00:00:02
[Music] the intersection of the lives of michelle carter and conrad roy left a trail of heartbreak and questions about
00:00:12
the circumstances that led to conrad's tragic death in 2014. it wasn't until they started looking at his phone that
00:00:20
they realized there was something else going on here because on that phone were hundreds and hundreds of texts
00:00:26
from michelle carter to conrad roy urging him to end his life you can't think about it you just have
00:00:33
to do it you said you were going to do it like i don't get why you aren't and michelle carter admittedly
00:00:40
said do it she was kind of making fun of him for for not taking his own life i thought you really wanted to die but
00:00:49
apparently you don't i feel played and just stupid you're going to have to prove me wrong
00:00:55
because i just don't think you really want this and she kept pressuring him to do it
00:01:01
you're ready and prepared all you have to do is turn the generator on and you'll be free and happy
00:01:08
no more pushing it off no more waiting there's one point where he actually got out of the truck
00:01:16
and changed his mind yeah he was scared and she told him to go back in the truck
00:01:22
yes the two had met while vacationing in florida several years before conrad and his sisters were visiting
00:01:30
relatives who happen to know michelle how would you describe michelle friendly yeah she's really friendly she always
00:01:36
made conrad michelle lived just a few towns over from him in massachusetts their
00:01:42
relationship continued after vacation but like so many teens their interactions were mostly over text
00:01:48
messages had your son ever mention michelle carter yes after they met in florida i met her
00:01:56
2013 at his baseball game and that was the only time i ever met her second time was at his week though conrad roy had a
00:02:04
history of depression since age 16 his mother says he seemed to be doing better the 18 year old had become licensed to
00:02:11
be a tugboat captain just like his dad that's a huge accomplishment it'd be to be a captain
00:02:20
he had just graduated high school in college with a scholarship was on the horizon
00:02:26
and he was doing everything that was positive that was you know looking towards his
00:02:32
future conrad spent the afternoon of july 12 2014 at the beach with his sisters and
00:02:39
mother later that day he left home around 6 pm telling his mother he was going to see a friend
00:02:46
and i asked him if he was going to be back for dinner and he said he didn't think so and that was the last words
00:02:51
that he spoke to me after a frantic search by his family police found him the next day inside his
00:02:59
pickup truck parked at the local kmart his cell phone was right next to him and he died in his truck
00:03:06
it happened to monoxide poisoning i got in the car and my mom was just like crying like
00:03:12
the most i ever seen her cry and she was like he's gone and like she was just like your brother is gone
00:03:20
it still hurts just as much as it did then doesn't it i will live with this forever um the
00:03:29
pain investigators would soon find texts between michelle and conrad in which she
00:03:37
seemingly encouraged him repeatedly to kill himself several months after conrad's death
00:03:43
michelle carter was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter she went on trial in 2017. her case
00:03:52
would be decided by a judge instead of a jury prosecutors argued that michelle in
00:03:57
her incessant texting had immense influence over conrad she helped him devise a plan to kill himself but
00:04:03
defense attorney joseph cataldo painted a very different picture iran this case is a suicide case it is
00:04:10
not a homicide the evidence of the texting is overwhelming that conrad roy was on this path to take his own life
00:04:19
for years michelle carter was not present michelle carter had been texting with him she did not physically see this
00:04:28
individual for over one year the defense suggested that michelle was psychotic delusional and involuntarily
00:04:36
intoxicated from taking the antidepressant celexa escara please stand this court
00:04:47
having reviewed the evidence and applied the law there too now finds you guilty on the indictment charging you with the
00:04:57
involuntary manslaughter of the person conrad roy iii the judge sentenced michelle carter to
00:05:05
15 months behind bars but granted the defense's motion for her stay pending an appeal
00:05:11
in 2019 her conviction was upheld and she began serving her sentence in january 2020 michelle carter was
00:05:21
released early from prison for good conduct