TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY, NC – The death of a 12-year-old boy at a wilderness camp in February is now being deemed as a homicide, according to an autopsy report from the North Carolina Chief Medical Examiner’s Office. The tween’s cause of death has been identified as asphyxia due to smothering. The tragedy occurred within 24 hours of his arrival at Trails Carolina, a for-profit program for troubled adolescents situated in Transylvania County that has since been stripped of its operating license.
Officials from Trails Carolina had stated that the boy’s death initially appeared to be accidental. They had found him unresponsive the morning after his arrival and had attempted CPR. They further added that the boy was found inside a small one-person tent, known as a bivy, equipped with a security alarm. The camp had a practice of placing newly arrived children in bivvies overnight for safety.
The autopsy report, however, brought to light that the inner mesh panel of the boy’s bivy was torn. Consequently, camp counselors had sealed the outer, weather-resistant door panel, a move that deviated from the camp’s normal protocol. Bivvies often carry warnings against full enclosure of the weather-resistant outer layer as it could lead to condensation and breathing restriction.
While no charges have been filed in the case so far, investigators continue to probe deeper into the circumstances leading up to the boy’s death.
The boy, a New York City resident, was escorted to the camp by two individuals hired by his parents on Feb. 2. The report states that he was seemingly cooperative and interactive on arrival at the camp but refused supper and retired to bed shortly afterwards. He was constantly accompanied by a counselor.
The boy, diagnosed with ADHD, also suffered from anxiety and a history of migraines, as revealed by his father to investigators. The father also mentioned the boy’s slightly underdeveloped physical stature, which posed challenges in making friends his age. Despite occasional physical altercations with his siblings and parents, the father asserted that the boy had no history of illicit drug use and was not suicidal.