Strangers Connect Online to Commit Suicide

LONDON Sept. 23, 2010— -- A woman and a man found each other through an online posting looking for a partner -- to end their lives together.

Shortly after meeting in person, Joanne Lee and Stephen Lumb got into Lee's car and committed suicide.

The double suicide of two strangers has stunned Great Britain where it occurred and surprised suicide experts.

"It's very, very unusual," said Essex Police press officer Heather Watts who said she's never seen anything like this in her 20 years on the police force. "We have had double suicides, but not under the circumstance where they'd never met in person....I saw it as a sign of the times when people meet and do things on the Internet."

"People meeting in an online forum to enter into a pact is very rare," said Nicola Peckett, spokeswoman for Samaritans, a prominent suicide hotline in Britain.

Lee, 34, and Lumb, 35, are believed to have met on an internet forum that discusses suicide when she put up a notice seeking a partner to help her die.

"I haven't the strength to do this alone. I have all the ingredients and want to do it ASAP," Lee wrote, according to London's Daily Mail.

Lumb responded to her internet request and drove 200 miles to meet her for the death date in Essex. Once together, the pair sat inside Lumb's car and awaited their end by lethal gas, a homemade mix of chemicals they'd stirred up in a bucket.

They were well-dressed and left notes on the car windows warning of toxic chemicals inside. The bodies were removed from the car by firemen in airtight suits.

Lee suffered from depression and anorexia, and had discussed her suicide plans for weeks on online forums where people offered advice on how to complete the task and gave encouragement in her efforts.

Lumb wrote a farewell message on one of the sites where he said, "I'm just saying goodbye im ctb today, and to all you people suffering i hope you find what your looking for."