48 Hours - Death by Text: The case against Michelle Carter

Episode Date: June 18, 2017

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Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. Hi, this is Conrad Roy. I'm going to talk to you about social anxiety. Social anxiety, depression, it's controlling me. There's people that love me.

I have a great mom, great dad, but I'm still depressed. We spent the day walking the beach and we had a conversation and I asked him about school and he's like, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do. And I said, you know, don't worry about it. Everything is gonna be okay. It was a nice day out with the family.

Nothing to give any hint of what was to come later in the day. There was no indication anything was going on. I've created a monster out of myself. The past few years. Because of my depression. Racing thoughts. Su. Racing thoughts. Just other thoughts. Do you remember when is the last time you saw your brother?

He was, like, going out the door. I thought he was just going to his friend's house. You got up in the morning, and how did you know he hadn't come home? He wasn't there, and we just couldn't find him. This is not like Conrad not to come home. Then they found his body around 5.30 in the afternoon. And he died in his truck.

It could have been monoxide poisoning. I will live with this forever. The pain. Right away, we heard from investigators that the medical examiner found that it was a suicide. It wasn't until they started looking at his phone that they realized that there was something else going on here. Because on that phone were hundreds and hundreds of texts

from Michelle Carr to Conrad Roy, urging him to end his life. You can't think about it. You just have to do it. You said you were going to do it. Like, I don't get why you aren't. And Michelle Carter admittedly said, do it. She was kind of making fun of him for not taking his own life.

I thought you really wanted to die, but apparently you don't. I feel played and just stupid. You're going to have to prove me wrong, because I just don't think you really want this. And she kept pressuring him to do it. You're ready and prepared. All you have to do is turn the generator on and you'll be free and happy. No more pushing it off. No more waiting.

There was one point where he actually got out of the truck and changed his mind. Yeah, he was scared. And she told him to go back in the truck. Yes. Carter charged with involuntary manslaughter. She faces up to 20 years in prison.

This is totally out of left field. I coach Michelle. I know her as a good kid. I don't believe that she has a conscience. She knew exactly what she was doing and what she said. Hang yourself. Jump off a building, stab yourself. I don't know. There's a lot of ways. And it's the texts that become the weapon. How could she cause a death when she was 35 miles away?

In these circumstances, this is almost akin to loading the gun and handing it over. Who knows? Who knows when you have your hand on the trigger when you're sending a text? I'm Erin Moriarty. Tonight on 48 Hours, death by text. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reached the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of them. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years,

I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch.

It was called Candyman. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts. It's not realistic. It's not realistic. What's going in my head that keeps on piling and piling and piling. One month before 18-year-old Conrad Roy took his own life,

when the minds of many teens wandered to carefree summer days, Conrad's thoughts were more serious, introspective. I need to be comfortable with my skin. Sitting at his computer in his home in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, Conrad recorded his thoughts on coping with his depression. I need to relax. I really do. He wanted to excel. He just wanted to be this great person. But in my eyes, he was all that. In her only television interview,

Conrad's mother, Lynn, explains that her son could be his own toughest critic. It was rough on himself. He really, really struggled with just disappointing, I think, myself and his dad. The sooner I like myself, the better I'm going to be. Linroy thought her son was getting better. I do have a lot going for me. He was getting professional help and on an antidepressant, Celexa. He had been licensed to be a tugboat captain like his dad. That's a

huge accomplishment to be a captain. Had just graduated high school and college with a scholarship was on the horizon. And he was doing everything that was positive that was you know looking towards his future. But on July 12, 2014, Conrad drove to a parking lot and using a gasoline-powered water pump, sat in his pickup truck as it filled with carbon monoxide, knowingly inhaling the deadly fumes, killing himself. All the while, his friend Michelle Carter, then 17, was encouraging Conrad,

from more than 30 miles away on her phone, to take his own life. I don't understand why you would want someone that was so beautiful inside and out, that had so much, that was such a kind person, to die. How do you describe what this young woman did? That was such a kind person to die.

How do you describe what this young woman did? I cannot. Only she can. The intersection of the lives of Michelle Carter and Conrad Roy has left a trail of heartbreak and questions about the circumstances that led to such a tragic death. He's one of the kindest persons. He grew up very sensitive, very humble and kind. Happy child.

Very happy. Many pictures of him smiling, laughing, until he became a teenager, and I don't know if it was the hormones. He just, you know, became anxious. Conrad was the oldest child in the family with two sisters, Morgan and Camden. Lynn and Conrad's father separated when Conrad was 16, and their divorce hit him especially hard. I think he was just more worried about me.

