Suicide of Kevin Whitrick

Kevin Neil Whitrick (17 August 1964 – 21 March 2007) was a British electrical engineer.[1] Whitrick's death was highly publicised for his live, online webcast suicide.

Kevin Whitrick
Born
Kevin Neil Whitrick

(1964-08-17)17 August 1964
Cross Houses, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, UK
Died21 March 2007(2007-03-21) (aged 42)
Wellington, Telford, Shropshire, England, UK
OccupationEngineer
Spouse(s)Paula Whitrick

Biography

Marriage and children

At the time of his death, he was married to his wife Paula, but lived apart from his family after the breakdown of his marriage two years previously.[2]

Suicide

On the day of his death, Kevin Whitrick was in a chatroom on PalTalk and was joined by about 60 other users in a special "insult" chatroom where people "have a go at each other".[2] 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 pm. GMT.[1]

Aftermath

The death has been reported in the press and is notable due to fear it might inspire other suicides,[3] the possibility of the webcam footage being made available on the internet,[4] 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.[5] The Crown Prosecution Service has stated that none of the chatroom users will face criminal charges.[6]

Similar incidents
  • 2003: Brandon Vedas died of an unintentional drug overdose while engaged in an internet chat, as shown on his webcam.[7]
  • 2008: Abraham Biggs, 19, died by suicide after consuming significant quantities of prescription drugs, and streaming his suicide live on Justin.tv under the name feels_like_ecstacy. Before he fell unconscious and subsequently died, Biggs was also chatting on a bodybuilding forum, where he had reportedly threatened suicide on numerous occasions.[8]
  • 2010: A 21-year-old man named Marcus Jannes from Järna, Stockholm, hanged himself and set up an ftp file that sent pictures very 2 seconds after making a post on the Internet forum Flashback.org, in which he wrote that he had swallowed some painkillers and was going to hang himself. In 2020, Dream Drop released a song dedicated to Marcus called “Livestream my suicide”.[9]
  • 2013: A 14-year-old girl from Ōmihachiman under the alias of rorochan_1999 (Japanese: ろろ ちゃん, Hepburn: Roro Chan) died by suicide on livestream after jumping from the 14th story of her apartment building. In 2019, Shinsei Kamattechan released a song called "Ruru's Suicide Livestream" Which appeared to be based on the suicide, however it was never confirmed by the band.
  • 2013: A 21 year old college student named Dakota Moore attempted suicide by lighting a fire in the corner of his dorm room then hiding under his bed after taking painkillers and drinking Vodka. Minutes later, firefighters broke into his room and pulled him out. He survived with several injuries.
  • 2015: A 17 year old Russian teenager named Rina Palenkova posted selfies near some train tracks with the caption “Nya, Bye”. She then laid her neck on the track and was decapitated by an oncoming train.
  • 2016: A 22 year Turkish man named Erdogan Ceren killed himself with a shot to the heart in a Facebook live stream (on October 10th 2016, around 3pm) after his girlfriend cheated and broke up with him.[10]
  • 2016: A young man from Sindh, Pakistan named Muneer Ahmad Kalor died by suicide while live streaming in Facebook Live because his friend got angry at him.[11]
  • 2016: Ocèane Ebem, an eighteen-year-old woman from Égly in the suburbs of Paris, live-streamed herself jumping under a train on social media platform Periscope after she was allegedly abused and raped by her boyfriend.[12]
  • 2016: Katelyn Nicole Davis, a 12-year-old girl from Polk County, Georgia, live-streamed her hanging herself on 30 December 2016.[13]
  • 2018: An 18 year old boy named Shuaib Aslam live-streamed his suicide on YouTube under the alias of Shuaiby after a dispute with his mother. He was in a chat room with his friends when he held up a piece of note paper that said, “3/14/18, Bye /R9K/“ then shot himself in the head with a military grade KSG shotgun. The 50 minute video was spread rapidly on social media platforms and led to several controversies due to his young age.
  • 2018: A young Japanese Youtuber under the alias of Nakaikiaka jumped in front of a train while live streaming. Not much is known about the incident.
  • 2019: Gleb Korablev, an eighteen-year-old university student from Moscow, Russia livestreamed himself on social media network VK committing suicide via self inflicted shotgun wound to the head. The video was notorious for sparking an internet legend claiming it is cursed, earning the name “video 1444”. [14]
  • 2019: Brian Velasco, a Filipino drummer for the band Razorback, jumped off a building while live-streaming on Facebook Live.
  • 2020: A young Japanese Youtuber under the alias of Mero-Matsumoto jumped in front of a train on stream, but survived after the train only clipped her arm.
  • 2020: Ronnie McNutt, a 33-year-old veteran and autoworker who died by suicide after gunshot to the head, livestreamed the event on Facebook after suffering from PTSD and Depression.[15]
  • 2021: A 28 year old man from San Diego, California named Angel Hernandez Grado died by suicide on Instagram since he allegedly held his girlfriend captive for two days. He recorded a message for his son, who was just a toddler at the time, then shot himself with a pistol after being surrounded by police.[16][17][18]
  • 2021: An unidentified teenage girl from Zelenograd, Russia streamed herself jumping from a building on Instagram, supposedly due to a break-up. 2 days later, another unidentified teenager did the same.
  • 2021: A Chinese influencer named Luo Xioa Mao Mao Zi drank pesticides while live-streaming. She was rushed to the hospital, but pronounced dead the next day.

