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Former Boston College Student Pleads Not Guilty To Pushing Boyfriend To Suicide
Inyoung You is accused of sending Alexander Urtula thousands of text messages urging him to commit suicide.
A former Boston College student returned from South Korea after she was indicted for influencing her boyfriend to take his own life by leaping off a parking garage and appeared in a Boston court on Friday.
Inyoung You, 21, pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Suffolk County Superior Court, according to NBC Boston.
You, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, didn’t speak during the proceedings and was led away in handcuffs.
She was also ordered by the judge to forfeit her passport and remain in Massachusetts until the trial’s completion. Her attorney said that she will be freed once she posts bail, which was set at $5,000, the station reported.
You was indicted on Oct. 18, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office announced last month.
Her trial is set to begin in November 2020, The Associated Press reported.
On May 20, 22-year-old Urtula jumped from the top of a parking garage in Roxbury, Massachusetts, less than two hours before he was supposed to graduate from Boston College.
Suffolk County prosecutors say that the 18-month relationship between You and Urtula was “tumultuous” and that she committed “unrelenting abuse.”
They also allege the couple exchanged more than 75,000 text messages only two months before Urtula died. More than 47,000 of them were allegedly sent by You, according to an Oct. 28 released statement.
“Many of the messages display the power dynamic of 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,” the statement reads. “Her texts included repeated admonitions for Mr. Urtula to ‘go kill himself’ to ‘go die’ and that she, his family, and the world would be better off without him.”
You, the prosecutors continued, “was physically, verbally and psychologically abusive towards Mr. Urtula” and that the alleged abuse “became more frequent, more powerful and more demeaning in the days and hours leading up to Mr. Urtula’s death.”
To answer these accusations, a public relations firm, Rasky Partners Inc., came forward on behalf of You to provide potential exculpatory texts to The Boston Globe.
In the texts, which could be presented as evidence during trial, You appears to be trying to deescalate her boyfriend's defeatist state and stop him from taking his life. You also seemingly pleads with Urtula not to kill himself once he reveals his plans to jump off a building.
"You’ll have everything once I’m gone," he allegedly wrote her, according to the Globe.
"PLWASE [sic] STOp... she texted him. “ ALEX, WHAT SRE [sic] YOU [expletive] DOING. IF U [expletive] LOVE ME STOP. IF U EVER [expletive] LOVED ME STOP.”
Rasky Partners also supplied the publication with texts that suggest You tried to contact Urtula’s brother for help before Urtula's death.
Prior to today’s appearance, the district attorney’s office refused to weigh in on these more flattering text messages but promised more proof would be released.
“This office will not comment further on the investigation at this point, or on the evidence that supported our charging decision. More facts and evidence will be made available at the arraignment and throughout the course of the litigation.”
