William Melchert-Dinkel is a former Minnesota licensed practical nurse who posed as a suicidal young woman in online chat rooms to encourage strangers to kill themselves, was tied to the deaths of a man in England and a college student in Ontario, and became the subject of a landmark 2014 Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that struck down parts of the state’s assisted-suicide law on First Amendment grounds. One conviction against him — for assisting the suicide of Mark Drybrough — still stands. The other was reversed.
What He Did in the Chat Rooms
Melchert-Dinkel, of Faribault, Minnesota, frequented internet forums where people discussed suicidal thoughts. He used aliases including “Li Dao,” “Cami,” and “falcon_girl,” typically presenting himself as a young, depressed female nurse. He would claim to be suicidal too, feign compassion, and offer to enter suicide pacts he never intended to keep.1New York Times. Minnesota Man Is Charged in Suicides
He used his nursing background to present himself as an authority on methods, giving step-by-step instructions. In one exchange he described the placement of a noose and the position of the knot for rapid unconsciousness.2NBC News. Nurse Charged With Aiding Suicides Via Internet He often pressed victims to perform the act on webcam so he could watch. He told investigators he had entered fake suicide pacts with at least ten people, had chatted with roughly twenty, and had “most likely encouraged dozens” to kill themselves. He described his behavior to police as an “obsession” and said he was driven by the “thrill of the chase.”3The Guardian. William Melchert-Dinkel Guilty of Aiding Suicides Via Internet
The Two Known Victims
Mark Drybrough was a 32-year-old man from Coventry, England. On July 1, 2005, he posted a question on a suicide website about hanging methods. Using the alias “Li Dao,” Melchert-Dinkel wrote back with detailed instructions for hanging from a door using a doorknob and a rope. When Drybrough later mentioned pills, Melchert-Dinkel steered him back to hanging, calling it the “best and surest method.” Drybrough was found dead in his home on July 27, 2005, hanging from a rope attached to a loft ladder.4Minnesota Court of Appeals. State of Minnesota v. William Francis Melchert-Dinkel, A15-0073
Nadia Kajouji was an 18-year-old Carleton University student from Brampton, Ontario. In March 2008 she posted on a suicide website looking for methods that would look accidental. Melchert-Dinkel, using the alias “Cami,” contacted her posing as a 31-year-old female nurse. She had already decided to jump from a bridge; he repeatedly tried to convince her to hang herself instead, claiming he had “never seen a failed hanging” in seven years. He entered a pact with her and offered to watch on webcam. On March 9, 2008, she told “Cami” she was going skating, then jumped from a bridge into the frozen Rideau River. Her body was recovered six weeks later, still wearing skates. Cause of death was ruled drowning or hypothermia.5CBC News. Nadia Kajouji Suicide Conviction Reversed
How He Was Caught
The case surfaced because of Celia Blay, a retired teacher from Wiltshire, England, who monitored suicide chat rooms and grew suspicious of a user posing as a female nurse from Minnesota. She spent years collecting emails and chat transcripts and eventually linked the aliases to a Faribault address after Melchert-Dinkel accidentally sent a message under his real name.6Grand Forks Herald. Unmasking the Faribault Suicide Nurse British police initially declined to act. Through a Minnesota contact, Blay reached the Carver County Sheriff’s Office, which routed the matter to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. A formal investigation opened in March 2008, and Canadian authorities linked Melchert-Dinkel to Kajouji through chat transcripts and computer forensics.7Global News. U.S. Man Charged With Inciting Ottawa Student’s Suicide
In January 2009, Melchert-Dinkel admitted to police he had engaged in the chats. A search warrant executed in May 2009 turned up chat logs and photographs on his computer.8NBC News. Did Minnesota Nurse Help People Kill Themselves
Loss of Nursing License
The Minnesota Board of Nursing suspended his practical nursing license in February 2009 and permanently revoked it that June.9ABC News. Minnesota Nurse Under Investigation for Encouraging Suicides The board documented a 15-year pattern of discipline behind that decision, including reprimands for patient abuse or neglect at four facilities between 1994 and 2002, a period of license restrictions from 1998 to 2003, and further discipline at a Faribault nursing home between 2004 and 2008 for leaving a vulnerable resident unattended, being rough with residents, sleeping on duty, and failing to administer medications.10Toronto Star. Nurse Probed in Teen’s Suicide Has Long Disciplinary Record
The 2010 Charges and 2011 Conviction
