Student Jumps to Death After Gay Tryst Posted Live on Internet
Student Jumps to Death After Gay Tryst Posted Live on Internet
Tyler Clementi Apparently Reached Out to Gay Website for Help in Days Before Death
KTLA News
3:26 PM PDT, September 30, 2010
Advertisement
Quantcast
PISCATAWAY, NJ ( KTLA) -- A body pulled from the Hudson River has been identified as Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi.
Its believed the 18-year old freshman jumped to his death after his roommate allegedly secretly filmed him during a "sexual encounter" and posted it live on the Internet.
Items belonging to Clementi were found by the bridge including his wallet containing his freshman ID card and driver's license.
The teen's car was found nearby with both his cell phone and computer inside.
The death has been ruled a suicide, and an autopsy revealed the 18-year-old had drowned and suffered blunt impact injuries to his torso.
A post on Clementi's Facebook page, dated Sept. 22 at 8:42 p.m. read, "Jumping off the gw bridge sorry."
Clementi was enrolled in Rutger's music program and was an accomplished violinist.
Paul Mainardi, a lawyer for the family described Clementi as "a fine young man and a distinguished musician."
"The family is heartbroken beyond words.
They respectfully request that they be given time to grieve their great loss and that their privacy at this painful time be respected by all," Mainardi said.\
There is evidence that in the days following his roommate's alleged spying on him, Clementi reached out to a gay website to complain.
The e-mails, written by someone identified as "cit2mo" and first cited by Gawker.com, describe a situation that mirrors Clementi's -- the videocam spying by a college roommate.
Clementi's roommate and fellow freshmen Dharun Ravi, 18, of Plainsboro and friend Molly Wei, 18, of Princeton
have been charged with invasion of privacy for allegedly placing a camera in Clementi's room.
Ravi and Wei were charged with two counts each of invasion of privacy for using a camera to view and transmit a live image
of the teen during the sexual encounter on Sept. 19.
Ravi was additionally charged with two more counts of invasion of privacy for trying to use the hidden camera to view the same student
during another sexual encounter just three days later on Sept. 21.
Days before the suicide, Ravi appears to take credit for videotaping Clementi on his twitter account.
"Roommate asked for the room till midnight," he tweeted on Sept. 19. "I went into Molly's room and turned on my webcam.
I saw him making out with a dude. Yay."
And two days later, another message went out to Ravi's 148 Twitter followers:
"Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes it's happening again."
Ravi was released on $25,000 bail Tuesday after surrendering to Rutgers police,
while Wei was released on her own recognizance Monday after surrendering to authorities.
According to Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan,
it is a fourth-degree crime to collect or view images depicting nudity or sexual content of an individual without that person's consent.
The crime becomes a third-degree offense if the images are transmitted or distributed.
If convicted, Ravi and Wei face up to five years in jail.
http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktl...,1881562.story
