From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kevin Neil Whitrick or (August 17, 1964 - March
21, 2007) was a British citizen and an electrical engineer.[1]
Whitrick's death was highly publicized for his live, online webcasted suicide.
Biography
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.[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 punched a hole in his ceiling and placed a rope around a joist
and around his neck, then stepped off a 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.[1]
Aftermath
The death has been reported in the press and is notable due to
the fear of it inspiring 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
- Brandon
Vedas died of a drug overdose while engaged in an Internet chat, as shown on his webcam.[7]
- Abraham Biggs, 19, committed suicide by
consuming significant quantities of pain killers and temazepam, 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 body building
forum, where he had reportedly threatened to commit suicide on
numerous occasions. [8]
See also
References
External
links
| Persondata |
| NAME |
Whitrick, Kevin Neil |
| ALTERNATIVE
NAMES |
Shyboy-17-1 |
| SHORT
DESCRIPTION |
Electrical Engineer |
| DATE OF BIRTH |
17 August 1964 |
| PLACE OF
BIRTH |
Cross Houses Shrewsbury |
| DATE OF DEATH |
21 March 2007 |
| PLACE OF
DEATH |
Wellington, Shropshire, England, United
Kingdom |
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