turn the case on its head. once again, here is andrea canning with reckless. two days after conrad roy s death, detective scott gordon of the fair haven police department have found a clue. and it was a bombshell. a string of text messages from shell carter on conrad s phone what are you seeing? it was a series of messages that seem to be encouraging him to take his own life. encouraging him to take his own life? to the detective, it was unimaginable. he learned michelle and conrad had been texting, like teenagers do, for almost two years. but if you weeks before his death, something changed. it seemed michel started a campaign to get conrad to get to commit suicide. she even gave him suggestions on how to do it hang yourself, jump off a building, stab yourself. i don t know, there is a lot of ways. gordon s partner, detective
but i just couldn t fix my son. and distraught family members who feel betrayed i kind of just said no. hi, this is conrad henry roy the third. our story starts with conrad. his mother says he was an easy child. what kind of kid was he? definitely sensitive, never gave me a hard time with anything. did well in school, had friends, loved baseball. conrad was her first born. two daughters would come later. looking back, she remembers his early years as good ones. every picture i have of him, he looks like a little goofball. the happiest child. he was always happy. conrad grew up in and around the old fishing town of new bedford, massachusetts, where his father and grandfather won a tugboat and barge business. his dad says it scenes conrad was destined to take to the sea from day one. two or three days old, my dad brought him on the tugboat. i just wanted to have him follow in my footsteps. i was hoping
the involuntary manslaughter of conrad roy iii. how did feel hearing that word, guilty, after everything you had been through? i was surprised, actually. there needs to be an example set. you just cannot allow that behavior to continue. we were happy. but then, going home that night, driving home, it was like, okay. it didn t bring the piece i really was hoping for. there were no winners. just heartbreak for two families. i felt it was a tragedy now that has been compounded. nothing is going to help anything out of this. there s no healing going to happen. almost seven weeks later, michelle arrived back at the courthouse to a media circus to here her sentence. she faced a maximum of 20 years in prison. you made your recommendation. yes? 7-12 years. the defense asked for probation. ms. carter regrets what has happened and sent a letter
and living rooms across the globe. she was charged with causing the death of conrad roy. the controversial case hinged on a thorny question. would conwright have carried out his suicide plan without michele s and courage mint? a judge was about to render his verdict. here is andrea canning with the conclusion of reckless. reporter: after six days of testimony, both sides had their final say. but we are dealing with is a suicide and not a homicide. she could have easily called for help and she didn t. it took juvenile court judge, lawrence moan is, three days to reach his verdict. i expect that the packed courtroom was quiet as he began reading his decision. the commonwealth has not proven as to that time period that said reckless or wonton behavior caused the death of mr. roy. michelle looked relieved. the judge declared the prosecution did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that
strong together. she gave me a lot of support, just there for me, when i needed her. but was there something about these two that no one knew? what are you seeing? a series of messages. i had to read them a couple of times to take it all in. really shocking. a trail of text messages, leading to the darkest of discoveries. keeping all the lies straight is difficult. she did it masterfully. i close my eyes and said, this is not real. a twist no one saw coming. and a story that every parent needs to see. we need to know what is going on in our kid s lives, because it can be very scary when we don t. hello and welcome to dateline . 18-year-old conrad roy battled depression and anxiety, but seemed to be finding his way. he was headed to college and excited about his new job. then one night, the teenager vanished.