Family In Suicide-By-Texting Case Speak Out On Dr. Oz

The family of Conrad Roy spoke out this week, appearing on Dr. Oz to discuss the death of the teenager from Fairhaven.

On July 12, 2014, Roy died in the parking lot of the Fairhaven Kmart from carbon monoxide fumes from a gas-powered water pump. Texts between the two show a then-17-year-old Carter spending days encouraging Roy, who suffered from depression, to end his life and telling him to get back into the truck when he began to have second thoughts. (Subscribe to Foxborough Patch for updates on this and other local stories.)

Following Roy's death, Carter texted his sisters asking if they knew where their brother was, despite knowing what happened to him. Lynn Roy, Conrad's mother, said she agreed with the theory that Carter was creating a virtual alibi.

"(Carter) said 'where is your brother?' but the police have that she was listening to him die in his truck for 40 minutes. She heard him cry in pain as he was dying," she said.

Carter was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to two and a half years in jail with 15 months to serve and five years of probation. She remains free while her appeal remains pending.

"I don't think she got the verdict she deserved, I think she deserved worse, I think she's a murderer. Listening to all the text messages it was premeditated," Melissa Moore, a crime correspondent for the show said. "Now that we have cell phones, she virtually helped him kill himself. This was assisted murder in my opinion."

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Roy's case became high-profile after the release of thousands of text messaging which includes this exchange between Carter and Roy:

Carter: “You can’t think about it. You just have to do it. You said you were gonna do it. Like I don’t get why you aren’t.”

Roy: “I don’t get it either. I don’t know.”

Carter: “So I guess you aren’t gonna do it then. All that for nothing. I’m just confused. Like you were so ready and determined.”

Roy: “I am gonna eventually. I really don’t know what I’m waiting for but I have everything lined up.”

Carter: “No, you’re not, Conrad. Last night was it. You kept pushing it off and you say you’ll do it, but you never do. It’s always gonna be that way if you don’t take action. You’re just making it harder on yourself by pushing it off. You just have to do it.”

In court, friends of Carter said they received texts from the Plainville native admitting that she could have told Roy to get out of the car and stopped him from committing suicide.

When asked what she would say to Carter if given the chance, Lynn Roy said he would ask why she helped push her son to kill himself. She added that she feels worse for Carter's mother because she knows the son that she raised.

"Maybe give me some reasons why (Carter) would have encouraged him and bully him because I think the way she acted was bullying," Lynn Roy said.

Dr. Gail Saltz, a clinical psychiatrist, said emotional abuse is just as dangerous as physical abuse for adolescents and young adults because they are potentially more impulsive and don't have the frontal lobe capacity to judge consequence and judgment an adult might.

"The problem is they're available 24/7. Unlike bullying at school when your present, you can never get away from your phone," Saltz said.

Image via Sony Picture Television