A former nurse who told police he went on the Internet and encouraged dozens of depressed people to kill themselves for the “thrill of the chase” was charged on Friday with helping a Canadian woman and a British man commit suicide, authorities said.
After nearly two years of investigation, William Melchert-Dinkel, 47, was charged with two felony counts of aiding suicide under a rarely used decades-old state law that legal experts say could be difficult to prosecute on freedom-of-speech grounds.
Melchert-Dinkel is accused of encouraging the suicides of Mark Drybrough, 32, who hanged himself at his home in Coventry, England, in 2005; and Nadia Kajouji, 18, of Brampton, Ontario, who drowned in 2008 in a river in Ottawa, where she was studying at Carleton University.
Prosecutors say Melchert-Dinkel posed as a female nurse — using the online names “Cami,” “falcongirl,” “li dao” and others — then feigned compassion for those he met in suicide chat rooms, while offering step-by-step instructions on how to take their lives.
The criminal complaint filed in the case said he told investigators he encouraged “dozens” of people to commit suicide and “characterized it as the thrill of the chase.” He also estimated that he had actually assisted up to five people kill themselves.
Kajouji’s mother, Deborah Chevalier, said she was overwhelmed when she heard the news.
“My insides were shaking, I was crying and laughing at the same time,” she wrote in an e-mail, adding that the charges were long overdue.
Reached at his home in Faribault on Friday, Melchert-Dinkel said he had no comment. His attorney, Terry Watkins, also declined to discuss the case in detail, saying he hadn’t received all the evidence yet.
Melchert-Dinkel, whose first court appearance is scheduled for May 25, told police in January last year that he stopped the Internet chats shortly after Christmas 2008 for moral and legal reasons. He said he “felt terrible” about the advice to commit suicide he provided to others.
An e-mail found on Drybrough’s computer from Melchert-Dinkel showed him giving technical advice on how to hang yourself from a door, “you can easily hang from a door using the knob [on the other] side to tie the rope to, sling it over the top of the door, attach the noose or loop to yourself then step off and hang successfully,” the complaint says.
VAGUE: The criteria of the amnesty remain unclear, but it would cover political violence from 1999 to today, and those convicted of murder or drug trafficking would not qualify Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons. The measure had long been sought by the US-backed opposition. It is the latest concession Rodriguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency. Rodriguez also announced the shutdown
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
Exiled Tibetans began a unique global election yesterday for a government representing a homeland many have never seen, as part of a democratic exercise voters say carries great weight. From red-robed Buddhist monks in the snowy Himalayas, to political exiles in megacities across South Asia, to refugees in Australia, Europe and North America, voting takes place in 27 countries — but not China. “Elections ... show that the struggle for Tibet’s freedom and independence continues from generation to generation,” said candidate Gyaltsen Chokye, 33, who is based in the Indian hill-town of Dharamsala, headquarters of the government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). It
RSS