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IMMIGRATION

Protesters
TEEN First in a three-day series looking at suicides among
SUICIDE teens and the emotionally packed stories beyond them.

gather
around US
Opponents of family separation
demand end to zero tolerance
ELLEN
KNICKMEYER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
They wore white.
They shook their fists
in the air. They car-
ried signs reading:
“No more children in
cages,” and “What’s
next? Concentration
Camps?”
In major cities and
tiny towns, hundreds
DAN MARSCHKA | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER of thousands of march-
Barbara Van Aulen, shown Sept. 27, 2017, becomes emotional when talking about losing her teen to ers gathered Saturday
suicide in December 2016. Her son took his own life while video chatting with a girl on social media. across America, moved
RELATED
COVERAGE
Local protest draws about
200 to Lancaster County
Courthouse. Page A4
es, from immigrant-
friendly cities like New
York and Los Angeles
to conservative Appa-
lachia and Wyoming.
They gathered on the
front lawn of a Border
Patrol station in McAl-
len, Texas, near a de-

FRAGILE
by accounts of children
separated from their
parents at the U.S.-
Mexico border, in the
latest act of mass resis-
tance against President
Donald Trump’s immi-
gration policies.
tention center where
migrant children were
being held in cages, and
on a street corner near
Trump’s golf resort at
Bedminster, New Jer-
sey, where the presi-
dent is spending the

LIVES
Protesters flooded weekend.
more than 700 march- PROTESTS, page A8

MIRACK CASE

Conviction
not a certainty
Social media
T
hree days before Christmas in 2016,
16-year-old Ethan Van Aulen cut the
can tempt gun lock off a rifle stored in his home, ‘This is just the beginning,’ DA
put the barrel to his right temple and pulled warns about prosecuting suspect
troubled teens
the trigger. The Donegal High School soph- JEFF HAWKES
tained a just-the-facts
by facilitating omore died in the basement of his Mount JHAWKES@LNPNEWS.COM
stance in talking about
Joy home, at approximately 5:45 p.m., sit- Only hours earlier, the arrest of Raymond
bullying, peer ting all alone in his favorite gaming chair. police had cuffed and “DJ Freez” Rowe.
booked the man they He explained how
pressure and believe responsible for a private lab, comb-
Except he wasn’t actually alone. the brutal strangula- ing a genealogy re-
talk of suicide According to phone records and interviews with
Ethan’s mother, Barbara Van Aulen, a teenage girl from
tion of schoolteacher
Christy Mirack 25
search website, linked
crime scene DNA to
Canada, whom he had recently met online, watched years ago. the 49-year-old Rowe,
Ethan take his life on a Facebook video chat. It wasn’t But facing TV camer- a longtime Lancaster
until at least 30 minutes after the gunshot, time stamps as at a hurriedly called resident police never
INSIDE on the video show, that the girl finally disconnected the press conference last suspected.
Three factors are present feed. week, District Attorney But a DNA hit isn’t a
in every suicide, no matter The girl messaged her friend on Snapchat at 6:14 p.m. Craig Stedman chose guilty verdict.
how old the victim, “It’s been 20 minutes from when I heard the shot.” not to take a victory lap. A jury might con-
according to a local “What shot?” the friend messaged back. Serious, almost som- vict a man solely on
psychologist. Page A6 TEEN SUICIDE, page A6 ber, Stedman main- MIRACK CASE, page A9
Where to get help if you’re
having suicidal thoughts.
Page A6
EVERYTHING MUST GO!

This series was reported

by Alex Geli and
Susan Baldrige, who
conducted numerous
FINAL WEEK
interviews with families,
health experts and
teens over the course
of Store Closing Sale!
of several months.
Geli is an education Clothing, Accessories, Gifts & China

½
reporter for LNP and
LancasterOnline. Baldrige,
a former staff writer, Everything Marked Off
now serves as director
of the Partnership for
Public Health in Lancaster Barbara Van Aulen is shown with son, Ethan, when he was a
to of ½ ½
Off!
County. child, in a copy of a family photo.

