Accused terror suspect struggled with mental health, former friends say

VANCOUVER – Former friends of one the suspects in an alleged plot to bomb a Canada Day celebration in B.C. say the young woman has struggled with mental-health issues for years.

While much is known about the troubled background of 38-year-old John Nuttall, his girlfriend and alleged co-conspirator, Amanda Korody (ko-ROH’-dee), has remained a mystery since the two were charged earlier this week.

Whitney Harte, who met Korody in high school and says she last heard from her about five years ago, says Korody was a smart, creative woman who nonetheless struggled with her own personal issues.

Harte says Korody told her she was adopted, and she was aware that Korody was receiving treatment for anxiety, which Korody wrote about on a blog that she kept for several months in 2005.

Harte says Korody seemed to change her personality and interests based on whoever she was hanging out with or dating, and friends were concerned about her drinking and drug use.

Another friend, Jeffrey Rossetto, who first met Korody about 12 or 13 years ago in St. Catherines, says he, too, was concerned about Korody’s mental health, and he believes she’s being wrongly painted as an Islamic extremist.