That's what boys do. They worry about their moms a lot. Conrad would confide in his friend, Ariana Taylor, as they spent hours walking along the water. It's a lighthouse. It's beautiful. You have a clear view of the ocean around you. And we would just go there and hang out. The setting was beautiful, but sometimes the talk turned dark.

He didn't really, wasn't able to explain it to me in a way that I could understand, so he kind of just described it as a darkness, and how there would be times where he just kind of wanted to isolate himself from everybody. Conrad's anxiety and self-doubt had troubled Lynn since he was 16. Conrad's anxiety and self-doubt had troubled Lynn since he was 16. He started having trouble sleeping, and we got him treated. And then he had his first suicide attempt a year after, the age of 17. Conrad had overdosed on acetaminophen.

I worked in a psychiatric hospital, and I never imagined that one of my children would have those feelings. Do you think he really intended to kill himself at that point? He did contact a friend. That friend was Ariana. He told me that he was really sick and that his mom had just left and that he wanted her to come back. Ariana immediately got in touch with Conrad's parents, who brought him to the hospital. He told me, Mom, I'll never do that again. He was sorry. And I was sorry as well that he felt that way. The fact that he wanted you to call his mother,

what does that say to you? It just says that he was calling out for help, that he didn't actually call his mother. What does that say to you? It just says that he was calling out for help, that he didn't actually mean what he was doing, but he really needed help and that this was the only way he kind of thought that he would really get help. And that help seemed to be working. He actually was getting a lot better. He told me about how he was going out and he was going to like, you know, the high school parties and just hanging out with everybody. I was like, that's amazing. Michelle Carter was another friend of Conrad's. They met in 2012 while both were vacationing in Florida. Conrad and his sisters were visiting relatives who happened to know Michelle.

How would you describe Michelle? Friendly? Yeah, she's really friendly. She always made Conrad laugh. As it turned out, Michelle lived just a few towns over from the Roys in Massachusetts, and the relationship continued after the vacation. But while Michelle called Conrad her boyfriend, his family says the two rarely saw each other. And like so many teens, their interactions were mostly over text messages. Had your son ever mentioned Michelle Carter? Yes.

After they met in Florida, I met her 2013 at his baseball game. And that was the only time I ever met her. Second time was at his week. Did she even make an impression on you initially? No, I didn't think anything. Michelle and Conrad shared something in common that Lynn did not know. Michelle had her own struggles, including an eating disorder, and both teens at times took antidepressants.

You know, probably the interaction was they both had their issues. Softball coach Ed McFarland has known Michelle Carter and her family for a decade. The Michelle he knows is an ideal teammate. I've never seen her do a mean thing. I've never seen her be mean. Other kids like her? Yeah, never heard a crossword or anything of that nature. And Michelle's high school yearbook paints a picture of an active, well-liked student, one voted class clown, and most likely to brighten your day. But that would not be how her actions would be described on the last day of Conrad's life. That day started out seemingly happy for Conrad, spending time with his family.

That morning on the 12th, what was his mood like? It was fine. He wanted to, you know, go to the beach with the girls. While there, Camden at one point noticed her brother sitting alone, texting. Did you know who he was texting with? No. Now you think he was texting with Michelle No. Now you think he was texting with Michelle Carter. Yeah. But you didn't know that at the time. And what was his demeanor? I don't know, he kind of seemed like anxious like when he was

like texting. Conrad then took his sisters out for ice cream where his mood seemed to lift. And when you think back on that, would you have ever guessed there was anything wrong that afternoon? No. After going home, Conrad left at about 6 p.m., telling his mother he was going to see a friend. 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 that he spoke to me.

and he said he didn't think so, and that was the last words that he spoke to me. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories

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Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. It was July 12, 2014, the heart of summer in New England. The sailboats were out, and it was just a beautiful Massachusetts day. Boston Herald legal columnist and 48 Hours consultant Bob McGovern has put together the pieces of Conrad Roy's final hours. The Massachusetts kid who just seemed to be living a normal life, but apparently behind the scenes there was something else going on. Conrad had headed out in his pickup truck around

6 p.m. As the evening passed, Lynn checked to see when he'd be home. And I texted him, I don't know, before I went to bed, maybe around 10, 30, 11, and then I texted him again in the middle of the night. Conrad didn't respond. Still, Lynn figured everything was okay. She believed he had beaten back much of his anxieties. That night, Conrad's sister Camden unexpectedly heard from Michelle Carter,

that 17-year-old who had battled her own mental health issues and lived about an hour away. How surprised were you that you suddenly got a text from Michelle? I thought she was just like, just like his friend. But in the text, she said, like, we're boyfriend and girlfriend now. And I was just like, I looked at my mom, I was like, they are? Whether teenage love or something else, Michelle was sending out the word. Had anyone heard from Conrad Roy?

