The Michelle Carter Case

Carter-hearing her sentence was hard even knowing what she did was likely to land her behind bars.


Savannah Henslee, Staff Writer

In July of 2014 Conrad Roy III committed suicide in his truck. He was depressed and an easy target for his girlfriend to be able to manipulate into doing as she says. Throughout the day and many days prior she was telling him she loved him while also trying to convince him to kill himself. She wanted the attention from his death that she would get as his girlfriend. She wanted pity. She wanted to be the victim.

Conrad was eighteen and in high school at the time of his death. He was depressed, and many people knew it. Michelle Carter used this weakness and convinced him she loved him. She told him she wanted what was best for him. He was miserable and she convinced him that if he ended his life he would be free. He would be able to be happy again. She convinced that what was best for him was to die so he did not have to be sad anymore.

On July 12, 2014 she decided she could not let him put it off any longer. She had recently told people that she was worried about him and did not know where he was or what he was doing despite have constant contact with him knowing exactly what he was doing. She did it as kind of a test run of sorts, according to Kalhan Rosenblatt, a reporter for NBC News. She started receiving the attention she wanted and decided she had to make sure he finally accomplished what she had attempted to get him to do multiple other times while they were together. She had to get him to follow through and kill himself so she would not seem like a liar and so she would get the attention she craved greatly.

Roy did not really want to do it. He was scared and kept putting it off telling Carter he did not want to hurt or leave his family. He did not want them to have to deal with his death. All the while she is telling him that they are kind of expecting it and that all though they will be upset and hurt she would take care of them and make sure they were okay. She told him they knew he was miserable and that they would understand. Throughout the day she tried to convince him to do it, but he kept putting it off doing other things. Eventually that night he told his mom he was going to a friend’s house when really he went to a parking lot to finally end his pain.

He sat in his truck and turned on a and started to fill it with carbon monoxide with a portable water pump. While he was in the truck he called Carter. During the phone call he left the vehicle because he could feel it starting to work and he was scared. When he did this, she told him to get back in the truck. She convinced him to get back in the truck and the next morning his body was found by the police.

Minutes after he died she messaged almost identical messages to friends including Samantha Boardman whose message, according to Rosenblatt, “Sam, he just called me and there was a loud noise like a motor and there was moaning like someone was in pain … that’s all I heard” and later sent another message to Boardman stating that she believed that he killed himself. Later on Roy’s mom said that the police were going to have to search his phone records and all messages to see if anyone had encouraged him to do it. She realized she was going to be caught and started to freak out telling Boardman, according to Rosenblatt’s report, “Sam, they read my messages with him I’m done. His family will hate me and I can go to jail,” she messaged Boardman.

At the trial her defense was that she was not in a good mindset and was on a medication a called Celexa that caused multiple side effects such as irrational behaviors, mood swings and other things that may have affected her decisions and thought process. Her defense stated that she was just doing what she felt was right for him so he did not have to suffer any more.

It had been decided that she would have to serve a 15 month stay behind bars followed by a five year probation. Carter’s defense convinced them to let her stay free while they tried to get their case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. They were denied the hearing and as of February she was forced to start her 15-month sentence.  She showed no emotion as she taken from the courtroom to be finally put behind bars and serve her sentence. According to David K. Li, with NBC News, “This case, legally, is not over,” defense lawyer Joseph Cataldo told the judge. “We fully intend to file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court within the next 90 days.”  So although Carter is behind bars, this case may not be completely over.