.” This girl actively and intentionally led her boyfriend to commit suicide.

This is an act that is so heinous that I cannot think of a better word to describe it than “heinous.” Maybe “disgusting” would suffice.

No matter how you approach it, this was an act of pure evil and if what has been previously stated is true, I hope she is sent away for a long time. The world would benefit from one less person like Michelle Carter roaming around.

There may be times in our lives when we feel a similar way to how Roy was feeling prior to his suicide. I just hope that if that day comes we all have someone there for us who is better than Michelle Carter.

If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts and feel as though you have nobody to turn to, I implore you to call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Someone is available 24/7. You aren’t alone.

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