Carter also had a long history of depression and had been treated at a psychiatric hospital for a severe eating disorder. She was involved in extracurriculars and had several friends at school, but struggled socially because, as these friends testified during her trial, she often inundated them with text messages about very personal details of her life.
She particularly sought the attention of Samantha Boardman, a classmate who said she tried to help Carter with her eating disorder although they rarely spent time together outside of school. Boardman testified that when she didn't immediately respond to Carter's texts, her classmate would begin "repeatedly" sending her messages. In one exchange, Carter told Boardman that she was "having a mental breakdown" and needed to "get that knife out of my house."
As depicted in the series, Carter was obsessed with the TV series "Glee," along with its stars Lea Michele and the late Cory Monteith. (Michele and Monteith were a couple both on-screen and in real life.) In a strange and disturbing detail, it was discovered that some of Carter's text messages to both Roy and her friends were direct quotes from "Glee" and Michele herself. Monteith died in July 2013 from a heroin overdose, leading some to speculate that Carter wanted to play the role of grieving girlfriend in an effort to get attention and sympathy from her classmates.