Kevin Whitrick
Encyclopedia
Kevin Neil Whitrick was a British
citizen and an electrical engineer.
Whitrick's death was highly publicized for his live, online webcast
ed suicide.
and was joined by about 60 other users in a special "insult" chatroom where people "have a go at each other". He stood on a chair, punched a hole in his ceiling and placed a rope around a joist, and then tied the other end around his neck, then stepped off the chair. Some people thought this was a prank, until his face started turning blue. Some people in the chat room egged him on while others tried desperately to find his address. A member in the room contacted the police, who arrived at the scene two minutes later. Kevin Whitrick was pronounced dead at 11:15 p.m. GMT.
The police detectives traced about 100 chatroom users to question them about their role in the cyber suicide.
The Crown Prosecution Service has stated that none of the chatroom users will face criminal charges.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
citizen and an electrical engineer.
Whitrick's death was highly publicized for his live, online webcast
Webcast
A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand...
ed suicide.
Marriage and children
At the time of his death, he was married to his wife Paula, and had 12-year-old twins, one male and one female, but lived apart from his family after the breakdown of his marriage two years previously.Suicide
On the day of his death, Kevin Whitrick was in a chatroom on PalTalkPaltalk
Paltalk Messenger, or simply referred to as Paltalk, is an Internet chat service that allows users to communicate via instant messaging, voice and video chat. It offers thousands of chat rooms and the ability for users to create their own virtual chat room on any topic and category...
and was joined by about 60 other users in a special "insult" chatroom where people "have a go at each other". He stood on a chair, punched a hole in his ceiling and placed a rope around a joist, and then tied the other end around his neck, then stepped off the chair. Some people thought this was a prank, until his face started turning blue. Some people in the chat room egged him on while others tried desperately to find his address. A member in the room contacted the police, who arrived at the scene two minutes later. Kevin Whitrick was pronounced dead at 11:15 p.m. GMT.
Aftermath
The death has been reported in the press and is notable due to fear it might inspire other suicides, the possibility of the webcam footage being made available on the internet, and discussions over the culpability of web users who encouraged the man.The police detectives traced about 100 chatroom users to question them about their role in the cyber suicide.
The Crown Prosecution Service has stated that none of the chatroom users will face criminal charges.
Similar incidents
- Brandon VedasBrandon VedasBrandon Carl Vedas , also known by his nickname ripper on IRC, of Phoenix, Arizona, United States, was a computer enthusiast, recreational drug user and member of the Shroomery.org community who died of an overdose of prescription drugs while discussing what he was doing via chat and webcam...
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under the name feels_like_ecstacy. Before he fell unconscious and subsequently died, Biggs was also chatting on a body building forum, where he had reportedly threatened to commit suicide on numerous occasions.
See also
- Internet suicideInternet suicideAn Internet suicide is a suicide conducted in full view of the public via the Internet, or pursuant to a cybersuicide pact, which is a suicide pact made between individuals who meet on the Internet.- Background :...
- List of people who died by hanging
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