A former Boston College student from South Korea is returning to the US to face an involuntary manslaughter charge in her boyfriend’s suicide.
Inyoung You, 21, is set to appear at an arraignment on Friday morning in Suffolk County Superior Court in Massachusetts.
She was indicted by a grand jury on October 18 in connection with the death of Alexander Urtula.
District Attorney Rachael Rollins’ office announced Thursday that You was on her way back to the US after initially returning to her native South Korea following her boyfriend’s suicide.
Urtula, 22, jumped to his death from the roof of a parking garage in Roxbury on May 20, approximately 90 minutes before he was scheduled to graduate from Boston College.
Inyoung You, 21, a former Boston College student from South Korea, is returning to the US to face an involuntary manslaughter charge in connection with her boyfriend Alexander Urtula’s suicide in May. You (pictured with Urtula) is set to be arraigned Friday in Suffolk County court
Urtula, 22, jumped to his death from the roof of a parking garage in Roxbury on May 20, approximately 90 minutes before he was scheduled to graduate from Boston College
Urtula’s family, who were in town for his commencement ceremony, issued a statement on Thursday.
‘The Urtula family and everyone who loved Alex has been devastated by his loss. Not a minute of any day goes by without those who loved Alex grieving and continually feeling the sharp pain of his passing all over again,’ the family said.
Prosecutors accused You of being physically, verbally and psychologically abusive toward Urtula over the course of the couple’s ‘tumultuous’ 18-month relationship.
Investigators searched Urtula’s phone and found a barrage of harmful texts he received from You in the moments before he took his own life.
You had tracked Urtula’s location on his phone and pulled up at the parking garage in an Uber right as he jumped.
Prosecutors accused You of being physically, verbally and psychologically abusive toward Urtula over the course of the couple’s ‘tumultuous’ 18-month relationship and said she sent him a barrage of harmful texts in the moments before he took his own life
On Tuesday, The Boston Globe published some of the final texts exchanged between You and Urtula.
You’s legal team released the messages in an effort to prove that she did not want him to die and begged him to ‘stop’ what he was doing after he warned her: ‘I’m far away on a tall place and I’m not gonna be here for long.’
The text message exchange began with her lambasting him for turning location services on his phone off, indicating that she had been tracking his movements.
She first asked him: ‘excuse me why is ur [sic] location not available.
‘what are u [sic] doing. where the f*** are you’.
You continued: ‘are you kidding, really? you really turned your location off you were being sus [sic] as f***when u [sic] left i [sic] knew u [sic] were gonna go f*****g see them.
‘u [sic] thought u [sic] were being sly about it.
‘u [sic] think I’m that DUMB? u [sic] turn ur [sic]location off at a time where it’s not even POSSIBLE that u [sic] made it to the parking lot then.’
He sent her fewer texts and they were somber.
His first read: ‘I’m not talking to anyone. I won’t ever again. I’m happy I got to spend my last night with you. I love you Inyoung until my last breath.’
She carried on arguing with him, replying: ‘Then WHERE ARE YOU’ and ‘that’s all you’ve got to f*****g say?’
Urtula then warned: ‘I’m not gonna be anywhere Inyoung this is goodbye forever. I love you. This isn’t your fault it’s mine.’
Her response was angry and written it block capitals.
She replied: ‘what. whAT. UR LEAVING ME [sic]’. It is unclear if she was at this point aware if he planned to take his own life.
His final texts, where he said ‘I’m far away on a tall place and I’m not gonna be here for long. I’m leaving everyone,’ spark her panic.
She begged: ‘ALEX. WHAT SRE [sic] YOU F***** DOING.
‘IF U [sic] F****** LOVE ME STOP.
‘IF U [sic] EVER F****** LOVED ME STOP.’
He replied morosely, writing: ‘I did love you just not well enough’ to which she said: ‘UR GONNA F****** LEAVE ME TO NOTHING.’
His final texts were ‘goodbye’ and then ‘you’ll have everything once I’m gone.’
After receiving them, You said a barrage of panicked and angry messages, pleading with him to ‘stop’ whatever he was doing and saying: ‘Baby, please, please, please…. I love you.’
Her legal team and his family say that while he did not respond to any more texts, he did turn the location services on his phone back on.
It allowed her to track him to The Renaissance Parking Garage in Boston.
She ordered an Uber to take her there and continued texting him while also alerting his brother to his whereabouts.
The pair raced there and Urtula was still standing on top of the building when she arrived but, according to his family, jumped at the sight of her.
Prosecutors said that the pair exchanged more than 75,000 texts in the months before his suicide, including some in which she allegedly told him to kill himself.
They say among them are some in which she told him ‘go die’ and ‘go kill yourself’.
They said in May that You had ‘complete’ control of her emotionally fragile boyfriend and that she used it to manipulate and abuse him.
‘Many of the messages clearly display the power dynamic in 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,’ prosecutor Rachel Rollins said at a press conference announcing the charges in October.
They said the ‘abuse’ was witnessed by friends of Urtula and that he also documented it in a journal.
He was studying biology and had completed his studies.
The day he died, he was due to receive his diploma and his family had traveled to Boston from New Jersey to watch the ceremony.
You remained in South Korea for over a month after she was indicted for involuntary manslaughter.
Prosecutors said they hoped she would surrender voluntarily but that if she didn’t, they would take the necessary steps to bring her back into the country.
Authorities suggested involving Interpol to try to get her to come back, but it appears she chose to return on her own.
The case is the second of its kind to attract publicity.
Earlier this year, Michelle Carter was sentenced to 15 months in prison for encouraging her boyfriend Conrad Roy III to commit suicide in 2014 when she was 18.
Prosecutors, when they announced the charges against You, said the cases were similar.
However, there are some significant differences.
The biggest difference between them was that You launched an unrelenting campaign of abuse on her boyfriend whereas Carter egged Roy on.
The younger pair also had limited physical contact whereas You and Urtula were frequently with each other.
‘We have a barrage, a complete and utter attack on this man’s very will and conscience and psyche by an individual to the tune of 47,000 messages,’ Rollins said in October.
Prosecutors have not commented on the texts her legal team released.
The Renaissance Parking Garage in Boston where Urtula jumped to his death is shown above