Former Boston College student Inyoung You pleads not guilty in boyfriend’s suicide

Suffolk County District Attorneys Office(BOSTON) — A former Boston College student charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with her boyfriend’s suicide pleaded not guilty Friday.

Inyoung You, 21, appeared in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston for the first time for her alleged role in the death of her then-boyfriend, Alexander Urtula.

She had previously been in South Korea, where she is from, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins.

She returned there sometime after Urtula’s death, Rollins said.

Prosecutors say You was “physically, verbally and psychologically abusive” toward Urtula during their 18-month-long “tumultuous” relationship.

In a review of their text messages on Urtula’s phone, the abuse allegedly became “more frequent” and “more powerful” in the days and hours leading up to Urtula’s suicide, according to Rollins.

In the two months prior to Urtula’s death, the couple exchanged more than 75,000 text messages, at least 47,000 sent by You, Rollins said.

When asked by a reporter whether You “explicitly” instructed Urtula to kill himself, Rollins replied, “I would comfortably say, yes, thousands of times.”

Urtula jumped to his death from the roof of a parking garage in Roxbury on May 20 — the same day he was set to walk in his Boston College graduation ceremony, Rollins said.

You was allegedly present when he jumped.

Calls to the public relations firm representing You were not returned.

A spokesman for the Urtula family said Thursday the family “has been devastated by his loss.”

“Not a minute of any day goes by without those who loved Alex grieving and continually feeling the sharp pain of his passing all over again,” the spokesman for the family, David Guarino, said in a statement.

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