Oakland teen charged in wake of suicide

[PeoplesMind]

OAKLAND -- The teenage survivor of a Feb. 5 attempted double suicide at a Douglas County state park was arrested Wednesday on charges of unlawfully inducing the other teenager to commit suicide.

Austen Eriksen, 18, of Oakland was arrested by Illinois State Police agents on a warrant issued by the office of Douglas County State's Attorney's Diane Sipich.

Eriksen was charged with two counts of unlawfully inducing Eric Richardson, 17, of rural Hindsboro to commit suicide.

The two teenagers were found unconscious by friends early Feb. 5 in a locked pickup truck at Walnut State Park, north of Oakland. Richardson was pronounced dead at the scene. Eriksen was treated and released from Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana.

Autopsy results for Richardson reported that he died from an overdose of the legal drug, Dextromethorphan. The drug, known as DXM, is found in over-the-counter cold and cough remedies. The coroner's jury's verdict ruled Richardson committed suicide.

Eriksen also reportedly ingested a large quantity of DXM. Police reported during the March inquest into Richardson's death that Eriksen had left a suicide note to his girlfriend the night before he and Richardson each ingested more than a dozen DXM tablets.

Sipich said the arrest resulted from the efforts of the Douglas County Sheriff's Department, Illinois State Police, and East Central Illinois Task Force.

"There were quite a few interviews and quite a few investigations," Sipich said.

The state's attorney said one count against Eriksen focuses on him providing DXM to Richardson knowing he planned to use it to commit suicide. She said the other count centers on Eriksen riding to Walnut Point with Richardson and taking the drugs with him.

Both counts involve doses of DXM that were larger than therapeutic levels, Sipich said.

Unlawfully inducing someone to commit suicide is a class 4 felony. Eriksen could receive one to three years in prison for each of the counts.

According to the Illinois State Police and Douglas County sheriff, Eriksen allegedly purchased the DXM over the Internet. DXM causes a hallucinatory high in large doses, and has dangerous affects on a user's visual perception and cognitive process.

Both Eriksen and Richardson were attending Oakland High School as seniors at the time of the Feb. 5 incident.

READ : http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2004/05/20/n...news/news01.txt

[TODD BLANKENSHIP]

i read about this awhile back, unlesss there was another double suicide attempt using dxm. i think they both took 2 grams and one of them didnt die or some shit. i cant believe the one kid DID die. i wonder if he took anything else.

its a really sad story.

[SnarkBot]

i think its bull shit to put some one in prison for trying to commit suicide, or assitied suicide at that. even if they're mentally unstable. its your own life and you should be aloud to do what ever the fook you want to with it

[Rexedgeltoe]

Misery loves company.

That's ridiculous that they're trying to charge the guy who lived, the other guy was just a year younger than him, he was old enough to make the decision for himself. Obviously if he was trying to kill himself as well, he wasn't trying to profit from his partner's deathb but I guess there are a lot of anti-euthanasia supporters who need to channel their anger somewhere.

[SnarkBot]

maybe we should do like something to save him or something. or get him a fruit basket.

[_Swey_]

That is bs its kinda like the hell on earth concert were the guy was supposed to kill himself on stage. The city said they would give him a ticket if he did it. But i dont think he was worried about a possible fine at the time

[TODD BLANKENSHIP]

hes really gonna wanna kill himself now

[neko]

suicide = killing one's SELF.

YOU CAN'T MAKE SOMEONE DO IT.

jesus christ, the kid's going to feel like shit about this for the rest of his life, just who is the criminal justice system serving here?

[TODD BLANKENSHIP]

why does this remind me of that story about the kid getting attacked by alligators?

[vapor]

really tragic...