At the time of his death, he was married to his wife Paula, but lived apart from his family after the breakdown of his marriage two years previously.
Suicide
On the day of his death, Kevin Whitrick was in a chatroom on PalTalk and was joined by about 60 other users in a special "insult" chatroom where people "have a go at each other". He stood on a chair, punched a hole in his ceiling and placed a rope around a joist, and then tied the other end around his neck, then stepped off the chair. Some people thought this was a prank, until his face started turning blue. Some people in the chat room egged him on while others tried desperately to find his address. A member in the room contacted the police, who arrived at the scene two minutes later. Kevin Whitrick was pronounced dead at 11:15 pm. GMT.
Aftermath
The death has been reported in the press and is notable due to fear it might inspire other suicides, the possibility of the webcam footage being made available on the internet, and discussions over the culpability of web users who encouraged the man. The police detectives traced about 100 chatroom users to question them about their role in the cyber suicide. The Crown Prosecution Service has stated that none of the chatroom users will face criminal charges.
in 2008: Abraham Biggs, 19, committed suicide by consuming significant quantities of prescription drugs, and streaming his suicide live on Justin.tv under the name feels_like_ecstacy. Before he fell unconscious and subsequently died, Biggs was also chatting on a body building forum, where he had reportedly threatened to commit suicide on numerous occasions.
24 November 2013: rorochan_1999 killed herself by jumping off of the balcony of her room, as demonstrated by her livestream. Her suicide is speculated to be instigated by her chat telling her she could fulfill her desire to be a legend by doing it. In 2019 Shinsei Kamattechan released a song called "Ruru's Suicide Show on a Livestream" based on the event in their album Jidou Karte with a music video adaptation in 2020.
Suicide of Océane Ebem, an eighteen-year-old woman from Égly in the suburbs of Paris, who on 10 May 2016 livestreamed a long video testimonial before throwing herself under a train.
