Girlfriend told jump off cliff

A Vermont man who told police he urged his girlfriend to jump off a cliff in a drug-induced haze because of an imagined bear attack was being held on $100,000 bail on charges including attempted murder and arson.

Lucas Gingras had been held without bail since June 25 after pleading not guilty.

Authorities said he had taken MDMA and used the same drug to spike his girlfriend’s drink at a cabin in Milton, where he initially told investigators the couple had been attacked by a bear, leading to a stove being overturned and the cabin being set on fire.

But later, Gingras said he thought the drug caused him to hallucinate that a bear was near the cabin. Gingras said he believed he heard something trying to get into the cabin and set it on fire before the couple fled to the cliff where he urged his girlfriend to jump, police said.

Police said Gingras actually kicked Ladonna Merriman over the edge of the 70-foot-high cliff, leaving her hospitalised with injuries including a broken back and punctured lung.