Global Courant
The National Suicide Prevention Hotline can be reached at 800-273-8255 or by texting 741741.
A Pennsylvania woman, who sent “unrelenting” texts urging her ex to commit suicide and saying he would never see their daughter until he eventually killed himself, is one step closer to being tried for complicity in suicide after its preliminary hearing Tuesday.
A Westmoreland County judge dismissed a minor harassment charge against Mandie Reusch, a 35-year-old Greensburg resident who prosecutors say harassed and bullied 37-year-old Kevin Metzger, an army veteran, until he committed suicide on June 18, 2021 — two days for Father’s Day. However, the court found probable grounds for the assisted suicide charge.
Court documents in the case outline the explicit and abusive nature of the lyrics in which Reusch allegedly referred to other men as Metzger’s daughter’s “new fathers” and made explicit claims about her sexual relations with them. She sent him a video of her having sex with another man at least once. She allegedly even told him that his dead dog hated him.
“I hope you commit suicide for (our daughter’s) sake. She shouldn’t even know you,” she reportedly wrote in a message sent to investigators with a WhatsApp warrant.
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Mandie Reusch, a 35-year-old from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, is facing assisted suicide charges for allegedly bullying her ex into committing suicide with a relentless stream of text messages over a period of months, according to Westmoreland County prosecutors. (Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office.)
“I will make it my last wish to make sure you don’t see your daughter and that she knows who you really are,” another message read.
In December before he died, Metzger received the following: “If you died in a tent somewhere, at least your daughter would have a house to live in for Christmas.”
The messages were “continuous and unrelenting for months,” said Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli. In a suicide note and on his social media, investigators found “a trail of torment and incitement”.
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Kevin Metzger in a June 2020 photo shared on Facebook. He died of suicide the following year after prosecutors alleged his ex-girlfriend harassed, bullied and lured him to the edge. (Kevin Metzger/Facebook)
According to an online obituary, Metzger served in the military for nearly two decades before joining the Reserves. He was also a bartender, active in the local music scene, and an avid outdoorsman whose Facebook photos showed him hiking, kayaking, and even climbing an ice wall.
“He was especially passionate about caring for his daughter,” the obituary reads. “He was a devoted father and she was an extreme light in his life.”
In another message, Reusch reportedly told Metzger that “the best thing” he could do for their daughter would be to commit suicide for the life insurance money.
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“I’m tormented, I’m crazy. I can’t do this.”
“But knowing you, that policy has probably expired and you (sic) leave us nothing but your disgusting body to throw in a hole,” she reportedly added.
Prior to Metzger’s death, Reusch had been charged with harassment, but prosecutors had to drop that after Metzger died before her preliminary hearing.
The estranged couple fought over money and custody of the child.
Kevin Metzger, an avid outdoorsman, seen in a 2018 photo taken during a climbing trip. (Kevin Metzger/Facebook)
At one point, she allegedly told him that she had destroyed all the property he had left in her residence, smashed some with a hammer, popped his bicycle tires, and poured bleach on his clothes.
“I cashed the check for $200 and then inflicted 10,000 damages,” another text read, according to court documents.
Two days before Father’s Day in 2021, she told him he couldn’t see their daughter. That same day, he committed suicide, prosecutors said.
“It’s bad, it’s really bad now,” he wrote to a friend that day. “I’m tormented, I’m crazy. I can’t do this.”
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Before committing suicide, he posted some of Reusch’s alleged posts to Facebook and left a suicide note, which began, “Maybe she was right,” the indictment said.
“Mr. Metzger could still be here today if those messages didn’t influence and encourage him to take his own life,” the prosecutor said earlier this month.
While the circumstances vary widely, the case is reminiscent of a 2017 trial in Massachusetts involving a young woman named Michelle Carter who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after persuading her boyfriend Conrad Roy III to commit suicide with dozens of text messages. messages and phone calls.
Fox News’ Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.
Michael Ruiz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to michael.ruiz@fox.com and on Twitter: @mikerreports
