KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (Feb. 11) - A man used e-mail to try to set up a mass suicide on Valentine's Day involving as many as 32 people across the United States and Canada, authorities said.
Gerald Krein, 26, was arrested Wednesday at his mother's mobile home in Klamath Falls and faces charges of solicitation to commit murder, sheriff's deputies said. Investigators are subpoenaing Internet chat room records to try to contact people who may have planned to take part in the suicide.
Detectives learned of the plan from a woman in Canada who said she saw the message in a chat room that had the words ''Suicide Ideology'' in the title.
The woman, who was not identified by authorities, told detectives she was going to take part in the suicide but had second thoughts when another chat room participant said she would do it and talked about killing her two children before taking her own life, said Klamath County Sheriff Tim Evinger.
''Our primary goal is to try to locate where these endangered children might be,'' Evinger said. ''We need to investigate where these other computers are. Hopefully we can intervene if anyone still has the notion to follow through with this.''
The chat room participants planned to log in on Valentine's Day and commit suicide while keeping in touch over the Internet, Evinger said.
Deputies seized Krein's computer, and the suspect was being held without bail. Krein had moved to Klamath Falls from the Sacramento, Calif., area about a year ago to take care of his ailing father, Evinger said.
District Attorney Ed Caleb said he is taking the solicitations seriously.
''There is always a chance this is a joke, but our position is in this world, any time a person makes these kinds of overt actions, they need to be looked into,'' said Caleb.
A grand jury will convene on Monday to determine if Krein will face additional charges, Caleb said.
I wonder if right before they did it if they would type {s goodbye in the chat. :lol
Gerald Krein, 26, was arrested Wednesday at his mother's mobile home in Klamath Falls and faces charges of solicitation to commit murder, sheriff's deputies said. Investigators are subpoenaing Internet chat room records to try to contact people who may have planned to take part in the suicide.
Detectives learned of the plan from a woman in Canada who said she saw the message in a chat room that had the words ''Suicide Ideology'' in the title.
The woman, who was not identified by authorities, told detectives she was going to take part in the suicide but had second thoughts when another chat room participant said she would do it and talked about killing her two children before taking her own life, said Klamath County Sheriff Tim Evinger.
''Our primary goal is to try to locate where these endangered children might be,'' Evinger said. ''We need to investigate where these other computers are. Hopefully we can intervene if anyone still has the notion to follow through with this.''
The chat room participants planned to log in on Valentine's Day and commit suicide while keeping in touch over the Internet, Evinger said.
Deputies seized Krein's computer, and the suspect was being held without bail. Krein had moved to Klamath Falls from the Sacramento, Calif., area about a year ago to take care of his ailing father, Evinger said.
District Attorney Ed Caleb said he is taking the solicitations seriously.
''There is always a chance this is a joke, but our position is in this world, any time a person makes these kinds of overt actions, they need to be looked into,'' said Caleb.
A grand jury will convene on Monday to determine if Krein will face additional charges, Caleb said.
I wonder if right before they did it if they would type {s goodbye in the chat. :lol
I know why they do it (they think they're saving their kids form the awful world they're going to grow up in), but it's still awful.
