Conrad Roy, Jr. says that he received a Father’s Day surprise that felt like a gift from his late son Conrad Roy III, who died by suicide in 2014.
“I’m happy today because it felt like he brought that to me,” Conrad told Massachusetts local station WCVB.
Sandra Machado posted pictures of a red hard hat to Facebook on Sunday, saying that she found it on the shores of the Azores Islands.
Conrad Roy JR your helmet arrived to the Azores!! Encontrado hoje pelas 11.30 na praia dos moinhos Porto Formoso ilha de São Miguel!
Posted by Sandra Machado on Sunday, June 20, 2021
“Conrad Roy JR your helmet arrived to the Azores!!” Machado wrote. “Found today a 11.30 on the beach of mills Porto Formoso island of S Sao Miguel.”
Machado said she saw the helmet in the waves, and when she pulled it out of the water, she noticed the stickers saying that it was from Roy’s marine salvage business in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Conrad Roy said that he lost the hard hat when he was working at a site in New Bedford with his late son in 2014.
Porto Formoso is on the island of Sao Miguel, the largest island in the Portuguese archipelago. The Azores Islands are located in the Atlantic Ocean, about 930 miles from Lisbon and about 2,400 miles from the east coast of North America.
At first, Machado didn’t know the story behind the younger Conrad’s death, which made national news when his girlfriend, Michelle Carter, then 17 years old, was accused of involuntary manslaughter for sending 18-year-old Conrad Roy III text messages repeatedly encouraging him to take his own life.
Jury selection today for Michelle Carter. Prosecutors say her texts “encouraged” Conrad Roy III to kill himself by carbon mono in his truck pic.twitter.com/p6443DN9jO
— Lindsay Iadeluca (@NBC10_Lindsay) June 5, 2017
“I am happy for helping the family to have some kind of peace,” Machado told WCVB.
Carter was convicted in 2017, and sentenced to two and a half years in jail, followed by probation.
Bristol County Sheriff’s Office
Carter appealed her conviction, first to the Massachusetts Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court’s conviction, and then to the Supreme Court of the United States, which rejected her certiorari petition.
Carter was a “model inmate” according to prison officials. She was released early in Feb. 2020.
Roy Jr. told WCVB he has no set plans yet when it comes to getting the hard hat, but he’s thinking about traveling to the Azores to retrieve it.
“I think my son’s story was such a negative story and just a sad story, and I think this brings a little happiness to somebody on Father’s Day,” Roy Jr. said.
[Image courtesy YouTube/WCVB]
