What happens when a person with thoughts of taking their own life is encouraged to follow
through with it? Michelle Carter was perceived as an instigator and accomplice in her boyfriend
Conrad Roy's suicide — but the case was more than complicated. Keep watching for the
horrific true story behind Hulu's "The Girl from Plainville."
Warning: this video contains many references to suicide. If you or anyone you know is having
suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK
(8255)​.
Conrad Roy's struggles with his mental health wasn't unfamiliar territory for the teenage
couple. Mass Live reported that Roy had attempted to take his life in 2012 by overdosing on
acetaminophen. This unsuccessful attempt occurred just after Roy had been released from a treatment
program.
Despite her son's history of mental health struggles, his mother Lynn didn't believe
anything was out of the ordinary with Conrad, up to the day that he passed. In court during
Carter's trial, she testified,
"I thought he was a little depressed. I thought he was doing great."
"I wish I would have picked up more signs. That week, that day."
She went on to describe how she and her son spent time walking on the beach the day of
Roy's suicide. She recounted how Roy was joking about his future and was discussing his plans
for a career.
"He seemed like he was just on the right track. It seemed like everything was getting better."
What she didn't know was that during this time, Roy was actively texting with Carter,
planning out the logistics of his suicide for later that day.
Videos that Roy made of himself that were retrieved from his computer and played in
court. The New York Times stated that Roy's own words in one video described himself as
a:
"...minuscule little particle on the face of this earth."
He also claimed that his life was a joke.
Despite Roy's struggles with his mental health, he was an excellent student with an enviable
level of athletic prowess. The Cut discusses how Roy graduated from high school a month
before his death, posting an impressive 3.88 GPA.
Though he later declined to attend, he had also been accepted into Fitchburg State University.
While in high school, Roy played baseball and was on his school's rowing team. The grandson
of a successful tugboat company owner in Massachusetts, Roy had hinted that he was going to follow
in those footsteps. The year that Roy passed away, he completed his training and successfully
obtained his captain's license.
"I do have a lot going for me, like I'm a f—in' captain."
On the surface, Roy had a bright future ahead of him. But with his anxiety and depression
seeming to worsen, Roy had been pushed to the edge. And the person he shared his plans
for suicide with was Michelle Carter. At one point, Roy sent a text to Carter suggesting
that they become the tragic Romeo and Juliet, but Carter shot down the suggestion. She had
been encouraging Roy to get professional help for some time.
Carter had a long history of mental health problems of her own. According to People magazine,
she had recently started taking the medication Celexa, used to treat anxiety and depression.
In interviews with The Cut, Carter's former classmates describe a person that was similar
to Conrad Roy in many ways. Carter was popular among her peers and was also athletic. Carter
was at one time voted "class clown," and "most likely to brighten your day."
"She was in this small community known as a really sweet caring young woman."
But her peers also spoke of Carter's fluctuating weight, and how Carter had at one time referred
to being admitted to McClean Hospital for mental health treatment. According to the
2019 HBO documentary "I Love You, Now Die," a 2-part series about the Roy suicide case,
Carter had been on psychiatric medication since the age of 14. She had also struggled
with eating disorders.
While both Carter and Roy lived in Massachusetts, it was their families vacationing in Florida
that led to the two of them meeting. According to Esquire, Carter was in Naples visiting
with her grandparents in February 2012.
Several doors down from where Carter was staying, Roy was being hosted by his great aunt. Carter
and Roy met and began spending time together in Florida. Carter was one year Roy's junior,
and the two of them stayed in close contact after they left Florida to return to their
respective homes in Massachusetts.
The relationship between Roy and Carter was mostly one that was held within the confines
of digital communications. Though Roy and his family only lived about an hour from Carter's
Plainville home, they may as well have been worlds apart. According to Newsweek, the relationship
they had was mostly via text messages and phone calls.
Esquire wrote that, according to Conrad's mother Lynn, her son and Carter had seen each
other in person no more than five times after their initial meeting in Naples before his
passing in July 2014.
When Lynn testified at Carter's trial, she was questioned about Roy's suicide attempt
in 2012 when he swallowed an entire bottle of Tylenol. According to Esquire, she said
Roy's plot was foiled when he phoned a friend immediately afterward — the call that saved
his life.
But circumstances were very different in July 2014. Instead, Carter was encouraging him
to complete what he started.
Though she had tried without success to get Roy to seek professional help in the months
leading up to his eventual suicide, Carter had a change of heart in the weeks before
his death. When Roy had mentioned taking his life in the past, Carter demanded that he
get treatment. Why that tone changed is up for debate. What is known is that Roy and
Carter exchanged hundreds of text messages the day of his death, with Carter continually
pushing Roy to follow through with the job.
"Michelle Carter exploited my son's weaknesses and used him as a pawn. Where was her humanity?"
Boston 25 News released the text messages between Michelle Carter and Conrad Roy from
the day of Roy's death, July 13th, 2014. Early that morning, Carter sent a message to Roy
asking why he hadn't "done it" yet. After Roy replied that he was "too messed up," Carter
berated him for pushing it off. Throughout the day, Roy received messages from Carter
that contained disturbing content.
