Court documents have been released outlining the dramatic events that lead to the arrest of 41 year old Matthew Stubbendieck for allegedly assisting in the suicide of his 38 year old girlfriend Alicia Wilemon-Sullivan.
Wilemon-Sullivan's body was found in a secluded area near Weeping Water in August. Cass County authorities say Stubbendieck called the Cass County Sheriff's Office August 5th to report that his girlfriend, Wilemon-Sullivan, had come to Nebraska from Florida so she could to see him one last time before she ended her life.
Stubbendieck told authorities that Alicia had died days before he came to speak with them and that he could lead them to her body near Weeping Water. According to the documents, Stubbendieck told deputies that he had dated Alicia for about a year and a half and that she suffered from Stage 4 cancer in her lymph nodes, neck, armpits and stomach.
Stubbendieck says Alicia came to Nebraska to kill herself and that she, "couldn't live another minute."Stubbendieck also told investigators that he'd promised Alicia he wouldn't contact anyone about her death for "five or six months," but he contacted law enforcement because it was the right thing to do and said it was, " destroying my family."
Wilemon-Sullivan reportedly arrived on July 31st, and told Stubbendieck that she wanted to end her life in his arms on August 1st. The couple would find a secluded, wooded area in Cass County where Alicia could end her life. Stubbendieck said twenty minutes passed before Alicia slit her wrists with a knife. During the course of a few hours she would cut her wrists several more times. At one point, Stubbendieck says he tried to suffocate his girlfriend to help along the death process, but couldn't go through with it. He would eventually leave Alicia, while she was still alive, returning a few days later to find she had died.
An autopsy showed that there were non masses or tumors discovered in Wilemon-Sullivan's body. The autopsy did show that Alicia had cuts on her wrists and forearms, "consistent with commonly observed self-inflicted cutting wounds."
Stubbendieck was eventually arrested on a charge of Assisting Suicide.