North Carolina officials are investigating the death of a 12-year-old boy at a wilderness therapy camp in the mountains of the western part of the state.
A forensic pathologist said the boy’s death, the day after his arrival at Trails Carolina, “appeared to not be natural,” the Transylvania County Sheriff ‘s Office said, adding that the camp “has not completely cooperated with the investigation.”
According to the sheriff’s office, the boy was brought to the camp on Friday from New York, and they were called to the scene Saturday morning shortly after 8 a.m. Camp staff told first responders they had attempted CPR prior to their arrival. First responders also attempted CPR but “stopped as the child appeared to be deceased for some time.”
The boy’s body was sent to a state lab in Winston-Salem, but the sheriff’s office said a final report may not be ready for months.
Meanwhile, deputies executed search warrants at the cabin where the boy was found and a second location, where the other campers were taken away from the cabin. Trails Carolina told the sheriff’s office it had placed the staff members assigned to the cabin on leave.
Transylvania County Sheriff Chuck Owenby told the Hendersonville News-Times that the investigation had “a lot of moving parts.”
Trails Carolina provided a statement to foxcarolina saying the program was “shattered” by the death and that they were “cooperating fully with investigators.” They said they had “retained outside professionals” for their own investigation, WHNS said.
Trails Carolina was founded in 2008 and opened at the Lake Toxaway location in 2012. It is licensed by the state Department of Health and Human Services as a residential therapeutic camp for children between the ages of 10 and 17, the Times News said. The camp was last inspected in 2019.
The newspaper said the 12-year-old’s death is the second at the camp since it opened. A 17-year-old Atlanta boy wandered off on his own into the forest in 2014 and was found dead from hypothermia, the pathologist conducting the autopsy said. the boy also suffered a broken hip.
But WBTV revealed further details. The boy, Alec Lansing, had run away from his group in November. He climbed a tree, fell out — breaking his hip — and died where he landed, in a creek. His body was found 12 days later.
Trails Carolina was cited for multiple deficiencies between 2010 and 2019, including for improper medication handling and administration and secluding, isolation, and restraining campers. They were cited for failing to protect a participant from harm in Lansing’s death. The organization was fined $12,000 but allowed to continue operating.
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[Featured image: Trails Carolina]