And what did she text you exactly? She was like, hey, Camden, like, do you know where your brother is? Was that unusual for him not to come home? Oh, yeah, absolutely. That was not like him at all. It was sunrise and still not a word. So in the morning, I went by Ariana's house, and he wasn't there. And so that's when I began to search.

Where is he? What happened? We went by Dad's house. There's no sign of him. Maybe an hour later, I felt like this rush go through my body that I've never felt in my life. And I felt at that point that he wasn't with me. On the afternoon of July 13th, police found him inside his pickup truck parked at the local Kmart. His cell phone right next to him.

And he died in his truck. It's carbon monoxide poisoning. I got in the car and my mom was just like crying like the most I've ever seen her cry. And she was like, he's gone. And like, she was just like, your brother's gone. It still hurts just as much as it did then, doesn't it? I will live with this forever, the pain. I don't get why it happened, why it happened,

why it happened to him. And Michelle seemed to take Conrad's death as hard as anyone. Once again, a text was her choice of communication, this time to Lynn. I am so very sorry. Conrad meant so much to me. No one questioned the suicide until cops got a hold of Conrad Roy's phone. It would prove to be an investigation like no other. No gun, no knife, no crucial DNA in this case. Only this, a trail of words, starting with those on the cell phone. Messages with Michelle Carter. starting with those on the cell phone.

Messages with Michelle Carter. And once investigators found this dialogue, they knew that there was something else up. And they wanted to get to the bottom of it. And so this thing turned from a suicide investigation into a homicide investigation. Michelle seemed to be encouraging Conrad not to live, but to die. Texts flew between the two of them for more than a week, right up to the moment he took his own life. I'm determined. I'm happy to hear that. When you get back from the beach, you gotta do it.

No more thinking. Yes, no more thinking. You need to just do it. No more thinking. Yes, no more thinking. You need to just do it. But now with Conrad Roy dead, Michelle seemed devastated, acting as if his death was a total surprise. When it came to the funeral, she sat up close to kind of where the family area was. I always described her as seen as the grieving widow. She was just constantly like sobbing. She just made a scene. And then at Conrad's funeral, Michelle came. Yeah. And did you speak with her then? No, I gave her a hug. I didn't know her. And two months later, Michelle even held a fundraiser to honor Conrad in her town of Plainville. I found it really weird as soon as I saw the location of Plainville, Massachusetts.

It was like, it didn't make sense to me. That fall, investigators interviewed Michelle Carter at her high school. Do you think you had contact with him that day? I don't think so. I was talking to him on the phone like the night before the 12th. Like the phone like hung up but I didn't I didn't really think anything of it. But Michelle's story was riddled with holes and police weren't buying it. They poured through her cell phone. Her texts ranged from urgent to ominous. Like one sent to her friend Samantha Boardman on July 12th at 8.02 p.m., just minutes after police believe Conrad killed himself. He just called me. I heard moaning like someone was in pain, and he wouldn't answer when I said his name. That text was followed by another.

I think he just killed himself. Michelle was texting her friend, but what she wasn't doing was calling for help. And there was at least one more text found on Conrad's phone that now seems telling. Only moments before he died, Michelle asked him this. Did you delete the messages? Police would extract more than a thousand deleted text messages between Conrad and Michelle. Some showed his fear and reluctance to take his life on the very day he died. I don't know. I'm freaking out again. I do want to, but like I'm freaking out for my family. But even as Conrad panicked and considered abandoning his plan to die, Michelle egged him on.

She described it to her friend Samantha that September in this text. Sam, his death is my fault. Like, honestly, I could have stopped him. I was on the phone with him, and he got out of the car because it was working, and he got scared, and I effing told him to get back in. The road to justice would be complicated. Massachusetts has no law against encouraging or assisting suicide. And Michelle was miles away when Conrad died. People don't realize in our generation texting does a lot. It's like having the person right there in front of you when you're texting somebody.

