The Woman Who Texted Her Boyfriend To Kill Himself Is Being Sued By His Family For $4 Million

The Massachusetts woman recently found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for reportedly encouraging her then-boyfriend to commit suicide in 2014 now faces a civil lawsuit. Michelle Carter is being sued by her boyfriend's family for more than $4 million over his suicide.

Earlier this week, a juvenile court judge in Massachusetts sentenced Carter to 15 months in jail after finding her guilty of involuntary manslaughter following a high-profile criminal case related to the 2014 suicide of Conrad Roy. In a lawsuit filed a little less than a month after Carter's June conviction, Roy's family has sued Carter for a little more than $4.2 million in "anticipated lost wages." Roy's mother, Lynn Roy, filed the wrongful death lawsuit, a copy of which was obtained by Radar, with the Norfolk Superior Court on behalf of her deceased son's estate in early July.

The lawsuit alleges Carter's "negligence and/or wanton and reckless conduct" resulted in Conrad's death. "As a direct and proximate result of the negligence and carelessness of the Defendant Michelle Carter and/or her gross negligence, and/or her willful, wanton and/or reckless conduct, the Plaintiff's decedent, Conrad H. Roy III, suffered sever personal injuries, great conscious pain and suffering of body and mind and ultimately death," the lawsuit argues.

Carter was accused of goading Roy, then 18, into committing suicide via a series of more than 1,000 text messages the two exchanged in 2014. In the texts Carter, then 17, instructed Roy on how to kill himself and rebuked him when he expressed doubts about going through with the act, telling him to "get back in" his truck as it filled with carbon monoxide from a generator she'd told him to buy.

Throughout the case, Carter's lawyer argued her texts amounted to free speech, which is protected by the Constitution. In a court filing obtained by People Magazine, Carter's lawyer also maintained her texts "did not contain anything remotely resembling a threat" and that she had encouraged Roy to seek help.

Although Carter was initially sentenced to two and a half years in prison, the judge has since agreed to suspend nine months of that sentence until sometime in 2022. Carter and her lawyer, Joseph Cataldo, have appealed her conviction. Carter remains out on probation pending the results of her appeal, according to New York Magazine. It remains unclear if Carter has retained a civil attorney to represent her in the wrongful death lawsuit Roy's family has filed against her.