On Monday, prosecutors announced that earlier this month a grand jury had indicted ex-Boston College Student, Inyoung You, for the death of her boyfriend.
The 21-year-old You, who is from South Korea, is now facing an involuntary manslaughter charge that resulted from the death of her 22-year-old boyfriend, Alexander Urtula. Urtula, who also attended Boston College, killed himself this past May roughly two hours before he was due to walk at graduation.
As for You's current whereabouts, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins stated at a press conference that she's in South Korea, but authorities expressed cautious optimism that she'll return to the States on her own volition. If not, Rollins says that authorities "will utilize the power we have to get her back."
As for what's being alleged against her, prosecutors say that over the course of their 18-month relationship, You preyed upon Urtula's depression and encouraged him kill himself.
"She was aware of his suicidal thoughts," Rollins said, "and she encouraged him to take his own life."
If this sounds like something you've heard before, you may be calling to mind the relatively recent trial of Michelle Carter, a Massachusetts woman who was convicted in 2017 of involuntary manslaughter after her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, also died by suicide. In addition to drawing attention from national media outlets, the case was also the subject of a 2019 HBO documentary called I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth vs. Michelle Carter.
Prosecutors in that case also relied upon text messages from Carter telling Roy to "take action." Attorneys stated that Roy and Carter both suffered from depression. Earlier this year, Carter began serving her 15-month sentence, with her most recent parole request (which occurred last month) being turned down. Roy's death also went on to inspire a Massachusets state bill that could give up to five years of prison time to anyone that "intentionally coerces or encourages" a suicide or suicide attempt. That case was once again brought up during Rollins' Monday press conference. However, Rollins stated that the difference is the sheer volume of texts and more extreme nature of these more recent allegations.
"The culprits are both the girlfriends in those circumstances, but where I would distinguish, and I think the facts will show, in Carter there was very limited physical contact prior and some very egregious language in the moments leading up to the death," Rollins said. "We have, quite frankly, the opposite of that [with Urtula and You]. We have a barrage, a complete and utter attack on this man's very will and conscious and psyche by an individual to the tune of 40,000 text messages in the two months leading up."
Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Caitlin Grasso added that "You was aware of [Urtula's] location and was present on the roof of the parking structure at the time that he did jump."
During the course of the investigation, investigators also obtained journal entries from Urtula, and interviewed family and classmates who were witnesses to the relationship.