And the Supreme Court of Massachusetts seems to agree. In the summer of 2016, the court ruled that even though Michelle was an hour away when Conrad Roy died, she had a virtual presence that night in that pickup truck. It's a controversial legal theory born out of a digital world. And so nearly three years later, Michelle Carter will stay on trial in this courtroom for involuntary manslaughter. Michelle's attorneys, fearing how the text would play, advised her to waive her right to a jury trial. She put her fate in the hands of veteran judge Lawrence Monez. Are you doing that of your own free will, only involuntarily?

Yes. She assisted and devised and advised and planned his suicide. Inside this Massachusetts courtroom, Michelle Carter, now 20 years old, looks more like a prep school student than a criminal defendant. more like a prep school student than a criminal defendant. And on July 12, 2014, as his truck was filling with carbon monoxide, he was scared. He got out. It was the defendant on the other end of the phone who ordered him back in, then listened for 20 minutes as he cried in pain, took his last breath and died. The alleged weapon in this case? Michelle Carter's own words. What she did, in theory, according to prosecutors, is she recklessly caused Conrad Roy's death.

The state's case revolves around Michelle's chilling text messages to Conrad as he was apparently having second thoughts the day he took his life. The defendant texted Conrad, you can't think about it. You just have to do it. You said you were going to do it. I don't get why you aren't. And then there was this. Ten days before he died, Michelle sent him this text message assuring him not to worry about his family's feelings. Yeah, they'll probably blame themselves for a while, but they will get over it and learn to accept it, a notion that baffles and upsets Conrad's mother. I think she needs to be held responsible for her actions because she knew exactly what she was doing.

Linroy testified that on the last day of his life, Conrad was in a good frame of mind. He was eating tortilla chips and guacamole on the way to the beach. In July of 2014, did he ever mention he wanted to harm himself? No. I knew he was a little depressed, but I thought he was doing great. But prosecutors contend that Michelle and her incessant texting had immense influence over Conrad, even though Michelle was more than 30 miles away from him when he took his life, that her virtual presence caused him to do it. She helped him devise a plan to kill himself using a combustion

engine to poison himself with carbon monoxide gas. Michelle sent Conrad this text message. I'm not going to sleep until you are in the car with a generator on. Your Honor, this case is a suicide case. It is not a homicide. But defense attorney Joseph Cataldo painted a very different picture. The evidence of the texting is overwhelming that Conrad Roy was on this path to take his own life for years. Michelle Cotta was not present. Michelle Cotta had been texting with him. She did not physically see this individual for over one year. The defense brings up Conrad's acetaminophen overdose when he was 17 and claims he had been suicidal for years, in part because of his parents' divorce and he had a contentious relationship with his father.

And if the judge is considering Michelle's text messages, he should look at all the messages between the teenagers. Even up to a month before Conrad's death, Michelle seemed like a concerned friend, trying to help a socially awkward and emotionally fragile Conrad. On June 19th, Michelle texts Conrad, are you 100% positive you're never going to commit suicide? Be honest with me. Do you think about doing it? No, I'm not. In other messages, she talks about wanting to take him to a therapist or a mental health hospital.

But on July 1st, 11 days before his suicide, texts between Michelle and Conrad took a sinister turn. Prosecutors let the words tell the story. She talked him out of his doubts point by point. She assured him that his family would understand why he did it. She researched logistics. Michelle had been sending Conrad suggestions on how to kill himself for weeks. Hanging is painless and takes like a second if you do it right.

But what would drive anyone to send a text like that? Prosecutors say Michelle was desperate for friends and attention, and she got it when she talked about her suicidal boyfriend. Just days before he died, she sent texts to girls she wanted to be close with in an effort to get their attention and sympathy. Pretending Conrad was missing. Do you remember getting a message about Conrad being missing? Yes. He's missing, like they don't know where he is. Prosecutors say Conrad still being alive presented a problem for Michelle.

She could be exposed as a liar. So it was important he kill himself. On July 12th, the night he did take his life, Conrad drove to a Kmart parking lot and texted Michelle, leaving now, okay, you can do this. Okay, I'm almost there. okay, I'm almost there. That was the last text Conrad ever sent to anyone. But there was also a 46-minute phone call. Michelle called him.

She was the last person to speak with him. After that call ended, Michelle texted her friend, Samantha. I'm going to ask you to read that text message, please, aloud. Sam, he just called me, and there was a loud noise like a motor and I heard moaning like someone was in pain and he wouldn't answer when I said his name. I stayed on the phone for like 20 minutes and that's all I heard. Then 27 minutes later Michelle sent Samantha another text message. I think he just killed himself. Prosecutors say Michelle, within hours, began building a virtual alibi, knowing that he was likely dead. She began acting like a concerned friend, sending Conrad this text message. I'm scared. Are you okay? I love you.