In her messages, Carter seemed to be pressing Roy to end his life. She accused him of overthinking
everything and kept assuring him that his suffering would be over when he followed through.
At several points throughout the day, Carter appeared to be frustrated with Roy's hesitancy.
She kept trying to impress on him that the only way to be free was to end his life. And
when he kept making excuses for why he hadn't followed through, Carter responded with:
"I thought you wanted to do this."
Early that evening, Roy pulled his pickup truck into a K-Mart parking lot. The messages
between Roy and Carter stopped at 6:28 pm the night of Roy's death, according to Boston
25 News. This left investigators with part of a picture painted by the message exchange
between the two and would later have it filled in more by statements from Carter's friend
Samantha Boardman.
Esquire reports that following the last text at 6:28, Roy called Carter in a call that
lasted just over 42 minutes. At 7:12 pm, Carter called Roy, with their phones connecting for
over 45 minutes. Two days later, texts between Carter and Boardman reveal a message from
Carter in which she claimed responsibility for his suicide and that she could have done
something to stop him but failed to act.
According to Newsweek, Carter continued to lay the foundation of her guilt by texting
that Roy's death was all her fault. In this series of texts, Carter revealed that at one
point, Roy became afraid and got out of his truck as it was filling with fumes. According
to Carter, she verbally ordered Roy to get back inside and finish what he started.
The 317 pages of texts between Michelle Carter and Conrad Roy that were laid out in court
chronicled the entire timeline of the conversations the two teens had regarding Roy's eventual
suicide. Brought into court on a charge of involuntary manslaughter, Carter faced up
to 20 years in prison. Though she was only 17 at the time of Roy's death, Carter was
charged as a "youthful offender" instead of as a juvenile. According to Rolling Stone,
this would allow for the state to seek a stiffer sentence.
Carter entered a plea of "not guilty," at the indictment. After being charged, Carter
was held on a $250,000 bond. This was posted by her parents, and she was released into
their custody.
Carter was prohibited from any access to social media. The Boston Globe reported that she
was also barred from sending text messages to anyone outside of immediate family members.
Carter's defense team argued that she had First Amendment protection against her involuntary
manslaughter charge. According to Mass Live, attorney Joseph Cataldo pointed out that the
state of Massachusetts doesn't have any specific laws against assisting someone in their suicide.
Cataldo referenced a recent ruling by the Minnesota Supreme Court in which they ruled
that encouraging suicide was protected speech.
But prosecutors insisted that the encouragement for following through with the suicide is
exactly what prompted Conrad Roy to finish the job. While she could have phoned the police
or requested medical treatment for Roy, she did nothing. This, according to prosecutors,
made her culpable in Roy's death.
In the end, Carter's defense team was unsuccessful in getting her charges dismissed and was equally
unsuccessful in securing a not guilty verdict. According to CNN, in June 2017 Carter was
found guilty in the juvenile court in which she was tried, and awaited her sentencing
hearing set for August of that year.
Carter was sentenced to 2 and a half years in prison, with 15 months to be served and
the remaining 15 months to be suspended. In addition, Carter was to be on probation for
five years following her release.
"The fact that they are still of that young age offers a greater promise of rehabilitation."
In cases where a convicted person is no longer deemed an immediate threat or a flight risk,
a judge may allow that person to remain free on bond post-conviction until the case is
reversed or upheld on appeal. When Carter's attorneys asked for this consideration, Judge
Lawrence Moniz granted their request.
With the post-conviction appeal process mired in red tape, it took until February 2019 before
the high court in the state of Massachusetts made their ruling. According to CNN, the Massachusetts
Supreme Court voted to uphold the lower court's conviction. This prompted Moniz to have Carter
surrender herself to Bristol County authorities immediately to begin her 15-month prison sentence.
Her attorneys unsuccessfully tried to get an additional stay of her sentence while appealing
to the United States Supreme Court. This additional stay was denied by Moniz.
But for nearly five years after Conrad's death, Carter remained a free woman.
Judge Moniz ordered Carter to serve her time at the Bristol County House of Corrections
but ruled that she only needed to serve a total of 15 months maximum behind prison walls.
Moniz suspended the remainder of the sentence and ordered five years probation for Carter
after she was released.
People magazine reports that law in Massachusetts will allow a convicted person to have up to
10 days taken off their sentence every month for good behavior. A spokesperson for the
Bristol County House of Corrections told the outlet,
"[Michelle Carter] was considered a model inmate at the Bristol County House of Corrections.
She took part in a lot of programs, was polite with the staff, had no problems with other
inmates."
"I think by keeping busy the way she did she was able to integrate very very well in the
women's center."
With good behavior, this ended up reducing Carter's total time behind bars to a mere
11 months. News of her early release did not sit well with members of the Roy family. The
New York Post was told by Roy's grandfather, Conrad Roy Sr., that he was, quote, "disgusted
with the whole system." The elder Roy continued expressing his frustration, adding,
"The sentence was too lenient; 15 months is nothing to a lifetime with my grandson."
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.