Florida teen kills self in front of live webcam

MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida teenager committed suicide by drug overdose in front of a webcam streaming live video to the Internet and some viewers may have egged him on, authorities said on Friday.

Abraham Biggs Jr., 19, was found in the bedroom of his home in Pembroke Pines, Florida, on Wednesday and an autopsy showed he died of a toxic combination of opiates and benzodiazepine, a drug used to treat anxiety and insomnia, the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office said.

"We have ruled it a suicide. Part of the terminal event was recorded on a website and there was streaming video," said Dr. Steve Cina, deputy chief medical examiner of Broward County.

A police spokesman said detectives were investigating the case but would not release any details.

Biggs had written blogs about his intentions and some of the viewers who were watching the event live may have goaded him on, Cina said.

"There is some indication of that, yes," he said.

In a purported suicide note posted by Miami television station WPLG on its website, Biggs said: "I hate myself and I hate living."

The note said he had "thought about and attempted suicide many times in the past."

The Miami Herald newspaper said another suicide in Broward County was broadcast live on the Internet a few years ago.

Last year, a 42-year-old man killed himself in front of a webcam in what was believed to be Britain's first suicide on the Internet. Viewers saw him climb onto a chair, tie a rope around a ceiling joist and hang himself.

(Reporting by Jim Loney; Editing by Tom Brown)