Husband, 68, is charged with manslaughter for holding gun up to his terminally ill wife's head so that she could pull the trigger and kill herself because she was too weak to steady it after hellish year-long cancer battle
- Kevin Conners, 68, was charged with manslaughter on Thursday for helping his wife of 42 years, Lori, kill herself in September
- In 2017, Lori learned she had ovarian cancer that had spread to her liver, kidney and abdomen
- The cancer treatments were particularly painful because she also had Lyme disease
- On September 6, Kevin helped her get into bed in their Connecticut home and hold a gun up to her temple
- She was too weak to steady it and feared she would flinch but she wanted to pull the trigger
- Before she died, she wrote 16 suicide notes explaining how she no longer wanted to live
- She had tried once before to kill herself, unsuccessfully, and had looked into going to Vermont where assisted suicide is legal
- Because she was not a resident of the state, she was not allowed to end her life
A husband who held a gun up to his terminally ill wife's head so that she could shoot herself in an assisted suicide has been charged with manslaughter.
Kevin Conners, 65, helped his wife Lori kill herself in September last year at their home in Westbrook, Connecticut.
Lori was battling cancer, undergoing chemotherapy and also had Lyme disease.
She no longer wanted to live and had researched going to Vermont, where assisted suicide is legal, to end her life but realized that because she was not a resident, it would not be an option.
On September 6, Conners, a retired Department of Corrections officer, steadied the gun at her temple as she lay in bed because she was so weak she could not hold it on her own.
Kevin Conners, 65, helped his wife of 42 years, Lori (seen right together on a family vacation years before her death) kill herself in September after a year long cancer battle. He has been charged with manslaughter
Lori, a mother-of-four, had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer a year before she died. It spread to her liver, abdomen and kidney and because she also had Lyme disease, her cancer treatments were particularly excruciating
Once she pulled the trigger, he called 911 and claimed she had shot herself and that he woke up to the sound of a gunshot.
When police questioned him further, he admitted helping her.
On Thursday, Conners handed him into police on a second degree murder charge. He was given $50,000 bond and is expected to appear in court on Friday.
Lori had written 16 notes explaining her decision before she died.
In them, she told how much she loved her husband, their children, how she was deeply religious but that she did not want to go on living, according to The Hartford Courant.
On the night of her death, she was lying in bed and asked her husband to help her.
She had attempted suicide once before alone and had been unsuccessful.
The cancer started in 2017 in her ovaries then it spread to her liver, colon and abdomen.
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It was particularly painful for her because her persistent Lyme disease did not agree with the cancer treatment she was receiving.
As a result, she was in constant agony. She was so weak by the time she died, her husband said, that she could not even muster the strength to cry.
Conners said that after unsuccessfully trying to take her own life the first time, Lori feared she would be institutionalized.
On September 6, Kevin helped his wife into bed then steadied the gun at her temple. She was afraid that because she was so weak, she would not be able to hold it in place and would flinch. He held it and she pulled the trigger. They are shown years earlier
Conners is due back in court on Friday.
The case has now posed the question of whether or nor assisted suicide should be legal across the country.
In her obituary, Lori was described as a loving and beloved mother-of-four.
'Lori Hedges Conners, 61, of Westbrook, CT, went to be with the Lord on September 6, 2018 after a hard-fought battle with cancer.
'Her final days were spent with her loved ones by her side, and as anyone who knows her would expect, this is all she wanted not only during this time but throughout her entire life, as her family was her source of true joy and contentment.
'She will be dearly missed, and we will all grieve the loss for a long time.
'We can, however, find solace in knowing her suffering is no more. She is finally free from her illness and with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
