Kenneth Law is facing murder charges in his home province of Ontario, Canada. Photo / Peel District Police, Toronto
This article deals with the subject of suicide and may be disturbing to some readers.
A woman mourning a relationship break-up took her life in a motel room where she previously stayed with her boyfriend, the day after receiving a package from Canadian suicide advocate Kenneth Law.
A coroner has found the death of Auckland woman Savannah Auric on May 26, 2022, was self-inflicted.
The 30-year-old was the fifth New Zealander known to have died after dealing online with Law’s company.
Law, dubbed the “Merchant of Death” by overseas media, has been connected to more than 120 suicide deaths in 40 countries.
He has been charged with multiple counts of murder or aiding suicide in his home country, and is expected to go to trial in Ontario next year.
Coroner Alexandra Cunninghame, in a finding released today, said Auric ordered a package from Law’s company on May 8, 2022 - four days after an argument with a boyfriend she met on Tinder two months earlier.
It was delivered to her Glenfield, Auckland home on May 25, the same day that Auric sent another friend a link to a YouTube video she had made setting out her last wishes.
She had earlier told that friend that she was “shattered” by the end of the relationship with her boyfriend and she intended to take her life in a motel in the Rangitīkei district where she had once stayed with him.
When she booked into the motel on the afternoon of May 25, Auric asked for a particular room because it held “special memories for her”, the coroner said.
Auric was a sales representative for an electronics company and travelled the North Island for her job.
“I am satisfied that Savannah died by suicide,” Coroner Cunninghame said.
“Her death was carefully planned and in her emails to [her ex- boyfriend] she explained her reasoning, which is that she believed they would be together in the afterlife,” she said.
“While the ending of the relationship ... appears to have been the trigger for Savannah’s decision to take her life, I wish to make it very clear that [he] should not feel any guilt for what happened. He was entitled to step back from the relationship at any time.
“The evidence suggests that he acted with integrity towards Savannah. It is also fair to observe that the relationship, however important to Savannah, was of very short duration, and that the couple did not live together.”
Coroner Cunninghame said Auric, who changed her name from Chantal Kim Chan Uhlmann in 2021, had a history which included several risk factors for suicide.
These included abuse in childhood, estrangement from family, grief after the death of her mother, unstable relationships, and mental health challenges.
She had been involved with mental health services and had symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as a history of self-harming and suicidal thoughts.
“Savannah’s mental health records indicate that her mental health was often negatively affected when her relationships ended, even if they had been of a short duration.”
Auric posted a video to Facebook in which she explained that she was taking her life at 6.58pm on the day she died.
Police received six 111 calls from her friends, and the ambulance service two more, between 7.06pm and 8.10pm but none of them knew where she was.
The only friend who knew her whereabouts did not see a WhatsApp message with Auric’s last wishes that she sent at 7.13pm.
That person had phoned the motel manager the previous day with concerns about Auric’s wellbeing, but this call was made before Auric booked a room and the manager did not then know who she was.
The manager phoned police about the call the next day, and a staff member checked on Auric late in the afternoon. She appeared happy and told him she was fine.
After Auric posted her intentions online, police were initially dispatched to her Auckland home and phone polling did not place her in the Rangitīkei district until 7.15pm.
However, as Auric had never called police herself, there were no automated links in the police system to connect the 111 calls to earlier events and place her at the motel.
Local police were not sent to the motel until 8.11pm, and they were a 40-minute drive away.
By the time they reached her, Auric could not be resuscitated.
The coroner said that the Suicide Prevention Office had taken steps to consult with NZ internet service providers to request blocking Law’s online forums, in line with an earlier decision classifying them as objectionable publications.
“Mr Law lives in Canada. His activities are outside the jurisdiction of the NZ courts, and I do not make any recommendations that are directed towards his activities,” Coroner Cunninghame said.
“I do note that media has reported that Mr Law is facing charges of second-degree murder in Canada as a result of his activities.”
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former NZ Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay.