Conrad Roy III's YouTube Videos Emerge As Evidence In Michelle Carter's Trial
In yet another disturbing display of evidence in the trial of 20-year-old Michelle Carter, the prosecution introduced YouTube videos depicting her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, discussing his depression and social anxiety. Carter remained on trial for manslaughter after text messages showed she repeatedly urged Roy to take his own life, which he did in 2014, at the age of 18.
Prosecutors introduced the videos as key pieces evidence in the case Thursday. They depicted Roy wearing headphones and speaking into his computer about his struggles. One video was shot Jun. 13, 2014, exactly one month before he killed himself.
Read: Text Message Conversations Reveal Michelle Carter Urged Boyfriend To Kill Himself
“This is Conrad Henry Roy III reported about social anxiety. I’ll start off,” he began one of the videos. “I’m trying to do too much to better myself in so little time.” He went on to list the array of things he was attempting to do to keep up with what he perceived as necessary, including keeping abreast of current events, television shows and sports.
“I’m looking at myself so negatively,” he went on. “I’m looking at myself like a minuscule little particle on the face of this Earth. No good. Trash. Will never be successful. Never have a life. Never have kids. Never learn.”
At one point, he appeared to become more upbeat.
“I have a lot to offer someone,” he said. “I’m introverted, but… I’m a nice kid. But it just comes to the point where I’m just… too nice.”
While the videos were brought as evidence by the prosecution, defense attorneys for Carter said they mean he was already suicidal, which could possibly help their case.
In addition to the videos, the trial brought forth text message conversations between Roy and Carter spanning months, in which Carter pushed Roy to commit suicide.
At one point, she suggested he kill himself in response to one of his messages.
“I keep regretting the past, it’s getting me upset,” Roy told Carter in a text message read on the stand by Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Bates.
“Take your life?” Carter responded.
In another, she gave him options for how best to end his life.
“Hang yourself, jump off a building, stab yourself, idk there’s a lot of ways,” Carter wrote to Roy in one message Jul. 6, 2014, just seven days before his body was found inside his truck in a parking lot. Roy committed suicide by poisoning himself with carbon monoxide from a portable generator he attached to the truck.
The prosecution argued that Carter urged Roy to take his own life so she could become the “grieving girlfriend” and be the center of attention. The defense, on the other hand, said she did not cause his death.
“It’s insufficient to say that she caused him to die,” Carter’s defense attorney, Joseph P. Cataldo, said in court Friday. Cataldo called a forensic investigator who analyzed the computers of both Roy and Carter to testify Friday. Steven Verronneau revealed that Roy had googled “suicide by cop” and visited a website explaining “easy, quick and painless ways to commit suicide.” He also said Roy researched what type of medicine would kill him in his sleep.
Read: Michelle Carter Told Boyfriend ‘There’s A Lot Of Ways’ To Kill Yourself
The prosecution, however, bolstered their case by revealing Carter was on the phone with Roy for 46 minutes as he took his own life. Assistant District Attorney Maryclare Flynn said at one point, Roy attempted to change his mind and was berated by Carter.
“Conrad got out of his truck as he was being poisoned and he got scared,” said Flynn. “The defendant [expletive] told him to get back in.”
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