Please answer. Michelle showed little emotion at the trial. Her defense relies on this psychiatrist, Peter Bregan, to explain her behavior, even though he was not treating Michelle at the time. He testifies that she was involuntarily intoxicated by an antidepressant drug she started taking three months earlier, Celexa. She has an involuntary intoxication where she is not forming a criminal intent, I'm going to harm him. She was enmeshed in a delusion where she's thinking that it's a good thing to help him die.

And we'll see grandiosity. Her deciding with him that she can help him. He wants to die. He wants to go to heaven, and he doesn't want his family to suffer, and she pronounces that she can do all of that. But prosecutors completely dismiss that theory. She does not tell the Roy family

about being on the phone with Conrad the night before, does she? His dead body is in a car 24 hours and she withholds that information. She's psychotic, deluded. She's disturbed. She's out of touch. Inexplicably, Michelle sent more than 80 texts to Conrad after he died. In some, she even apologizes for not saving him. But it wasn't just Conrad she texted. The prosecution is hoping the judge pays particular attention to this text that she sent to her friend Samantha a week after Conrad's body was discovered.

a week after Conrad's body was discovered. They have to go through his phone and see if anyone encouraged him to do it on text and stuff. They read my messages with him. I'm done. His family will hate me, and I could go to jail. her actions your honor on july 12 2014 caused the death of conrad roy they were reckless and she knew it according to the prosecution mich, Michelle Carter helped put Conrad Roy in his grave. It was a felony, and she caused serious bodily harm. According to the defense,

she didn't know what she was doing. Good morning, Your Honor. She was psychotic, delusional, involuntarily intoxicated from taking the antidepressant Celexa. Michelle Carter underwent an involuntary intoxication in June and July. To prominent child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Harold Koplowitz, that makes no sense at all. Though not a witness in this case, he says those drugs,

called SSRIs, are remarkably safe. They don't make you delusional. They don't make you psychotic. And they don't make you intoxicated. I don't know what involuntary intoxication means. So I don't know who made up that term, but they don't make you drunk. Dr. Koplowitz believes the act of texting was more mind-altering than any drug.

And the problem with text is that it separates you. It makes you feel less responsible. While it's instantaneous, it still also keeps you away from the human contact. But no amount of distance can explain her behavior, especially the prosecution's contention that Michelle ordered Conrad back into the truck, says the doctor. It's very hard to understand where the man says to a friend, listen, I'm feeling pain. I don't want to do this.

I'm going to get out of the car. There's no way to seem to make sense of the fact that someone then says, a friend says, get back in the car and kill yourself. This really has a vicious and a very, very malicious quality to it. No matter how malicious Dr. Koplowitz says, Michelle really couldn't have convinced Conrad to kill himself if he hadn't already been suicidal. So while Michelle could not force Conrad to kill himself,

she could enhance his risk of killing himself. She could encourage him to complete the act because he was already on his way. And simultaneously, she could have screamed out for help, which might have prevented this deadly outcome. I want to recover from this and I feel like I haven't recovered from it yet. I feel like I still have a long way to go. Clearly these heartbreaking videos now posted on YouTube show a young man looking for that different outcome, says Dr. Koplowitz. You expose yourself like this, it says, please help me.

I've created a monster out of myself the past few years because of my depression. Sadly, Conrad Roy is not alone. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in this country, this year alone, we may lose nearly 5,000 young people between the ages of 14 and 24 to suicide. One reason is that teenagers are simply more prone to depression. Another reason, they're more susceptible to peer pressure. Which is why the Netflix show 13 Reasons Why has caused such an uproar. In the show, a teenage girl dies by suicide and leaves 13 recordings to other teens whom she blames. I think it's one of the most dangerous programs on the air right now

for the simple reason that it glamorizes suicide. Unfortunately, suicide's very contagious. We know that teenagers who watch these kind of TV programs are more likely to think about suicide, are more likely to attempt suicide, are more likely to commit suicide. It appears that Michelle Carter may have been one of those teens influenced by what she saw on TV. Not 13 Reasons Why, but perhaps an episode of Glee. When an actor on Glee died of an overdose in real life, the show wrote his death into the script. Listen to the similarities between what the character Rachel says about the loss of her boyfriend and what Michelle later says about losing Conrad.