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INDEX
CLASSIFIEDS........... CL1
DEATHS REPORTED...A23
LIVING......................... B1
LOTTERY................... A2
MONEY........................ D1
OBITUARIES...........A20
PERSPECTIVE............E1
98 73 G
REAL ESTATE..........RE1 TODAY’S WEATHER 224th Year, No. 14
SPORTS....................... C1 COPYRIGHT © LNP MEDIA GROUP, INC.
TRAVEL.....................B10 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
TV WEEK..................TV1 FORECAST, PAGE C12 � ����� ����� � LOCALLY OWNED SINCE 1794
A6 SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2018
Experts say
all suicides
have 3 things
in common
Key factors
involve self-worth,
mindset, sense of
belongingness
Three factors are present in
every suicide, no matter how
old the victim, said psycholo-
gist Dale Brickley, the senior
clinical manager of WellSpan
Philhaven, a facility that
treats patients ages 5 to 18
who have thoughts of hurting
themselves or others.
Brickley subscribes to the
theory outlined in the book
“Why People Die by Suicide,”
written by renowned psy-
chologist and suicide expert
Thomas Joiner.
“In every suicide there is
‘thwarted belongingness,’
where the person has lost a
relationship that was signifi-
cant,” Brickley said.
An example, he said, would
be a teen who had four close
friends, and one pulled away.
The second thing that is
present in every suicide is the
belief that the person’s loved
ones will be better off and suf-
fer less pain if the victim dies
rather than lives, Brickley
said.
If a teen is consistently get-
ting in trouble or getting bad
grades, that teen might think
his family would be better off
without him.
The third factor is a mind-
over-matter state that some-
one has to be in to actually
commit suicide.
“Someone has to physically
be able to handle the method
in which that person has cho-
sen to die,” he said.
Which is not a simple thing.
“There are videos of people
attempting to jump off the
Golden Gate Bridge or in front
of a train, and it appears as if
their body is pushing them
backward,” Brickley said. “A
person’s brain has to work up
to it.”
He said not all kids who cut
themselves are going to even-
tually commit suicide by cut-
ting their wrists. But often,
someone who does die from
that method was previously a
cutter, he said.
The best thing parents can
do is to build in some protec-
tive factors, Brickley said.
Brickley said protective fac-
tors such as involvement in
positive activities and having
lots of good relationships are
more powerful than a bully.
“The difference is that when
someone called another kid a
‘jerk,’ they were over it in 10
minutes,” Brickley said. “Now,
when someone posts some-
thing like that on Facebook,
the victim has to read it over
and over. It’s like experiencing
it again and again.”
DO YOU
NEED HELP?
National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline
n suicidepreventionlifeline.
org; 800-273-8255
n Those who are deaf or hard of
hearing can contact the National
Suicide Prevention Lifeline via
TTY at 800-799-4889
Lancaster Crisis Intervention
n co.lancaster.pa.us/1136/Crisis;
717-394-2631
LOCAL LNP | LANCASTER, PA
DAN MARSCHKA | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER PHOTOS
Barbara Van Aulen, who lost her teen son to suicide in December 2016, smells his clothing during a visit to his bedroom in
September 2017. Ethan had been video chatting on Facebook with a girl from Canada who watched Ethan takes his own life.
She waited another 30 minutes before ending the chat, time stamps show.
Teen suicide: Social media effects
Continued from A1
“Ethan, my ex.”
“So u saw him shoot himself”
“I seen the gun then heard the
shot then the phone fell and now
the screen is black.”
“Call the cops. Where does he live
u need to do something.”
“I can’t he’s the one in the states.”
The girl posted later that she had
been holding a sword to her neck
while Ethan aimed the gun at his
head, as if she was going to kill her-
self as well.
While the video chat remained on,
and Ethan was lifeless on the floor,
time stamps show the 13-year-old
girl wrote on her Facebook page:
“Girls are much better liars than
boys.”
She then posted a question about
a Christmas movie and a picture
of a coffin in a graveyard with the
question: “If I died would anyone
