Jumpers -A Suicide Thread

(Newser) - A Florida teenager broadcast his hours-long suicide on an internet video-streaming channel as viewers watched, reports Newteevee. After threatening to kill himself on Justin.tv, the teen was egged on by viewers as well as posters on a chat room he used. The young bodybuilder, 19, took a fatal overdose of pills on camera, then lay on his bed for hours. One viewer eventually contacted police. More »

(Newser) - Shakir Stewart, who took over at Def Jam Records when Jay-Z stepped down in June, was found dead yesterday, Billboard reports. The rap executive apparently committed suicide, though few details are available. Stewart had signed artists such as Rick Ross, Young Jeezy, and Karina Pasian to his label, and in a previous stint at Hitco snagged Beyoncé. More »

(Newser) - A sharp rise in the number of middle-aged white people taking their own lives has driven up the US suicide rate by nearly 5% since 1999, the Los Angeles Times reports. Experts are baffled by the nearly 16% hike in this group, but speculate that prescription drug abuse, a drop in the use of hormone replacement therapy by menopausal women, or post-9/11 stress could be the cause—as could widespread Boomer disappointment. More »

(Newser) - A panel has approved a plan to hang nets along the Golden Gate bridge to catch would-be suicides, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The bridge's board voted 14 to 1 in favor of installing the barrier after hearing testimony from psychiatrists, suicide prevention experts, and family members of  people who have leaped from the bridge, believed to be the world's top suicide magnet. More »

(Newser) - After a torrent of tributes to David Foster Wallace since his suicide 2 weeks ago, Salon talks with close friends and family members about the decades-long battle with depression that led the beloved and astonishingly talented writer to take his life. For years, Wallace functioned with the help of antidepressants, but he'd developed problems with the drugs, and stopped taking them. More »

(Newser) - More than half the students at 70 US colleges have contemplated suicide, a startling new study has found. Surveys revealed that 55% once thought of taking their own lives, 18% seriously considered it and 8% actually tried, reports USA Today . Broken romances, school-related problems, and emotional and physical pain were most often cited as the reasons. More »

(Newser) - The Golden Gate Bridge is an increasingly popular spot for suicides, but officials are divided over erecting unsightly barriers that might have discouraged the 35 who killed themselves there last year. The Los Angeles Times reports the agency that maintains the bridge is now studying five designs but doesn't have the $25 million to $50 million they would cost. Options include adding nets and raising the existing pedestrian barrier from 4 to 12 feet. More »

(Newser) - An international manhunt is now under way for a former hedge-fund manager who disappeared the day he was to begin serving a prison sentence for defrauding investors. A car belonging to Samuel Israel III was found Monday at a bridge over New York's Hudson River, the Wall Street Journal reports; though bodies of suicide jumpers are normally found quickly, there's no sign of Israel. More »

(Newser) - Police aren't ruling out suicide as a New York hedge-fund manager due to begin serving a 20-year prison term yesterday remains missing, the Wall Street Journal reports. Police found Samuel Israel's car parked near a bridge over the Hudson, with “Suicide is painless” written in dust on the hood. More »