30 September 2010 Last updated at 16:27 ET

Student kills himself after gay sex footage put online

Tyler Clementi was a first year student at Rutgers University in New Jersey

A New Jersey college student has leapt to his death a day after authorities said two students secretly filmed him having sex with a man and broadcast it over the internet.

Tyler Clementi's wallet was found on the George Washington Bridge on 22 September after two witnesses saw someone jump from the structure, authorities told the AP news agency.

Mr Clementi's body has been found.

Two students have been charged with illegally filming the 18-year-old.

"Tyler was a fine young man, and a distinguished musician. The family is heartbroken beyond words," Paul Mainardi, a lawyer for Mr Clementi's family, said in a statement confirming the suicide.

The teenage violinist's body was identified on Thursday after his body was found in the Hudson River a day earlier.

Room-mate charged

Analysis

Iain Mackenzie BBC News, Washington

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The tragic death of Tyler Clementi brings together two contentious issues - gay rights and cyber bullying.

Technology certainly seems to have played a role in driving the teenager to kill himself. However, equality campaigners say the real problem is a culture where young homosexuals feel persecuted and marginalised.

A recent study of gay students suggests one in four is regularly harassed because of their sexual orientation.

For some, Tyler Clementi's suicide has put a human face to that statistic.

The footage was allegedly taken using a web camera in Mr Clementi's dorm room at Rutgers University and broadcast live over the internet.

The two charged with filming and broadcasting the images are Mr Clementi's room-mate, Dharun Ravi, and Molly Wei.

If convicted, the two students face up to five years in prison.

An account belonging to Mr Ravi on the microblogging website Twitter has recently been deleted. But in a recovered snapshot of the account obtained from Google, Mr Ravi wrote about an experience involving his room-mate.

"Room-mate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay," Mr Ravi wrote on Twitter on 19 September.

Two days later Mr Ravi wrote: "Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes it's happening again."

Gay rights organisations say Mr Clementi's suicide is an example of a nationwide problem - young people killing themselves after being bullied over their sexuality.