February 06, 2024
Warning: The following post contains mention of suicide and methods of suicide. Reader discretion is advised.
Alleged online poison seller, Kenneth Law, is facing multiple first-degree murder charges in connection with the deaths of 14 individuals, from ages 16 – 36, across Ontario, Canada. sending “suicide kits to order” to suicidal individuals online.
Approximately 4,500 people in Canada die by suicide each year.
Media outlets have reported that Law could be responsible for more than 124 deaths around the globe, including the UK, USA, New Zealand, and Italy.
Initially facing 14 counts of 2nd-degree murder, the 57-year-old is now facing upgraded charges- 14 counts of first-degree murder, as well as 14 additional counts of aiding suicide in Ontario. According to Canadian Criminal Code, counselling or abetting a person to die by suicide is punishable by a sentence of up to 14 years.
Kenneth Law, a former aerospace engineer, was working in the kitchen of the Fairmont Hotel while allegedly running his online businesses on the side, selling food-grade sodium nitrite to suicidal people around the globe, including Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Sodium nitrite is often used in the process of preserving and curing meats, but can be deadly in high concentrations.
Peel Police believe that since 2020, more than 1,200 packages have been sent out to over 40 countries from companies allegedly associated with Law, including Imtime Cuisine, AmbuCA, escMode, ACademic and ICemac.
Of the 272 individuals who purchased from the websites via the UK, 88 died as a result.
In an exclusive interview with People, one family from Montrose, Colorado told the story of their 20-year-old daughter, Noelle Ramirez, who had been struggling with a long list of mental health issues for some time.
Noelle had pretended to sleep, they said, before climbing out of her bedroom window. Police later found her in a nearby park unresponsive after responding to a 911 call Noelle herself had made, stating that she was going to take her own life.
Although the 20-year-old was rushed to hospital, she died not long after being admitted.
Her parent’s later discovered that their daughter’s death was part of an investigation into a man named Kenneth Law who had been selling suicide-kits online. The Montrose Police Department informed them that Noelle had purchased one of the kits for $60 and used it to end her life. They believed Law also sold other instruments that suicidal people could use to die by suicide.
Noelle’s family said she was heading in a positive direction before she received the package.
In the UK, a 25-year-old Photographer and TikTok-er with over 780,000 followers, Imogen Nunn, known by her username, Deaf-Immy, died by suicide on New Years Day of January 2023. Imogen was deaf and lived independently, but often found herself in difficult daily situations that brought her down. She had confided in a community care worker that she had purchased a product online and intended to use it to take her own life, however, despite the information being reported to police, they were unable to find the package during a search of Nunn’s residence. She also told police that she had never purchased the product and was not in possession of it.
The victim’s mother said of the U.K investigation into Law: “They told us a man in Canada had been providing suicide kits and they were contacting all the families of people whose names were on his computer. They said, 'Some people we've got to in time, others sadly not.”
Online forums for suicidal users (since removed) discussed Kenneth’s alleged websites while looking to purchase specific apparatus they could use to end their lives. In a video statement, the Peel Police asked the public to be aware of any packages containing sodium nitrite, as well as masks and hoods that could be “used to cause self-harm.”
One of the many alleged companies, escmode.com (now taken down), featured industrial flow regulators and links to other products including the food grade sodium nitrite purchased by Noelle Ramirez. His websites were hosted by Shopify, who took them down as soon as they were aware of the deaths allegedly caused by Law. Those following the case believe the terms and services had been compromised and should have been looked into much sooner.
Peel Police have put out a public announcement for people to keep an eye out for any packages or transactions featuring the names of any companies mentioned above and ask the finds be reported to them.
Law has denied selling products to help aid those looking to end their lives. He said that he could not control what people did with the products he sold and was not responsible for their actions.
He was fired from his job at the Fairmont Hotel, who said they had not kept sodium nitrite on the property for at least a decade.
Law's case will go straight to trial, bypassing any preliminary inquiry.
Law's lawyer, Matthew Gourlay, has said his client will be pleading not guilty to the crimes.
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