Autopsy: Boy, 12, died from asphyxiation at NC wilderness camp, death ruled homicide

LAKE TOXAWAY, NC (WWAY) — The death of a 12-year-old boy attending a therapy camp in North Carolina has been ruled a homicide, according to the NC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

The child had just arrived at Trails Carolina Camp in Lake Toxaway on February 2.

The autopsy report, obtained by WLOS, states that the boy was placed to sleep in a bivy without issue the night of Feb. 2. The report states sometime around 11 p.m., he was moving around and making noise in the bivy, so counselors removed him. He later fell asleep outside the bivy, but because of protocol, “he was made to wake up and re-enter the bivy, at which time he was again secured with the alarm device.” When counselors tried to wake him in the morning, they found he was unresponsive and was “turned around 180 degrees from the entrance, with his head at the enclosed end and his feet near the opening.”

A call was made to 911 around 8:00am. When emergency responders arrived, they realized the child had been dead for some time.

Shortly after the child’s death, the camp was told to stop accepting admissions while the investigation into the child’s death was underway.

Following the medical examiner’s report, the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office told WLOS, “The Sheriff’s Office will be reviewing the report released by the OCME in conjunction with the overall criminal investigation and meeting with the District Attorney of Prosecutorial District 42.”