12-year-old’s death at wilderness camp for troubled youth ruled a homicide

globalnews.ca:

North Carolina, officials have ruled the child’s death a homicide.According to an autopsy report released Monday, the boy died of “asphyxia due to smothering,” meaning he was unable to breathe from his nose or mouth.The boy died on Feb. 3 while attending Trails Carolina in Lake Toxaway, a for-profit program that has since lost its licence to operate.He had been at the camp for less than 24 hours when staff members discovered the boy was dead inside a bivy, a sleeping bag-type tent used by a single person.

The bivy was equipped with a zipper alarm that would wake counsellors if the boy exited the sleep sack.The autopsy, released by Fox Carolina, said the boy’s bivy was torn along the inner mesh panel. Staff at Trails Carolina defied protocol and secured the 12-year-old into the bivy using the weather-resistant door panel instead, which is not made from a breathable material.Around 11 p.m., the autopsy notes the boy was let out of the bivy after he was seen “moving around and making noise.” He was permitted to sleep outside of the bivy but was soon placed back inside, which was protocol.Staff said the boy was seen moving one-to-two hours after being put back inside the secured bivy “but stopped moving shortly after,” the autopsy details.During routine night checks, the boy could not be seen inside the opaque bivy.

When counsellors went to wake him in the morning, he was already dead.Emergency personnel were called and attempts to resuscitate were unsuccessful. It was determined the boy had been dead for several hours.