Investigators: 6 Year-Old's Death Ruled Suicide

PAYETTE, Idaho – Investigators have concluded that the death of a 6-year-old Payette boy was the result of a suicide. On the evening of June 6, police received a frantic call from the boy’s mother saying that her son had attempted suicide and was non-responsive. According to authorities, the boy had hung himself from the freezer handle of the family refrigerator, after tying his belt into a makeshift noose. 

According to Payette Police Chief Mark Clark, police units from Payette and Fruitland responded to the scene, along with Payette Fire and Rescue.  After attempting CPR, the first responders were unable to resuscitate the boy. 

Although the death was confirmed a suicide, the age of the boy has the community disturbed and wondering how a child could possibly be capable of an act of this nature. 

“The first thing I’d like the community to know is that we assigned four detectives to work solely on this case,” Clark said. This was to ensure that the case was given proper attention by qualified individuals to determine that a child so young did in fact commit suicide.

Although coroners ruled that the boy’s hanging was intentional, what remains unclear is whether it was truly his intent or if he understood the consequences of his actions.

 

“We’ll never know this,” Clark said. “All this boy did was take a nylon belt and make a noose, put the belt through the handle, stepped up underneath and pulled the belt tight in a way that even if he had wanted to undo it, it would have been nearly impossible.

Over the course of the investigation, which included interviews with several family members and counselors at the boy’s school, Clark said police found that the boy had issues with anger, apparently resulting from his parents’ divorce two years earlier. School records also confirmed that the boy had anger-related issues. 

According to police, the boy’s 7-year-old sister discovered the body after watching cartoons. His mother and stepfather were showering and his 13-year-old sister was asleep at the time.