The Deleted Emails: The Sharon Lopatka Story

In October of 1996, 35-year-old Sharon Lopatka told her husband she was leaving their Maryland home for a short trip to visit friends in Georgia. But Sharon wasn't going to Georgia.

She left her car near a Baltimore train station, boarded a train heading south, and left behind a disturbing goodbye letter for her husband. In it, Sharon seemed to acknowledge the possibility that she might never come home.

When police began searching for her, the trail led somewhere that was still relatively unfamiliar territory for investigators in 1996: Sharon's computer.

Behind the quiet life she shared with her husband was an extensive online world filled with different identities, private fantasies and increasingly disturbing conversations with strangers. One of those strangers called himself “Slowhand.” His real name was Robert Glass.

For weeks, Sharon and Robert had exchanged messages about violence, torture and death. Then Sharon decided to leave the safety of the computer screen behind and meet him in person.

What happened after she arrived in North Carolina would become the subject of a deeply unusual homicide case, one that raised questions about fantasy, consent, intent and whether someone can ever legally give another person permission to kill them.

Sources:

https://alchetron.com/Sharon-Lopatka-homicide 

https://www.dailydot.com/society/internet-assisted-suicide-sharon-lopatka/ 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1996/10/30/slain-womans-e-mail-reveals-violent-intentions/d941faa0-4d6a-4aa5-9add-bfd1813e2f9b/ 

https://www.ranker.com/list/facts-about-sharon-lopatka/cat-mcauliffe 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1997/03/12/hearing-in-sex-death/623b87a2-8d9c-4280-9fb4-1d301f2a6be2/