Valentine Suicide Pact Uncovered?

A man used e-mail to try to set up a mass suicide on Valentine's Day involving as many as 32 people across the United States and Canada, authorities said.

Gerald Krien, 26, was arrested Wednesday and faces charges of solicitation to commit murder, according to Klamath County sheriff's deputies.

Detectives learned of the plan from a woman in Canada who said she saw the message in an Internet chat room. The woman, who was not identified by authorities, told detectives she was going to take part in the suicide but had second thoughts when another chat room participant said she would do it and talked about killing her two children, said Klamath County Sheriff Tim Evinger.

"He was potentially seeking individuals with the same ideology about suicide as he had," Evinger said.

The chat room participants planned to log in on Valentine's Day and commit suicide simultaneously, Evinger told The Oregonian.

Deputies arrested Krien on Wednesday and seized his computer during a search of his house. He was being held without bail at the Klamath County Jail pending a grand jury review of the case, expected next week.