While the mysterious suicide of professor James Aune sent shock waves across the Texas A&M University campus, no Aggies were prepared for the bizarre tale of sex and extortion that reportedly led the beloved educator to take his own life.
Three months after his arrest and subsequent not-guilty plea, alleged blackmailer Daniel Timothy Duplaisir is begging a federal court for leniency.
In a pair of letters sent to U.S. district judge Lynn Hughes in May, the suspect writes from a downtown Houston jail about how doctors have ignored his darkening psychological condition and suicidal thoughts.
"I feel life is a huge play set to torture me till the day I day," Duplaisir writes, noting that his "brain is broken" and expressing his desire to be relocated to a mental heath facility.
"I need help to stop being so twisted up and lost in my mind," writes Duplaisir.
"For me, society [and] the family, please see I'm not mentally well to be in society yet. I need help to stop being so twisted up and lost in my mind."
Originally set to begin May 28, the trial has been pushed to late August with an arraignment scheduled for June 17, according to court documents.
Federal prosecutors contend that 37-year-old Duplaisir used an underage female relative to lure Aune into a sexual online relationship.
The young girl told the FBI how the suspect would take nude photos and video of her to use in the scam. Working through the fake email account pretty_gurl985@yahoo.com, she would secure phone numbers from men on the gaming portal MocoSpace. Duplaisir would follow up by calling the male target under the guise of an angry father who wanted money for his daughter's therapy.
Duplaisir demanded almost $5,000 from Aune, who texted his blackmailer only moments before fatally leaping from an A&M parking garage.
A&M professor James Aune jumped from a campus parking garage in January
Sante's Garden Room is decorated with two olive trees.
Photo by Chris Furia
