The woman accused of urging her boyfriend to commit suicide just hours before he was set to graduate from Boston College is from Washington State.
Inyoung You, 21, graduated from Issaquah High School in 2016. You is accused of sending 22-year-old Alexander Urtula tens of thousands of abusive text messages.
You was an honor student and on the tennis team in Issaquah but outside of school she played on a competitive soccer team.
"Soccer practice three times a week and then games, sometimes two on the weekends, traveling tournaments, we were a really tight team," remembers Katie Bonnofsky.
They played together from middle school to high school graduation and as a result Katie says she knew her Crossfire teammates about as well as she could know anyone, but she couldn't have known this:
"A girl on my team saw an article about it and sent it and at first I was shocked, 'Is this her?'" Katie says of seeing her former teammate Inyoung You in the news.
Police say You is not the quiet teenager Katie remembers.
"Ms. You was verbally, physically and psychologically abusive towards Mr. Urtula during their 18-month long relationship," the district attorney in Suffolk County -- where You is facing involuntary manslaughter charges -- told reporters at a news conference earlier this week.
Police say the couple exchanged 75,000 texts in two months, 47,000 from You, including messages like "go kill yourself" and "go die."
"I mean we did the math, that's 780 texts a day, that's a full-time job. How does somebody do that?" Katie wondered.
Police say the breaking point came when You tracked Urtula's phone to a parking garage and she was present when he jumped to his death May 20, the day he was to graduate from BC.
You told investigators she was trying to stop him.
"Who knows what happened when they were up there?" Katie asked. "How could you see that? It just boggles my mind, breaks my heart."
You dropped out of college and moved to South Korea in August; the DA is confident she'll return to Boston willingly to face charges but officials are prepared to move forward with extradition proceedings regardless.
More news from KIRO 7
- Police: Man threatening to shoot people outside haunted house causes standoff
- Police issue warning after woman robbed at Light Rail station
- 'Constant burglaries' are major setbacks for charity-based Monroe bargain outlet
- Brother of Kenmore woman whose body was found in suitcase charged with her murder
- Do you have an investigative story tip? Send us an email at investigate@kiro7.com
Cox Media Group
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/ABGTXIAMTLITW4YS5IEDL6X2HY.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/4677F2F46NHRNPB53FMNYJQTDA.jpeg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/KTRBKZ4425AEZOG3FACW4LBPME.jpeg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/VIDCN2DL3RFYFN7EAPXNLUGGTI.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/G4OBHFZCCRFGTPYN2FAJ3VUGOE.jpg)