Aaron Owen - 17 (1990)

A 17 year old boy was found with a girl by the girls uncle. He escaped by stealing a car. The police decided to charge him as an adult which was unusual in the state at the time but properly motivated by his sisters involvement in the Franklin Scandal (A scandal never fully investigated due to potential involvement of politicians on the highest level).

The family got poor legal assistance and allowed the case not going to trial in front of a jury who might have been able to see what really was going on, so a case which normally will have resulted in probation resulted in prison instead.

He was found hanging in his cell. The official ruling was suicide. However injuries on his body suggest a fight before the alleged suicide. It will properly never be revealed if it in fact was suicide or just a message to his sister so she would shut up about being a victim in the scandal. Unwillingly he became part of something bigger he could not survive.

Regardless of what took place it was a tragedy for his family. They lost a son and a brother.

May he find peace where he is now.

Sources:

• The Franklin Scandal: A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse & Betrayal (Amazon book store)
• The Franklin Scandal: The Elite Child Abuse Ring in Nebraska (The People's History)

Brad Glickman - 1990

15 year old Brad Glickman was on the run from Elan School in Maine when he was shot by a resident in a small town. He seemed to have some kind of connection to the daughter in the house of his killer and it is not clear what exactly happened shortly after midnight that many years ago.

However what is clear is that Elan School wasn't a pleasant place for any teenager to be. Nothing productive could come from such a place and it is close to a scandal that it wasn't closed back then.

Of course now where it is close the public learn what official fought very hard to keep away from the public. That the teenagers were beaten in almost bizarre therapeutic processes like the boxing ring. The use of isolation were widespread and the top management like the founder were without any education in the field they operated in.

Brad Glickman couldn't stand it and he ran. Unfortunately his life were cut short during his escape.

Elan School was created to warehouse difficult children the system couldn't find places for. Children expensive for the system and for it to exist many closed their eyes.

Brad Glickman didn't deserve his destiny.

May he find peace where he is now.

Sources:

• Roy O'Hara guilty of manslaugther (Sun Journal)
• The day 'Officer Smiley' helped a boy escape from the Elan School (Sun Journal)

Diane Harris - 1990

17 year old Diane Harris was restrained for 10 minutes before her body suddenly convulsed and then went limp. For good measure, they continued restraining her for 10 more minutes. She never moved again.

That became the end for a girl which the employees stated had a bad attitude. The punishment the employees gave her as result of this poor attitude was death.

According to an article in year 2000 her case was one of at least 18 where the patients died as result of the employees restraining them.

Restraint should be the very last option but in 1990 the doctors would not be bothered and restraint was used where situations could have been talked down with a little patience.

The answer to deaths like her is prosecution and legislation. It is so costly compensation to the family left behind that the facilities would be forced to secure their residents or being forced to shut down.

17 year old Diane Harris had relatives who will miss her forever. It is not to understand how much they suffer.

Let us hope that she found peace where she is now.


Sources:

• Deaths of mentally retarded while bound cause concern (By Karisa King, San Antonio Express-News: Metro and State, October 21, 2000)
• Victims - 1990s (Fornits Wiki)

David Sellers, Shawn Diaz and Ryan McCandless - 1990

Back in 1990 3 boys lost their lives in a downing accident on Convict Lake.

Brave rescue workers also lost their lives while trying to save the boys. It was an awful tragedy.

But not only did 3 families lose their children. They faced problems providing the money to have the children buried.

The investigation after this tragedy did show so many shortcomings in the operation of the facility that the owner was banned from running a facility in California but some years later there were some incidents in another state and soon everyone discovered that the very owner was in business again.

3 young lives were cut short that day. In was just plain unfair.

May they rest in piece.

Sources:

• FAMILIES OF LAKE VICTIMS NEED HELP ... (Newsbank)
• Victims 1990s

Kristen Chase - 1990

In 1990 wilderness therapy received unexpected media attention when 16 year old Kristen Chase died at the Challenger wilderness program.

It came as an shock not only for the wilderness industry but also for the general public.

Wilderness therapy program were developed in the early 1970's. At that time the programs looked very much as outdoor program with little focus on punishment but instead they functioned as a kind of time out for the children.

Around the late 1980's Cartisano entered the business and he launced what is recognized as the modern wilderness programs even today. Almost every wilderness program are today very focused on consequences.

But the structure became so strict and involved elements from boot camps that it would take almost marine soldier skills to complete the programs without injury. At that time teenagers began to die in wilderness programs in numbers not seen before inside the industry.

Kristen Chase died at mentioned above at the Challenger wilderness program owned by Cartisano. It made the authorities to wonder whether it was time for regulation of the industry. Some legislation was introduced and for Cartisano and his wilderness program it meant closure. However the legislation faced opposition as wilderness programs meant jobs going to areas with very little industry and high unemployment. The local politicians struggled to prevent too much legislation.

Still the deaths meant that safety measures were introduced and for another decade wilderness therapy were a little industry until the TV-show Brat Camp made parents believe that wilderness therapy can be safe and as result put the lives of teenagers in jeopardy, but that is another story.

Kristen Chase would have been a grown woman today. A woman with her own family and loved ones around her, but this was in such a gruesome way denied her. Instead she became part of the sad legacy that wilderness therapy can be useful if you return to nature. Kristen Chase did return to nature. In fact six feet down in the nature.

May she never be forgotten.

Sources:

• Victims in the 1990's, Fornits Wiki Database
• FATHER SUES CHALLENGER OVER DAUGHTER'S DEATH, By Marianne Funk, Deseret News Staff Writer, July 24, 1991

John Vincent Garrison - 1990

18 year old John Vincent Garrison ended up at VisionQuest instead of serving his time in the local juvenile detention facility. No information can tell us today whether it was a choice made by the court in order to treat some kind of disorder instead of just doing time. But the decision to choose this kind of alternative sentence turned out to be deadly.

According to the media we have learned that the parents believed that the treatment of this young man by the staff members led him to believe that his life was in danger. He took the decision to escape from the program in an attempt to save his life and he drowned during this attempt.

His parents sued the program. It has not been possible to determine whether they won in court.

Source:
Deaths in the 1990s - Fornits Wiki database
VisionQuest sued over teen's death, Lodi News-Sentinel - 3 Jun 1991

Michelle Lynn Sutton - 1990

Michelle Lynn Sutton died on day 7 of what was to be a 63-day program. Michelle collapsed and died of dehydration due to exposure to the elements on a dirt road in Arizona.

Back in 1990 there was no regulation of the wilderness therapy industry. No formal education was demanded by the staff members following the teenagers out in the wilderness. No requirements were demanded by the companies running these operations.

As result anyone could start a business like this a live of the fear and hopes by the parents.

A deadly trap which did cost Michelle her life before she had a chance to live it.

They are in place as we are talking year 2011 and still teenagers continue to lose their lives in the wilderness. The question whether wilderness can be a safe place to heal illness remains to be answered.

Sources:
Victims in 1990s, Fornits Wiki Database
15 year old hiker died of dehydration at Grand Canyon, The Prescott Courier - May 13, 1990
Michelle Sutton Memorial