It’s the old story of the boy who cried wolf, except instead of “wolf,” he cried “suicide,” and instead of people ignoring him, they tried to kill him.

Richard Goddard Jr., 21, had been crashing with John and Mary Rushman at their trailer park in Henry County, Illinois. According to reports, Goddard repeatedly threatened to take his own life and the exasperated Rushmans, their sympathy spent, wanted to “teach him a lesson.” First, they tried to hang him. When that failed, the couple beat him with a hammer. A neighbour later found Goddard unconscious outside the trailer and called the cops.

The couple face three counts of battery and one of criminal damage to state property for kicking out the window of a police cruiser during their arrest. According to his family, most of Goddard’s problems started last year, when he had the call letters of an Illinois radio station tattooed on his forehead. :

» Scott Saxon