It was a place good for nothing serving only the purpose of easy money for the owners who let low-paid unqualified employees handle teenagers who for many of them needed proper treatment for mental illnesses like depression.
Valerie Ann Heron died on her second day after her arrival. She either fell or was pushed from the second store. A coded letter which could have been a suicide note was destroyed by the employees. Perhaps there was an explanation for her act if it was a suicide. The investigation conducted by the authorities seems to a single report only. No interviews with the entire student population was conducted. No re-construction of the event in order to determine if it really was a suicide. Nothing. Some of her belongings were given to new students after her death so they could save money.
The facility closed year later after the Jewish society in New York saved one of their teenager in a very public rescue attempt and stricter passport regulation put an end to the massive number of teenagers being sent there. Today the facility is empty and perhaps even haunted. Maybe it is the spirit of poor Valerie Ann Heron who was only allowed 17 years in this world before the cruel act of sending her to Jamaica brought an end to her life.
May she find peace where she is now.
Sources:
- ANT YOUR KID TO DISAPPEAR? (Legal Affairs)
- Rough Love1 (Miami New Times)
- Teen drug rehabs in Utah -without LDS focus? (Recovery from Mormonism (RfM) discussion forum.)
Valerie was my sister. It was suicide. The conditions at TB were comparable to a 3rd world prison, unbeknownst to my parents who were lied to by WWASP, KEN KAY, JAY KAY. ETC. She wanted the fuck out of there. I would have made the same choice.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely was suicide. I saw it. Im sorry for your loss.
Deletei was there when it happened. I'm so sorry guys.
DeleteWe were in staff watch on the boys side. Heard the patter of the running, heard the gasp, might have heard the hit. What I know we heard, for three straight days, was the wailing of the girls side.
That sound stays with me.
If you need someone to talk to meet us in WWASP Survivors fb or hmu SupertrampJester. I hate fb and we can go elsewhere. But if you're not part of that group, check it out. It's helped me a lot.
...dare I say with this issue specifically.
Be good to you. Please.
It didn't close a year later, because I arrived a while after the incident and was there for over two years...then a year in an affiliated WWASP program in Montana (during which that program had a hanging suicide when they lost found of a girl named Carly Newman). By the time I left that one at 18, Tranquility Bay was still very much active. It has since been closed, but that was yeaaaaaaaars later.
ReplyDeletei confirm it was still open a while after that. I was in High Impact, then SCL with (Anonymous) and it was still open once I'd left I'm pretty sure.
DeleteAnything I can do to help lmk.
I saw EVERYTHING. I was there by her side, we were in the same class room. It was the worst day EVER and something that lives with me every single day. I was there for 28.5 months of my life. It was the worst thing I have ever experienced before. She jumped and after that, all of us were changed forever. I think of her family often and pray she rests in peace.
ReplyDelete