A Boston College student is being charged after prosecutors determined she had encouraged her boyfriend and fellow college student to commit suicide.
Suffolk County prosecutors announced the charging of 21-year-old Inyoung You on Monday with involuntary manslaughter over the suicide of her 22-year-old boyfriend, Alexander Urtula.
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said at a press conference that You had been “physically, verbally, and psychologically abusive.” She said the abuse occurred throughout their 18-month-long relationship and continued in the “hours leading up to (his) untimely death.”
Prosecutors came to the decision to charge You after examining over 75,000 texts, including 47,000 texts from You. Rollins said You “clearly displayed the power dynamic in the relationship, wherein Ms. You made demands and threats with the understanding that she had complete and total control over Mr. Urtula, both mentally and emotionally.”
Messages from You to Urtula included her telling him to “go kill yourself” and “go die.” She told him that the “world would be better without him” before he killed himself in May just hours before his college graduation.
You is currently in South Korea but will be extradited if she does not come back to the United States to face charges on her own accord.
Michelle Carter, 23, was also convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2017 after she encouraged her boyfriend to kill himself when she was 17. The Massachusetts Parole Board recently refused Carter early release from her 15-month prison sentence saying they were “troubled” that she pushed her boyfriend to kill himself.
