OTTAWA — The former male nurse from Minnesota charged with persuading a Carleton University student to kill herself has opted to let a judge decide his fate without a trial.
William Melchert-Dinkel's trial was expected to begin in April. Instead, on Tuesday he agreed to let Judge Thomas Neuville deliver a verdict within the next 10 days.
Melchert-Dinkel, 48, is charged with encouraging the suicide of Nadia Kajouji, 18, who killed herself by jumping into the freezing Rideau River in March 2008.
He's also charged in connection with the death of Mark Drybrough, 32, who hanged himself in Coventry, England, three years earlier.
Police say Melchert-Dinkel used aliases and posed as a female nurse, but investigators managed to trace the e-mails to his Faribault, Minn., home.
Police say Melchert-Dinkel participated in online chats with at least 15 people about suicide and what certain deaths would feel like, and entered into fake suicide pacts with about 10 people — five of whom he believed killed themselves.
He could face 30 years in prison if found guilty.
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