British women help bring alleged 'suicide voyeur' to justice

 

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British women help bring alleged 'suicide voyeur' to justice

Three British women have assisted US police with their investigations of an apparent 'suicide voyeur', who allegedly used internet chat-rooms to encourage emotionally vulnerable people to take their own lives, the Telegraph reports.

William Melchert-Dinkel, 47, has been described as a regular churchgoer and excellent father by his neighbours in Fairbault, Minnesota, US, according to the newspaper.

However, the married father of two has now appeared in court charged with two counts of assisting suicide.

And US prosecutors have confirmed that they are considering adding further charges following an alleged admission from Mr Melchert-Dinkel that he has encouraged other people to take their own lives.

Mr Melchert-Dinkel has confessed to actively helping up to five people die by suicide by providing advice and information, according to the BBC.

It is alleged that Mr Melchert-Dinkel pretended to be a female nurse in internet forums. He is thought to have targeted depressed people – in particular those expressing suicidal feelings – and actively encouraged them to take their own lives.

While it is not yet known exactly why Mr Melchert-Dinkel may have decided to encourage such actions, it is claimed that he asked his victims to film themselves as they died in order for him to watch, resulting in US prosecutors branding him a "suicide voyeur".

One of the people Mr Melchert-Dinkel has been charged with aiding the suicide of is Mark Drybrough of Coventry, England, who took his own life in 2005 at the age of 32.

Mark's mother first discovered her son's death may not have been quite as it seemed when she checked through his emails after his demise.

Some of the emails, which have allegedly now been traced back to Mr Melchert-Dinkel, contained detailed advice regarding the method of suicide by which Mark had died.

Mrs Drybrough believes these emails may have further convinced her already emotionally vulnerable son to turn his thoughts of suicide into a reality.

She told the newspaper: "He was just coming through a nervous breakdown at the time and was incredibly susceptible at that point."

During the course of her investigations, Ms Drybrough joined forces with Katherine Lowe, 37, from Wolverhampton, who has alleged that she too was targeted by Mr Melchert-Dinkel.

Miss Lowe told the newspaper that she would use an internet support group when she was feeling emotionally low – including times at which she struggled with thoughts of suicide – and it was there that she alleges she encountered Mr Melchert-Dinkel.

She told the Telegraph: "I made a lot of friends in that internet support group, and we all started to suspect him after a while because he used lots of different names.

"Whenever he 'spoke' to people he was always a bit too over-supportive in encouraging people to go through with suicide."

Miss Lowe says her suspicions were further aroused when the American woman she believed she was in contact with sent a photograph, supposedly of herself, which had a male pseudonym as a filename.

From that point, she tells the newspaper, she decided to keep engaging the forum user – who she now claims was Mr Melchert-Dinkel – in conversation in order to gather as much evidence as she could.

She said: "After a while I convinced him to use a webcam himself, and it was then I saw him as the man he really was. So I took a picture of him on my mobile phone."

Celia Blay, from Maiden Bladley, Wiltshire, also began making inquiries about Mr Melchert-Dinkel in 2006, after a contact she made through the internet – a depressed
17-year-old girl in Guatemala, South America – told her that she had been encouraged to take her own life by an American woman via a chat-room.

Through her own investigations Ms Blay discovered that the supposed American woman was actually male, and further discovered that the same user was making similar suggestions to a number of other vulnerable people.

All three women passed the information they obtained to US investigators, including the Minnesota Police who, following their own investigations, concluded that they had enough evidence with which to charge Mr Melchert-Dinkel.

Ms Blay told the newspaper: "I hope a message had been sent out that vulnerable, suicidal people aren't easy targets."

 

Samaritans

If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or emotional distress, you can call Samaritans for support 24 hours on 08457 90 90 90 (UK) and 1850 60 90 90 (ROI), or email at jo@samaritans.org, or face to face - visit http://www.samaritans.org/ for your nearest branch.

 

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