WMUR(PLYMOUTH, N.H) — A New Hampshire teenager was charged with aiding a suicide on Tuesday after his roommate was found dead in a wooded area near their apartment.
Parker Hogan, 19, pleaded not guilty to charges that he helped his roommate, Michael Buskey, plan and carry out his suicide earlier this month.
Police found Buskey’s body in a vacant area not far from their apartment in Plymouth, New Hampshire, about 40 miles north of Concord, according to court documents.
Hogan allegedly was with Buskey in the hours leading up to his death, helping him perfect ways to shoot himself, according to a police report obtained by ABC affiliate WMUR.
Hogan allegedly waited nearby until he heard a gunshot and returned to make sure Buskey was dead before calling for help the next day, police said.
Buskey’s death was ultimately ruled a suicide, but his mother, Jennifer Phelps, said she thinks there’s more to the story.
“I think there’s a lot more behind it. My personal opinion — I can’t speak for anybody else — in my personal opinion, I think there’s a lot more behind it than meets the eye,” Phelps told WMUR on Tuesday. “I just hope that everything comes to light and people will see what really happened.”
Hogan was charged with causing or aiding a suicide involving death and three counts of falsifying physical evidence.
Prosecutors said he could face as many as seven years in prison if convicted.
“There are allegations that he got rid of a suicide note, that he had wiped fingerprints off of the gun …” legal analyst Kirsten Wilson told WMUR. “Those are going to go towards that he knew full well what was going to happen when Buskey was left alone in the woods.”
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