See also

References
  1. Bale, Joanna (24 March 2007). "Get on with it, said net audience as man hanged himself on webcam". The Times. Archived from the original on 6 April 2007. Retrieved 27 May 2007.
  2. "Chatroom users 'egged on father to kill himself live on webcam'". London Evening Standard. 24 March 2007. Archived from the original on 7 March 2009. Retrieved 15 May 2009.
  3. Live hanging shown on web – Alberta suicide-prevention groups brace for copycat deaths Archived 28 March 2007 at archive.today
  4. Keep online suicide footage offline: police Archived 29 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Ungoed-Thomas, Jon (26 March 2007). "Police consider charging chatroom users for inciting cyber suicide". The Australian. Archived from the original on 15 May 2007. Retrieved 27 May 2007.
  6. "No charges over 'suicide' on web". BBC News. 26 May 2007. Retrieved 27 May 2007.
  7. "Net grief for online 'suicide'" BBC News, 4 February 2003.
  8. "Florida teen kills self in front of live webcam"Reuters.com
  9. "Swedish man uses webcam to broadcast suicide live on internet". The Castlegar Source. 13 October 2010. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  10. https://naijagists.com/video-of-erdogan-cerenturkish-guy-who-killed-himself-live-on-facebook-after-girlfriend-broke-up-with-him-goes-viral/
  11. "Man Commits Suicide Live On Facebook". UrduPoint. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  12. Dasgupta, Rana (21 October 2019). "The first social media suicide". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  13. Dukes, Deidra (11 January 2017). "Girl's 'suicide video' sparks outrage online". WAGA. Archived from the original on 5 May 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  14. Campbell, Nakeisha (19 December 2019). "Video 1444: YouTube's Most Gruesome New Trend Has Gone Viral". Distractify. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  15. Kitching, Chris (11 September 2020). "Ronnie McNutt: Tragic story of man who killed himself on Facebook live stream". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  16. "California Man Live-Streamed Suicide After Alleged Axe Attack On Girlfriend". Oxygen Official Site. 2 June 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  17. "Instagram Star S2K Wya Livestreams Suicide During High-Speed Police Chase [VIDEO]". International Business Times, Singapore Edition. June 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  18. "Who is S2K Wya's girlfriend? Videos purportedly show woman recounting domestic violence". MEAWW. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
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