An autopsy report released Monday says that the death of a 12-year-old boy at a North Carolina outdoor camp for troubled teens was caused by murder.
In February, the boy died less than 24 hours after going to Trails Carolina, a for-profit school that no longer has a license to operate. Trails Carolina said the death seemed to be an accident and that CPR was done on the boy when staff found him unconscious the morning after he arrived. He was in a bivy, which is a one-person tent with an alarm.
The camp didn’t say anything right away about the medical examiner’s report, which said the boy died of “asphyxia due to smothering,” which means he couldn’t get oxygen “in this case due to covering the nose and mouth” with something that wouldn’t let air pass.
The camp said that kids were often put in bivvies overnight to keep them safe when they got there. As per the autopsy report, the boy’s bivy’s inner mesh panel was torn. Because of this, counselors shut the weatherproof door panel on the outside instead, which was against camp policy.
According to the autopsy report from the state chief medical examiner’s office, bivvies usually have signs that say you shouldn’t fully cover the weatherproof outer layer “as it may lead to condensation and breathing restriction.”
The boy has only been recognized by his initials, CJH. A family spokeswoman said that the family had nothing to say.
There were no charges made public. The Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office is looking into the death of the boy as a possible crime. They said they are looking over the autopsy report and will talk about it with the local district attorney.
The report from the autopsy said there were no signs of sexual abuse or trauma. While the boy was found without clothes, his father told police that was how his son often slept.
The autopsy report also said that there was no sign of a drug overdose or any other natural cause that could have killed him.
It said that the result of asphyxia was a “diagnosis of exclusion,” which means that all other possible causes of death were ruled out. The report said the boy was “put in this dangerous sleeping position by other(s) and could not reasonably remove himself.”
The counselors who were watching over him couldn’t check on him because the bivy’s outer wall was opaque. This meant they might not have seen a problem and been able to help him before it was too late.
The study said, “Given these circumstances, the death is most likely that of a murder.”
Trails Carolina in Lake Toxaway helped kids with behavior problems and conditions like autism, ADD/ADHD, and PTSD before its license was taken away. Along with the autopsy results, the medical examiner’s report said the boy who died had ADHD, anxiety, headaches, and social problems, such as “a very hard time making friends.”
The medical examiner’s report said that his parents paid for two strangers to take him from his home in New York to Trails Carolina. This is a common way for the troubled youth business to get kids to its programs.
The boy was “restless and mumbling in his sleep” that night, according to the report from the medical examiner. They took him out of his bivy at one point, and he fell asleep, the report said. Then they woke him up and put him back inside. The report said that they found him cold to the touch in the morning with his head at the foot of the bivy.