come to my funeral?”
She did not call authorities or at-
tempt to contact Ethan’s mother.
The online posts and conversa-
tions that were discovered after-
ward, an LNP investigation found,
revealed that Ethan — who had sur-
vived brain cancer at age 7, lost his
father to suicide in 2015 and strug-
gled to communicate with others
because of his autism — had recent-
ly become entangled in a dark but
growing menace on social media.
LNP investigated the kinds of so-
cial media experiences in which
many teens are involved. Using
screenshots of texts, Facebook
posts, Instagram accounts and
Snapchat conversations, reporters
uncovered alarming and disturbing Barbara Van Aulen pauses as she talks about losing her teen son to suicide. She
images and conversations related called the police when she couldn’t reach her son while she was driving home
to suicide on social media sites from work in December 2016.
commonly used by teens.
And while social media can be
constructive outlets for teen com-
munication, the investigation
found teen accounts that posted What I’m seeing in my practice are a lot of kids
disturbing videos of death and sui-
cide, photos of teens cutting them-
with a very low sense of self-esteem, where
selves with advice on which blades social media can create big-time havoc in
to use, teens with eating disorders their life. ... There’s been increasing frequency
promising to exercise according
to the number of likes they get on by teens who are sharing these self-injury
their account and, most shocking of thoughts. And parents are probably not even
all, teens suggesting, even demand-
ing, their classmates or online realizing what is going on.
friends kill themselves. — Shobhit Negi, an adolescent psychiatrist
who has worked with troubled kids for more than 17 years in the Baltimore area
Tormented to death
It was late December 2016, and That same girl was attempting the last two featured people shoot-
Ethan found himself in what could to form a suicide pact, one of her ing themselves in the head.
have been a thrilling opportunity friends told Van Aulen in a text.
for a boy his age. The friend said the Canadian girl ‘Very dangerous
Two young girls fawned over tried to get her to join her in sui- and disturbing’
the 16-year-old. But, according to cide by “cutting deep.” The friend
Ethan’s mother, it wasn’t the kind also said she was aware of another Shobhit Negi, an adolescent psy-
of attention he needed. teen the girl had tried to convince chiatrist who has worked with trou-
Ethan wasn’t just “girl crazy,” as to jump in front of a speeding train. bled kids for more than 17 years in
Van Aulen said she originally sus- The other girl Ethan had met on- the Baltimore area, said in a phone
pected. It was much deeper than line lived in Lancaster County. Van interview that he also has heard of
that. Aulen said the girl and Ethan even teens encouraging other teens to cut
Each of the girls managed several went to the movies for a date. themselves, even kill themselves, on
social media accounts that promot- The first week they apparently social media accounts.
ed suicide and self-harm and shared were in a relationship, she sent Negi has written for the Baltimore
disturbing content with Ethan, Van Ethan four violently explicit videos Sun about the phenomenon of teens
Aulen said. of young men killing themselves who livestream their own suicides
The girl from Canada, LNP re- through ooVoo, a video messaging on social media.
porters discovered, had a private and sharing app similar to Snap- “What I’m seeing in my practice
Instagram account on which she chat. are a lot of kids with a very low sense
posted a picture of a stick figure Reporters accessed the videos of self-esteem, where social media
hanging from a noose. Below it through Ethan’s account with his can create big-time havoc in their
were the words, “Hangman is great. mother’s assistance. One showed life,” Negi said.
It teaches you that by sayin’ the someone jumping off a building. “Some of these kids who are egging
wrong things you could end some- Another showed someone slitting someone on to kill themselves are
one’s life.” his own throat with a sword, and TEEN SUICIDE, page A7
LNP | LANCASTER, PA LOCAL SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2018 A7

