Boy who died at NC wilderness therapy camp suffocated in sleep shelter, autopsy says
The 12-year-old boy who died at a North Carolina wilderness therapy camp suffocated, and his death was a homicide, according to a newly released autopsy report.
The boy, who had just arrived at the Trails Carolina camp in western North Carolina the previous day, was sleeping in a cabin in a one-person nylon tent called a bivy, the report said.
The autopsy report, released Monday, doesn’t state that anyone intentionally tried to kill the boy on Feb. 3. But it suggests that staff members at the camp for troubled adolescents didn’t ensure that he would get sufficient oxygen when they put him inside the bivy.
A mesh flap on the boy’s bivy was torn, the reports states, and a weather resistant door was instead used to secure the opening.
“It should be noted that a common warning on commercially available bivy products indicates that the outer, weather resistant opening should not be fully secured as it may lead to condensation and breathing restriction,” the report states.
Staff members had “fully secured” the bivy so that the boy could not get out without sounding an alarm, the autopsy said.
It’s not yet clear what, if any, criminal charges will follow. Transylvania County Sheriff Chuck Owenby said his office will review the autopsy report and meet with the district attorney.
Trails Carolina has previously said that the boy’s death appeared to be accidental. The program didn’t immediately comment on the autopsy findings.
Staff members were required to check whether children were breathing at 12 a.m., 3 a.m. and 6 a.m., according to an inspection report issued by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services in April.
The 78-pound boy had a history of anxiety, ADHD and migraines, according to the autopsy report. At his family’s request, he was transported to the camp from his home in New York on Feb. 2 due to “ongoing behavioral issues,” the report said.
On his first night at the camp, staff members said they thought that they heard heavy breathing coming from the boy’s tent around 3 a.m. and quieter breathing around 6 a.m., according to the state report. The boy was found dead and cold at 7:45 a.m.
“The counselors could not check on him as they should due to the opaque nature of the (bivy’s) outer panel, preventing them from potentially noting the problem and delivering aid before he died,“ the autopsy report states.
One camp staff member told state investigators: “I didn’t check as thoroughly as I should have,” according to the DHHS report. “My actions that night was to perform night checks... that was my responsibility, which I failed on... I do feel like the bivy had a lot to do with it.”
Autopsy documented no other harm
The autopsy didn’t find any dangerous drugs in the boy’s system and found no evidence of trauma.
But when his body was found, it was “oriented opposite to the intended use which would have allowed the waterproof material to fall onto his head and face,” the autopsy report stated.
The outer, waterproof opening of the bivy was fully secured and the boy “did not have the ability to reasonably remove himself from the situation,” the autopsy notes. An audible alarm had been placed on the alarm to prevent escape.
“He was placed into this compromised sleeping area by other(s) and did not have the ability to reasonably remove himself from the situation with the alarm securing the opening,” the autopsy stated.
Sleeping in the bivy tents can make campers feel claustrophobic, staff members told state investigators. One camper said that it was difficult to get help while sleeping in one.
Trails Carolina, based about 140 miles west of Charlotte, says it was founded in 2008, largely on the belief that a wilderness setting enhances the benefits of therapy. It took children, ages 10 to 17, on wilderness expeditions, and its therapists met with children on a weekly basis.
The 12-year-old wasn’t the first young person to lose his life while enrolled there. Alec Sanford Lansing, 17, died of hypothermia after running away from the program in November 2014.
In mid February, the state removed all children from the camp after concluding the move was needed to ensure their health and safety.
And on May 17, DHHS told Trails Carolina that it was revoking the program’s license. The program had 60 days from that date to contest the decision.