Michelle's text to a friend after Conrad's death is almost word for word. I had it all planned out. He knew, too. I didn't have to tell him. He was my person. Michelle writes the exact same line. He was my person. Poor her.

Her boyfriend died. They were going to get married one day, and now she's the grieving girlfriend. According to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, it all boiled down to that starring role as the grieving girlfriend. The Commonwealth's position, Your Honor, is that she wanted attention. After six days of testimony, closing arguments begin. The defense is up first. The evidence actually establishes that Conrad Roy caused his own death. Joe Cataldo reminds the judge that Conrad had attempted suicide before

and points to a text Conrad wrote to Michelle. suicide before and points to a text Conrad wrote to Michelle. There's nothing anyone can do for me that's gonna make me want to live. It's very bad to hear, but I want to let you know that truthfully. The decision to die was Conrad's, not Michelle's, says Cataldo. He created this situation, Your Honor. She didn't create this situation of somebody who said, I don't want to kill myself. I have no thoughts of that.

Everything's good with me. And somehow she tricked him or bribed him or threatened him to do something as drastic as suicide. Most importantly, Michelle was nowhere near Conrad when he killed himself. There's no evidence that Michelle Carter has any physical actions whatsoever in this case with Conrad Roy's decision. It was all of his physical activity. But prosecutor Katie Rayburn gets the last word. Although she wasn't physically present, she was in his ear, she was in his mind,

she was on the phone, and she was telling him to get back in the car even though she knew he was going to die. She absolutely knew it was wrong, and she absolutely caused the death of this 18-year-old boy. And I ask you to find her guilty. Three days after Judge Lawrence Monez began his deliberations, it's judgment day. It is apparent to this court in reviewing the evidence that Mr. Roy was struggling with his issues and seeing a way to address them. You could feel the tension as the judge spent 15 long minutes

explaining his thought process, noting that Conrad played a big part in his own death. He spoke of it continually. He secured the generator. He secured the water pump. But then the judge turned his attention to the moment Conrad had second thoughts. He breaks that chain of self-causation by exiting the vehicle. The judge then looks at Michelle Carter and the stoic composure she maintained throughout the trial dissolves. The judge described a desperate teenager at the brink of death as the truck filled with poisonous carbon monoxide gas. Conrad got scared and got out of the vehicle. When he exited the truck, he literally sought fresh air.

She instruct Mr. Roy to get back into the truck, well knowing of all of the feelings that he has exchanged with her, his ambiguities, his fears, his concerns. The text Michelle sent to a friend seemed to bother the judge the most. Sam, his death is my fault. Like honestly, I could have stopped him. I was on the phone with him and he got out of the car because it was working and he got scared and I effing told him to get back in. The judge said Carter caused a dangerous environment and under Massachusetts law, she had a duty to save him. She called no one. She did not issue a simple additional instruction. Get out of the truck. The judge completely rejects the notion Michelle was involuntarily intoxicated from the use of antidepressants as a way to explain her behavior. Ms. Carter, please stand.

This court, having reviewed the evidence and applied the law thereto, now finds you guilty on the indictment charging you with the involuntary manslaughter of the person Conrad Roy III. Guilty. This court almost has proven beyond... Conrad's father expressed his gratitude. This has been a very tough time for our family and we'd like to just process this verdict that we're happy with. I know we all wish that he had the opportunity to grow up into adulthood to become a tugboat captain and to enjoy his future. Michelle Carter was a juvenile when she committed this crime

and will be out on bail until sentencing August 3rd. Her former coach, Ed McFarland. Obviously, it's not right what happened here. But by the same token, it wasn't criminal either. I don't see how you get manslaughter out of this. Michelle Carter could get 20 years behind bars, but Conrad Roy's family

is living a life sentence. I'm a nice kid. But it comes to a point where I'm just too nice. When do you miss him the most? When I'm just being a teen danger, like, early in the morning,

and, like, I just, like, listen to music. I cry so much. I moved into his, like, room recently. Everything's kind of, like, still the same. Brings me, like, more close to him, but still makes me sad. My son mattered. He matters. Will always matter.

Someone that had a family and future and mom and dad. Lyn Roy does not need a verdict to tell her what she already knows, that words have power, so much power, they can forever change lives. The fact that she would say to him, your family will get over you. How is that even, I will never get over him. To learn more about the symptoms of suicide in teens and what you can do, join us online at 48hours.com.

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