Daniel Jack Matthews - 2003

Daniel Jack Matthews was 17 years of age when his mother called the cops on him. For a number of months he had become violent due to personal issues.

His mother hoped that the arrest would enable her to get help for her child. In a system where the proper placement for him would be evaluation and properly detoxing a treatment center, the system only could offer her a placement in the local detention center where he would enter a youth population consisting of a mix of criminal youth and youth suffering from either addiction or mental issues.

This lead to his tragic death when a fight broke lose between him and another inmate at the understaffed and overbooked facility.

It is a terrible loss for a mother to receive when all she did was to reach out for the only service the society could offer her regarding her sons struggle.

Addiction - in his case according to media reports cold pills and content from spray cans - is an illness. Illness should be treated - not punished.

But that was what the society could offer her. He lost his life. His mother lost her son.

May he find peace where he is now.

Sources:

• Sent to jail for help, teen killed (St. Petersburg Times)
• Pinellas County teen dies after fight in detention center (The Florida Times-Union)

James Lamb - 1980

14 year old James Lamb was sent on a sailing boat operated by Visionquest. It sank when it entered weather the crew hadn't been trained to handle.

It seems lacking responsability sending untrained teenager into dangerous weather but without anyone alive to charge, the family were only able to be alone with their grief.

He never really saw the world.

May he find peace where he is now.


Sources:

• Panic noted in VisionQuest (Kingman Daily Minor)
• Body found, 7 still hunted on ill-faited boat trip (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Laura Hanson - 1998

The 17 year old Laura Hanson choked to her death.

After Hanson got into a fight with her roommate, two employees at a West Palm Beach mental health center entered her room and placed her in a hold. Within 10 minutes, she was limp and unconscious. That evening, she was dead.

Her deaths was one of two deaths at the same center.

It remains unclear based on the articles whether some were held responsible for her death. Restraints back in the late 1999's claimed the lives of many teenagers. All she suffered from was Schizophrenia and it became a deadly illness due to poor instructions, lack of oversight and legislation. It was a real tragedy.

May she find peace where she is now.

Sources:

• Use Of Restraints Can Turn Deadly (SunSentinel)
• Legislators Take Aim At Restraint (Hartford Currant)

Chaim Weiss - 1986

15 year old Chaim Weiss was found dead in his bed at the Orthodox Jewis boarding school. None have been able to find out how the killer made it into his dormitory room. He was stabbed repeatedly.

There were several signs that the killer was aware of the victims religious belief. A window had been left open slightly in the victim's room, which, according to Orthodoxy, enables the spirit of the dead to depart. Beyond that, a lighted mourning candle was placed on Chaim's desk.

If anyone could come forward with information, his family would like to get some kind of closure.

15 years was a short time to be allowed to live. May he find peace where he is now.

Sources:

• Unsolved Crimes That Piqued Public Interest (The New York Times)
• NY - Chaim Weiss, 15 years old, murdered in his bed at Orthodox Jewish School, 1986 (websleuths.com)

Chad Andrew Franza - 1998

16 year old Chad Andrew Franza was found hanging in his cell at the olk County Juvenile Boot Camp.

He was sent there for minor arrests and became depressed according to his family.

The staff didn't notice. Their job was just to keep him locked up.

Sad that this young man didn't get a chance to better himself and grow up by having been sentenced to community service instead right away when he broke the law the first time, so he could have re-thinked the path he was on before it was too late.

May he rest in peace.


Sources:

• Teen assigned to juvenile boot camp found in apparent suicide (Associated Press)
• Family Says Teen Was Unhappy at Boot Camp (Lakeland Ledger)