A man from New Jersey passed away by suicide on the very day he was supposed to be graduating from Boston College. Now his girlfriend has been accused of manslaughter and linked to the death.

According to reports, the young woman was allegedly very controlling, and she was “physically, verbally and psychologically abusive” to the young man. The two of them dated for about a year and a half. Over the last few months, the relationship appeared to fall apart.

In fact, in those final two months, reports show that she texted him more than 47,000 times. Some of those messages reportedly told the young man to “go die” or to “go kill yourself.” As such, when he followed through and did exactly that, authorities connected her influence directly to his death.

The young woman is from South Korea, where she has returned as of the latest news stories. That does make things a bit more complicated, and authorities have been trying to get her to come back to the United States to face charges. They say that, if she decides that she will not do so of her own free will, they will seek to have her extradited.

A case like this raises a lot of important legal questions. How much responsibility does one person have for another person’s actions? Does telling someone to do something like this actually have the legal basis for a criminal charge?

The way that this case plays out will answer some of these questions, and it also shows why anyone facing charges needs to know what legal options they have.