Teen suicide: Dangerous messages 4,600

lives are lost each year in
Continued from A6 video that she should go ahead and kill “I’m freaking out,” the girl from Lan- the U.S. for youth between
emotionally disconnected from real- herself, according to one of the boys. caster County said. the ages of 10 and 24 due
ity and may envision what they are do- The two seventh-graders immediately “U think I’m not it happened on Ft to suicide. It is the leading
ing as a thrill-seeking adventure.” told their parents what they had seen (FaceTime) with me,” the Canadian cause of death in this age
group.
The danger of watching those vio- and heard. girl said.

lent images, Negi said, “is that they
may normalize and reinforce self-in-
jurious behaviors.”
The underdeveloped frontal lobe of
the brain in adolescents, combined
with hormones, stress, trauma and in-
experience, the psychologist said, can
make the teenage brain highly suscep-
tible to negative messages on social
media.
“There’s been increasing frequency
“The police were notified and went
to the girl’s house and alerted her
family,” said one of the boys’ father,
a teacher who did not want the fami-
lies identified. The family then sought
help for the girl. Messages of teens en-
couraging others to harm themselves
aren’t uncommon on social media.
Take this after-school post from
Instagram: “I (expletive) hate your
guts and hope to god that you die
36
“What happened???”
“He took the trigger lock off his gun
and I heard a shot and the screen
went black cause his phone was on the
ground. I stayed on as long as possible.
“What???? Where was he?”
The next day, the girl from Canada
percent said they felt
explained to another friend how she depressed or sad most
felt responsible for Ethan’s suicide. days, up from 32 percent
“If I didn’t have my sword with me it from 2013.
wouldn’t have happened,” the girl said

28
by teens who are sharing these self- and your so (expletive) ugly like the to her friend via a text at 3:08 p.m. the
injury thoughts,” Negi said. “And par- (expletive)? I hope to god you die so next day.
ents are probably not even realizing I don’t need to look at your ugly (ex- “???” her friend responded.
what is going on.” pletive) face. So why don’t you go cut “I had my sword he thought I was go-
Perry Hazeltine, a psychologist at your wrist or commit suicide because ing to kill myself and then he did that.
the Samaritan Counseling Center on everyone hates you and wants you ... It was my fault.”
Oregon Pike, said a teen who talks dead.” percent of students
other teens into attempting suicide “is Justice for undergoing such abuse Racing home surveyed said they
probably an outlier, but it’s a very dan- is hard to come by in Pennsylvania, experienced bullying in
gerous and disturbing outlier.” where there is no law defining bully- Barbara Van Aulen was driving home the past year. That’s 13
percentage points higher
Hazeltine created TeenHope, a pro- ing. For bullying to be a punishable from a business meeting in Carlisle than 2015’s 15 percent.
gram to assess local teens for risks of offense, authorities must categorize that late December afternoon when

15
suicide, depression and anxiety. the activity as disorderly conduct, ha- she couldn’t reach her son on the
The program, which started in the rassment, simple assault or terroristic phone, which was odd for a kid who
2013-14 school year with Penn Manor threats. regularly came home from school,
High School and Lancaster Menno- A five-month investigation into plopped onto his video gaming chair
nite School, has grown to nine school Ethan’s death concluded there was and played his PlayStation. He was
districts in Lancaster and Lebanon no criminal wrongdoing by any per- usually easy to reach.
counties. son, according to a police report from Soon she began to feel frantic, par- percent said they were
Of the 2,105 middle and high school the Susquehanna Regional Police De- ticularly when the Lancaster County bullied through texting or
students who were screened this past partment. The case was cleared on girl Ethan had been talking to online social media, up from 13
school year, 18.4 percent were consid- April 26, 2016, despite officers failing texted her that he was playing with a percent in 2013
ered at-risk for anxiety, depression in their attempt to reach the girl with gun. Van Aulen called police and gave

14
and/or suicide. Seventy-seven stu- whom Ethan had been video chatting them permission to break down the
dents (3.7 percent) reported that they when he shot himself, the report con- locked door when they arrived.
thought seriously about killing them- firmed. It was then the police found that Van
selves in the past four weeks. Fifty- Aulen’s most horrific fears had come
seven students (2.7 percent) reported Unlimited communication true.
having tried to kill themselves in the Her only child was dead.
past year. Ethan’s death, as well as the incident His last text message, to the troubled percent of students
at Conestoga Valley, shows that there Lancaster County girl he had been engaged in self-harm
Young, vulnerable lives are literally no boundaries, geographic in communication with, was sent at in the past year
or otherwise, for how teens can com- 5:19 p.m., less than an hour before his
In September 2017, two seventh- municate today. Teens from all over death. SOURCE: 2017 PENNSYLVANIA

grade boys in Conestoga Valley School the world can fall prey to the disturb- “I love you,” it read. YOUTH SURVEY

District became alarmed when one
of their classmates, during a private
live video chat on Instagram, said she
planned to kill herself.
Several other teens the boys didn’t
recognize told the girl during the live
ing, graphic content that exists on the
web. In Ethan’s case, it was two young
girls who spread the message.
Minutes after Ethan took his own
life, the two girls were texting each
other, screenshots of their texts show.
The girl who had watched him take
his own life wasted no time in moving
on.
Less than a week later, she posted on
Facebook she was in a new relation-
ship.

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