page_title: William Francis Melchert-Dinkel
section_title: Nadia Kajouji; Canada
hierarchical_section_title: William Francis Melchert-Dinkel / Victims / Nadia Kajouji; Canada
caption_attribution_description: English: Rideau River in Ottawa, Ontario
context_page_description: William Francis Melchert-Dinkel is an American former licensed practical nurse. In 2011, he was found guilty of encouraging people to die by suicide. He allegedly told those contemplating suicide what methods worked best, that it was a decent choice to take your own life, that they would be better off in heaven, and/or falsely entered into suicide pacts with them. He is a married father of two.
  Melchert-Dinkel was originally convicted of two counts of assisting suicide for encouraging the July 27, 2005 suicide of 32-year-old Mark Drybrough, a British IT technician, and the March 9, 2008 suicide of 18-year-old Nadia Kajouji, a student at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada via Internet chat rooms. Those convictions were later overturned by the Minnesota Supreme Court when it found that part of the state law used to convict him was unconstitutional. On remand, Melchert-Dinkel was convicted on one count of assisting suicide, and one count of attempted assisting suicide.
  He served 178 days in jail and will be on probation for ten years.
context_section_description: Melchert-Dinkel was convicted in relation to the suicide of 18-year-old Nadia Kajouji, who became depressed after leaving home to begin university. A resident at Ottawa's Carleton University, she jumped from a bridge and was found drowned in the Rideau River in April 2008. Kajouji had conversed online with someone posing as a young woman–now known to be Melchert-Dinkel–who suggested that Kajouji hang herself, gave her detailed instructions how to do it, and told her to capture her final moments with a webcam so (s)he and others could watch, as part of a joint suicide pact. St. Paul, Minnesota police said they confirmed that she "had been conversing with Melchert-Dinkel online just prior to her disappearance", including on the day of her suicide.
  Ottawa police decided not to charge Melchert-Dinkel under the Canadian assisted suicide law.
caption: The Rideau River, opposite Carleton University.
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