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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Oregon man arrested in suicide pact


Krein
 (The Spokesman-Review)
Jeff Barnard Associated Press

GRANTS PASS, Ore. – Investigators are subpoenaing Internet chat room records to try to contact more than two dozen women, including a mother with two children, who were in contact with a Klamath Falls man organizing a mass Valentine’s Day suicide, authorities said Friday.

“Our primary goal is to try to locate where these endangered children might be,” said Klamath County Sheriff Tim Evinger. “What we are banking on in this investigation is any electronic data that is under subpoena that we may be able to track back.”

However, privacy protections for chat room participants were making the job of identifying others difficult. Officers had the names of three of the 31 women believed to have taken part in the chat room conversations with the organizer, said sheriff’s Capt. Chris Montenaro.

“We continue to revise the subpoena,” Montenaro said. “The information we are receiving is not what we are wanting.”

Acting on a tip from a woman in Canada who took part in a Yahoo chat room that had the words “Suicide Ideology” in the title, authorities arrested 26-year-old Gerald Krein on Wednesday at his parents’ mobile home in Klamath Falls and seized his computer and a Web cam, authorities said.

Krein was arraigned Thursday on a charge of solicitation to commit murder and held on $100,000 bail.

He had moved to Klamath Falls from the Sacramento, Calif., area about a year ago to take care of his ailing father, Evinger said.

“We were contacted by a woman out of Canada who was going to partake in this pact, if you will,” Evinger said. “She indicated that she became scared after she learned that there was potentially another woman who had a couple children. This other woman was going to kill her children prior to taking her own life.”

The plan was for people to commit suicide in their own locations while keeping in touch through the Internet chat room, Evinger said.

The chat room began in December on Yahoo, about the time Krein moved into his current residence, but is no longer active, Montenaro said. Krein was looking for women and children to join in the suicide, he said. Investigators believe the total number, including Krein, was 32.

“We need to investigate where these other computers are. Hopefully we can intervene if anyone still has the notion to follow through with this,” Evinger said.

Since news reports came out, a woman in Oregon and a woman from the East Coast who both planned to take part have contacted authorities, Montenaro said.

Evinger asked that anyone else with information contact the Klamath County sheriff’s office.

District Attorney Ed Caleb said he is taking the solicitations seriously.

“Well, there is always a chance this is a joke, but our position is in this world, any time a person makes these kinds of overt actions, they need to be looked into,” said Caleb.

He added that Klamath Falls police questioned Krein last September, but no charges were filed.

A grand jury will convene on Monday to determine if Krein will face additional charges, Caleb said.