The head of the suicide pod is in custody in connection with the death of the first person who used the device

Following the arrests, Exit International, the group behind Sarco, responded in a statement but provided no further details. However, they stated that they were “satisfied that Sarco performed exactly as it was designed… to ensure a planned, peaceful, drug-free death at a time of the person’s choosing.”

The statement made clear that Willet was a witness at the scene and described her death as “peaceful, quick and dignified.”

After seeing this moment, the man behind the capsule, Dr. Philip Nitschke, also reacted video pasha: “It looked exactly as we expected. My guess is she passed out within two minutes and died within five minutes.”

He added: “We observed sudden, small muscle spasms and movements in her arms, but she was probably already unconscious by then.”