Chat Room Crime
Social media despite being a cheaper way for people to socialize are also a source of crimes perpetrated by mentally unstable people. In my investigative duty, I investigated one such case of a creepy nurse William Melchert-Dinkel who encouraged suicide over the web. This alarms guardians whose children nowadays use the social media to stay connected to their friends. What is worse is that William encouraged even grownups 32 years of age to commit suicide. Such people if left to continue operating on the web are a serious risk to social media subscribers. Throughout my investigation, the question of reality of social profiles in social networks came up. In such a long time, 48 years old man posed as a young female nurse and encouraged death over the internet.
I investigated the case of Nadia Kajouji from Brampton Ontario who jumped into frozen water and committed suicide. William was a nurse by profession a dangerous career for someone with such fetish to see people die. On investigating his career as a nurse, no inconsistencies arose or complaints about his services from doctors or patients. Despite this, he had to stop working, and his license retrieved. Nadia had a hard time in life as she recorded in many webcam conversations with counseling teachers and doctors. Breaking up with her long time boyfriend, and later finding out she was pregnant was too much for her to bear. After excessive drinking Nadia, miscarriage and this put her in a suicidal mode.
In this mentally unbalanced state is when Nadia met William posing as Cami in a chat room, and they entered into a pact to commit suicide. Nadia was not William’s first victim as another Mr. Dryborough also hanged himself although not as William described to him, William still influenced his death. Dryborough had been ill for quite some time and went online to look for drugs to overdose. It is after he asked for instructions on how to hang himself that Li Dao started sending him e-mails. Williams put efforts to be persuasive and requested Dryborough to put a webcam when committing suicide. Dryborough refused to put the webcam, but he hanged himself all the same.
Nadia on her part posted she was afraid of failure in her attempt to commit suicide. Then William started sending Nadia e-mails explaining how to go about when hanging herself. William detailed how to tie the noose and the type and size of rope suitable for the task. William later begged Nadia to put a webcam when hanging, and if she failed, he would hang together. Although Nadia did not hang herself, she still committed suicide.
Psychologists argue that William suffers from suicide fetish. This is a deep urge to see others commit suicide and is more satisfying if the victim follows his instructions. William would not murder someone, as it would not thrill him. That is the reason he posed no threats to patients as a nurse. What was even more surprising is his lack of compassion even to Nadia who was favorably the same age with his daughters. Like his victims, William also had a mental imbalance.
Before Nadia’s suicide, a retired, British schoolteacher Celia Blay after receiving information from a teenage friend investigated Williams. Celia convinced the teenager to get out of the pact four hours before suicide. On reporting, this police did not investigate further. Charges against Williams were on two cases only although more than five people committed suicide from his persuasion. William was guilty on all charges and sentenced 360 days in prison and 15 years on probation.
Work cited
Matthew Williams. Virtually Criminal: Crime, Deviance and Regulation Online.New York: Taylor & Francis, 2006
Russell G. Smith, Peter N. Grabosky, Gregor UrbasCyber Criminals on Trial. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004
