DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Man Hangs Himself Live on Chatroom Webcam

OMG I saw the pic of this,,ugh. This is messed up.

Chatroom users 'egged on father to kill himself live on webcam'

A father-of-two hanged himself live over the internet in Britain's first 'cyber suicide'.

Kevin Whitrick, 42, took his life after being goaded by dozens of chatroom users from across the world who initially believed he was play acting.

But as they watched in horror, Mr Whitrick climbed onto a chair, smashed through a ceiling and then hanged himself with a piece of rope.

evin Neil Whitrick, 42, was found dead by police in Wellington, after being alerted by a web user who is thought to have watched in horror as the man harmed himself

Stunned by what they had witnessed - broadcast on a popular chatroom website used by millions of people across the globe - chatroom users immediately contacted the police.

Officers rushed to the electrician's home in the Wellington area of Shropshire within minutes, smashing down the door to try to save him.
Kevin Whitrick had two 12-year-olds who he visited regularly
But despite their efforts to save him, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Last night it emerged that Mr Whitrick had been suffering from depression after being badly injured in a car crash last year.

Friends said that the breakdown of his marriage with wife, Paula - with whom he had 12-year-old twins - and the recent death of his father had also been causing him some distress.

Mr Whitrick told users of web-chat site PalTalk what he was going to do two hours before he killed himself on Wednesday night.

He was logged on with around 50 other users to a special "insult" chatroom where people "have a go at each other".

Today distraught users of the site said that they felt sick and had previously thought the web broadcast was a hoax.

They confirmed Mr Whitrick told friends in the internet chat room of his plans to kill himself but, thinking he was joking, they egged him on telling him to make sure the his webcam was on.

Mr Whitrick, using the user-name Shyboy-17-1, switched on his webcam and went ahead with his grisly plan.

One anonymous user said: "He tied a rope around an uncovered ceiling joist and stood on the chair as he tied the rope around his neck.

"Some of us chatroom users, talking to Kevin over text chat, microphones and video tried to convince him to step down, but others egged him on telling him to get on with it.

"We just couldn't believe he was doing it - it was surreal.

"One chatter said: 'F***ing do it, get on with it, get it round your neck. For F***'s sake he can't even do this properly'."

Another user who did not wish to be named said: "When Kevin stepped off the chair and was left dangling, the mood in the chatroom changed and people began to realise what they had just seen.

"We started asking if anyone knew where he lived and saying they should contact the police.

"I think someone contacted the police in their local area but sadly no one could get to him in time."

Shortly after, moderators on the site closed the feed from Kevin's webcam.

Source

that's totally messed up...

Very sad...

and I want to know who in their right mind goes into an 'insult' chat room???

That's messed up

Sad for those who had to see it.

As far as the guy hanging himself, good riddance. I just can't bring myself to feel sorry for someone that takes their life or attempts to.

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As far as the guy hanging himself, good riddance. I just can't bring myself to feel sorry for someone that takes their life or attempts to.

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Glad you can have some humanity in you

I do feel sorry for anyone who takes their own life... to think that they get to a point where they don't think there is any other choice is a very sad thing. And sometimes it only takes one person to give an encouraging word to change someone's life around.... instead this guy found a room full of people encouraging him to take his own life.

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Glad you can have some humanity in you

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I know, I'm a johnson, I can admit it.

However it is quite possibly the most selfish thing anyone can do. If you decide to kill yourself then you're thinking only of yourself and not of anyone else. Now if your talking about killing yourself because of some kind of terminal disease then thats a little different. But if its because your depressed, then get over it, take drugs like the rest of the world.

I agree with you that it is very selfish... but...

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But if its because your depressed, then get over it

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This is ignorant... depression of that kind is horrible... and just 'taking drugs' won't do anything for it...

Too bad for this man. Wish he would have sought professional help before doing such a thing.

As far as the people on the recieving end of the video, I am sure some were egging him on and such, but who actually would think someone would do that on a webcam.

j/c because if I made a comment on your attitude, I would be banned for sure.

I think the saddest part of this story is that people were actually egging the guy on to kill himself. It's not new to our society. People used to yell for people to jump from the roofs of buildings.

It bothers me that we live in a society that is so uncaring, so hateful, so crass. The lack of compassion for our fellow human beings speaks volumes about how we view ourselves and our world. Encouraging people to kill themselves, beating homeless men to death as a sport, making excuses for the biased.......should be cause for alarm, but are accepted as the norm.

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j/c because if I made a comment on your attitude, I would be banned for sure.

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My last post was 23 minutes prior to that one, you could've just clicked on someone else and not said anything

I hope the people who egged him on feel like complete (expletive).

This reminds me of the indie movie, "The Bridge", about people who go to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to commit suicide. If I remeber correctly, the stats are that 12 suicides a year are committed from that bridge. A indie filmaker took a camera and set it at a location for a year to show people who would climb to the edge of the bridge and jump. They have clips of it on the internet. Pretty sad and shocking stuff. One person they interviewed, actually jumped and survived. They spoke to him about why he jumped and he said that he really wanted someone to talk to him and stop him. People saw him on the edge of the bridge crying(even walked BY HIM) and NO ONE did anything to stop him. When he saw no one cared, he jumped...Sad. Me personally, I would have spoke to him or at least called for help...SAD.

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However it is quite possibly the most selfish thing anyone can do. If you decide to kill yourself then you're thinking only of yourself and not of anyone else.

