Irish Woman's Suicide Linked to Banned Forum and Mexican Drug Dealer
An Irish woman's suicide in 2022 is linked to a pro-suicide online forum and a Mexican drug dealer. The forum, accessible in Ireland despite being banned elsewhere, directed her to Daniel Gonzalez-Munguia, who supplied toxic substances. Gonzalez-Munguia was sentenced to 17 years in US federal prison for importing controlled drugs, while campaigners urge Ireland to ban the forum.
A young Irish woman, identified as Emily, used a suicide-glorifying online forum, banned in the UK but accessible in Ireland, in the months leading up to her death in 2022. Despite expressing a desire to live, she was directed by anonymous accounts to illegal online dealers for toxic substances.
The Journal Investigates found that this forum, still operational, directs many users, including dozens of Irish accounts, to obtain substances for suicide. Data from coroners' reports, the Health Research Board, and the National Poisons Information Centre indicate that two such substances have been implicated in at least 34 deaths in Ireland in recent years, mostly ruled as suicide.
Emily was supplied with a toxic substance by Daniel Gonzalez-Munguia, a 42-year-old Mexican national operating under the alias «Alejandro Vasquez». He ran an international online business from Puebla, Mexico, selling controlled drugs to vulnerable individuals. Gonzalez-Munguia pleaded guilty in the US to importing a controlled substance and was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison, not expected to be released until 2035. His financial accounts show nearly $530,000 passed through them over a decade.
Campaigners are calling for Ireland to ban the forum, similar to the UK. An Garda Síochána denies providing assistance in the Gonzalez-Munguia investigation, despite a US Attorney's Office statement listing Ireland among assisting jurisdictions. Emily's 2023 inquest returned a suicide verdict but did not establish how she obtained the drug.