North Carolina authorities have clamped down on a “wilderness therapy” program for troubled children after a 12-year-old boy died in their care less than 24 hours after his arrival.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office said Trails Carolina had “not completely” cooperated with the investigation, although the organization angrily denied that.
In a letter sent to Trails Carolina on Monday, the state Department of Health and Human Services ordered the organization to stop admitting new children into its program for the time being, provide daily reports of the children’s assignments, provide names and addresses of parents and guardians of all the children, and other measures.
One of those bars use of “bivy bags,” which are one-person tents with a sleeping bag inside generally used by mountaineers, for campers or counselors. According to a warrant seen by WLOS, the 12-year-old boy, who was forcibly brought to the camp from New York on February 2, was ordered to sleep in a bivy bag on the floor on his first night at the camp.
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The boy reportedly was loud and angry when he arrived and refused dinner after his arrival, although he ate some snacks later, the warrants say. Detectives wrote that there was an alarm on the zipper of his assigned bivy bag that goes off when its occupant leaves. A counselor told detectives the boy could leave the bivy at any time but also frequently mentioned that “‘we’ would open or close the bivy.”
Investigators wrote that the boy began to experience high anxiety and a panic attack at about midnight. Two counselors said they stood along the wall of bunkhouse but “didn’t mention if they attempted to assist him.” They said they checked on him at 3 a.m. and 6 a.m., but that he was dead at 7:45 am., cold to the touch and stiff.
When detectives arrived, the boy was on the floor of the bunkhouse. He was naked from the waist down, his pants and underwear on the floor by his shoulder. The counselors said they had no idea how that happened despite being in the room the entire night. Investigators also said there was some bruising on the boy’s face and a mask nearby, used for CPR.
Law enforcement and county health and human services officials said Trails Carolina refused to allow them access to the other four children who were in the bunkhouse where the boy died for nearly three days after the incident or provide any information other than their first names. Trails Carolina said it could not provide further information without permission of the children’s parents, who refused.
Trails Carolina, which calls the children confined at their facilities by their parents and guardians “students,” said that its staff “voluntarily [presented] themselves for interviews.”
“Any assertion to the contrary is false, reckless, and defamatory,” the organization said. “No other students were involved in any way, and all students were moved immediately so as to minimize the impact on them. Our students have cooperated to the extent authorized by their parents.”
The organization said it had conducted an “internatl investigation” and found “no evidence that conditions at Trails were unsafe or unhealthy.”
The organization further complained that the 23 pages of search warrantes “contains misleading statements.”
“Trails maintains there is no evidence of criminal conduct or suspicious acts, based upon all knowledge available to us and information and statements from involved agencies,” Trails Carolina said. “Knowing the truth about what caused the loss of this young boy’s life is what matters, and we eagerly await the report by the chief medical examiner.”
Officials have not said when their investigation will be complete.
CrimeOnline previously reported that the 12-year-old’s death is the second at the camp since it opened. A 17-year-old Atlanta boy, Alec Lansing, ran 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]