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Selfish yes. That is the point you'd try and make with someone who is about to do it. Try to get them thinking about others and how it would hurt them.

As far as one thinking only of themselves and not of anyone else, it is a very sad thing to observe that someone thinks so little of themselves, believing they have no value to themselves or anyone else anymore, that killing themselves won't make a difference nor matter to anyone.


That is a very sad state of mind to be in. I don't think it's a consious decision based on any logic or rationality. It's a very wrong decision based based on a very flawed assumption of one's own self worth or their value to others.

A self-evaluation of that variety certainly doesn't come easy nor is it snap judgement. It is something that has been festering over a long period of time until it reaches the point of no return. The devistating mental anguish is frightening.

I certainly feel very sorry for someone who finds themselves in that condition.

To not feel sorry for them only proves their distorted point that they are not worth it.

The sheer cruelty of some people never ceases to amaze me.

j/c But could'nt the people who egg'ed him on be held resposable in some way? You know like contributing to the hanging. Some of them did not try to stop him!

In the context of the type of chat room he was in and the fact that they thought he was hoaxing i'd say probably not.

I understand what is being said about this guy being "selfish" in the fact that this dolt did this live on the internet and left the pictures for his children to see. Not to mention how much this can mess up their lives now knowing that their father became the first British person to kill themself live on the net. I have lost 2 friends to suicide, one that was a very good friend. I will never know why people do that and I too think they never think about the people left to deal with it. If I was told I was going to die for sure and it might be the worst pain I ever felt, I still don't think I would ever do something to end my life, but would want to spend every second with my family and make sure they will be taken care of or something.

They don't have any belief that their life is worth anything to anyone and they feel those left behind will be better off without them.

I have never wanted to kill myself but I have wished at times that I will go to sleep and not wake up so I have a little idea of what depression feels like. Anyone who thinks it's something you can just wish away is mistaken. It's an illness when will people get that?

There is a distinct difference between ignorance and stupidity and I hope that your comments are borne of ignorance.

I lost a dear friend to suicide. I guess you would feel he was being selfish for taking his own life after his wife and 3 year old son were killed by a drunk driver. I hope that you never have to experience the type of depression that he did. There are no drugs that could cure it.

Sorry about your friend Parrot. I can understand where your friend was coming from because losing those you love the most does some crazy things to ya. (when my mom died of cancer we were worried that my dad would suicide)


Several years ago I lost an aquaintance of mine. He killed himself with a shotgun. His son and I were the last 2 people to see him alive. I will tell you this........I was never more shocked as I was when I was taken into the office at work and sat down with the boss because he felt it should be him that told me what happened. (he knew that Mike was a good guy and one of my favorite customers at the station) Mike and his wife had split up and gotten a divorce. Mike took it very hard but outwardly you couldn't tell that he was hurting. He hid it well, maybe too well. I always wonder if there was anything I could have said or done to keep him from doing something like that. I also don't talk much about that because it still hurts to know that one of the last people to see him was me. (one of the last folks that came into the station before closing time)

Bravo ParrotHead!

Great first post! And Welcome to the best board on the planet!

If the refs feel the pic shouldn't be here, then delete it. Because it pertains to a news story, and it's not necessarily graphic (we've all seen dead people in the news), I don't see too much of a problem with it.

Obviously I've scaled the image down, but if you could read the comments, there were ones egging him on.

I saw the pic and yes it did turn my stomach... but in it all I wonder just one very simple question... no it's not why didn't he get therapy, why did he do it he had so much to live for... no... this probably won't go well but here goes:

He got 50 people in a chat room thinking it was a joke or he was acting... what if we actually did this kind of stuff on line for real? We always talk about making public specticles of people who do far worse than this guy ever went through and most of us use the internet to some extent... just a thought.

Beer!.... Im just asking a question in general... But asking ...shouldnt the people be responsable?

I doubt there'd be a case against them. It's that whole board persona thing that people talk about that I never quite understand. I don't know why anyone wants to pretend to be someone they're not but apparently some people find it entertaining The board described in this story certainly seems to be the type where people like to entertain themselves taht way.

My barber committed suicide earlier this year. His wife and son left for the grocery store one afternoon, and came back to find him in the backyard dead. He shot himself in the head.

He left no note or anything, no one will ever know what pushed him to do it. He always seemed like a really happy guy, too. I still go to the same place to get my haircut (which is weird walking in there and sitting in what used to be his chair), but most people there think he was a homosexual, and finally got tired of living the lie he was living by having a wife and kids, when he was actually gay.

Extremely terrible thing to happen!

Egging someone on to kill themselves just goes to show what kind of monsters we are dealing with (even if they did not take the man serious) in this day and age.

Us folks that seem as if we are so happy with football, cold beer, our nice houses, food whenever we want it, our friends, and peace of mind.........really need to wake up!

There are way too many people out there that are seriously depressed.....many have nothing more then what they are wearing, and often have no loved ones! That is sad but very true!

It is only going to get worse as our young veterans of this war come home and deal with the tragic violence that they have been through to protect this great country....................just to see their good buddies legs blown off or in many cases much worse!

I can remember growing up in Huber Heights in the 60s and thinking how crazy I thought the world was back then.................and it was!

I guess what makes this world a little more crazy and a lot more depressed is the fact that there are way too many damn people on this planet..............and often times we read a story like this and say so what...........it happens all the time!

Wow that's really sad TopDawg. That's why it's so important for people to be encouraged to be true to who they are.