Suicide claims life of teen

WASILLA — A teen suicide Wednesday night has police officers hoping parents will take some time to talk to troubled children.

“There’s no epidemic of this occurring, but if parents are really concerned about their kids this might cause them to talk,” said Officer Rick Manrique, spokesman for the Wasilla Police Department. “Obviously, it’s got to be from a standpoint of concern and caring.”

According to Manrique, the 19-year-old girl texted her family in Willow shortly after 6 p.m. to say she was about to kill herself. The family called police, but the girl acted quickly, hanging herself out of a second story window of an apartment building on Dana Avenue between Wasilla-Fishhook Road and Lucille Street.

Manrique said officers were on scene within a minute and medics and rescue workers were just as quick. But it was too late. The rope and the fall had combined to end the girl’s life.

Manrique said the girl was about to graduate. She was also upset over a romantic relationship that had just ended. Both factors likely exacerbated one another.

People often think graduation is a happy time for kids. But, Manrique said, it’s really a time when emotions are high. For some graduates, happy feelings are magnified. For others, it’s sadness.

“Graduation can be both a time of celebration and a time of great upheaval,” Manrique said. “There’s a great deal of uncertainty; they went from a very orchestrated existence to an area of great uncertainty.”

Manrique said he hasn’t done any kind of a statistical study and that he personally hasn’t noticed that the Valley sees a spike in teen suicides around graduation time. But he does think this time of year is one in which parents of troubled children should be vigilant. He can also understand how graduation might be a time likely to send a person into a tailspin.

He said one of the big fears people have about suicide is that by talking about it a person can trigger someone to act.

“Absolutely not. You will not. What you will do is bring out their thoughts, their feelings and whether they’ve made plans,” Manrique said. “It’s always OK to say, you know, ‘have you thought about hurting yourself?’”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.