Boston College student’s girlfriend pleads guilty over his suicide

A former Boston College student has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in connection to the suicide of her boyfriend two years ago.

Inyoung You, 23, was given a two and a half years suspended jail term, and told she would not be allowed to profit from the case that shocked America.

Her boyfriend Alexander Urtula, 22, jumped to his death from a garage hours before his graduation on 20 May 2019.

Prosecutors say You was abusive towards Mr Urtula, urging him to kill himself.

You was sentenced on Thursday in Boston’s Suffolk County Superior Court, Massachusetts.

Her prison term is suspended for 10 years, meaning that she can avoid being jailed if she complies with her probation terms. They include mandatory mental-health treatment and 300 hours of community service.

Judge Robert Ullmann also stressed that she “will not profit directly or indirectly from any media presentation or any discussion or dissemination of the facts of this case”.

You declined to give a statement, with her lawyer saying she was “very distraught”, according to the Boston Herald website.

During an investigation police had determined that she “was physically, verbally and psychologically abusive towards Mr Urtula during their 18-month-long tumultuous relationship”, Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins said back in October 2019.

“The abuse became more frequent, more powerful and more demeaning in the days and hours leading up to Mr Urtula’s death,” the attorney said.

She said that the couple had exchanged more than 75,000 text messages in the two months prior to Mr Urtula’s death.

In her posts, You urged Mr Urtula to “go kill himself” and “go die”, the attorney said.

She added that on 20 May You “was tracking Mr Urtula’s location and went to the Renaissance garage” where he killed himself.

Source: bbc.co.uk