On April 23, 2010, Melchert-Dinkel was charged in Rice County District Court with two felony counts of aiding suicide under Minnesota Statute § 609.215, subdivision 1, which criminalized intentionally advising, encouraging, or assisting another in taking their own life. Each count carried up to 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine. Count one related to Drybrough, count two to Kajouji.11MPR News. Faribault Man Charged With Aiding Suicide Ottawa police had opted not to charge him under Canadian law.7Global News. U.S. Man Charged With Inciting Ottawa Student’s Suicide
Melchert-Dinkel waived a jury trial and submitted the case on stipulated facts to Rice County District Judge Thomas Neuville. Defense attorney Terry Watkins argued his client’s conduct, however “obsessive, morbid, abhorrent, sick,” was constitutionally protected speech and that the victims were already predisposed to suicide.12Pioneer Press. Suicide Tips Creepy and Sick, Attorney Says, but Not Illegal On March 15, 2011, Neuville found him guilty on both counts, writing that the victims’ vulnerability “actually makes the victim more vulnerable to encouragement or advice” and calling the conduct “repeated and relentless encouragement.”13MPR News. Former Nurse Found Guilty of Assisting Suicide
On May 4, 2011, Neuville sentenced him to 15 years of probation with 320 days in jail up front, plus two-day jail stints on the anniversaries of each victim’s death for ten years. A six-and-a-half-year prison term was stayed pending compliance.14MPR News. Former Nurse Sentenced in Internet Suicide Case
The Minnesota Supreme Court’s First Amendment Ruling
On March 19, 2014, in State v. Melchert-Dinkel, 844 N.W.2d 13, the Minnesota Supreme Court reversed both convictions. It held that the parts of the statute criminalizing “advising” or “encouraging” suicide were unconstitutionally overbroad under the First Amendment. Suicide itself had been decriminalized in Minnesota in 1911, so speech encouraging it could not be classified as incitement to imminent lawless action or as speech integral to criminal conduct. The court also rejected the state’s fraud-exception argument, reasoning under United States v. Alvarez that fraud requires the speaker to seek some material advantage, and none was shown.15Justia. State v. Melchert-Dinkel, A11-0987
The court severed “advises” and “encourages” from the statute and upheld only the prohibition on “assisting” suicide, which it read narrowly as requiring a direct, causal link between the defendant’s actions and the death. Because Neuville’s original verdict had not made a specific finding on whether Melchert-Dinkel “assisted” the suicides, the case went back to the district court.16FindLaw. State v. Melchert-Dinkel, Minnesota Supreme Court
Conviction on Remand and the 2015 Appeal
On remand, Judge Neuville denied defense motions to withdraw the jury waiver and to bar retrial on double jeopardy grounds, then made new findings under the narrowed statute. He found Melchert-Dinkel guilty of assisting Drybrough’s suicide, concluding there was a “direct, causal relationship” between the detailed hanging instructions and Drybrough’s death. On the Kajouji count, Neuville acquitted him of assisting her suicide — she died by a method he had tried to talk her out of — but convicted him of the lesser offense of attempting to assist.4Minnesota Court of Appeals. State of Minnesota v. William Francis Melchert-Dinkel, A15-0073
On October 15, 2014, Neuville resentenced him to 178 days in jail with a longer prison term stayed on conditions of probation. He reported to jail on October 24, 2014.17BBC News. Minnesota Suicide Online Nurse Jailed for 178 Days
On December 28, 2015, the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed the Drybrough conviction, holding that the specific hanging instructions were the kind of direct enablement the narrowed statute was meant to reach. It reversed the attempt conviction tied to Kajouji, concluding that general encouragement, emotional support, and a suggestion to buy rope did not amount to a “substantial step” of assistance now that mere encouragement was constitutionally protected.18The Guardian. Minnesota Suicide Conviction Affirmed for William Melchert-Dinkel
As of the most recent reporting available, the Drybrough conviction stands. Melchert-Dinkel served roughly six months in jail and remained on probation.18The Guardian. Minnesota Suicide Conviction Affirmed for William Melchert-Dinkel
Why the Case Matters
The Minnesota Supreme Court’s 2014 decision drew a constitutional line that had not been clearly articulated before. A state can prosecute someone who gives a specific person the means to commit suicide, but it cannot criminalize speech that only advises or encourages it, however repugnant the speaker’s motives. The court noted that its ruling reached only speech “directly targeted at an individual” and did not touch “general public discussion on the topic of suicide.”15Justia. State v. Melchert-Dinkel, A11-0987 By severing “advise” and “encourage” and preserving only “assist,” the court set a distinction between protected expression and actionable conduct that other jurisdictions have looked to when confronting online suicide-related speech.