Teen Suicides and Suicide Pacts

1999, a small town 50 miles west of Atlanta, Georgia, a Central High School couple, Jeff Miller and Andrea Garrett made a suicide pact. Nobody but them knew why. One could speculate that like Romeo and Juliet, their love was frowned upon by their families. Miller was 17 and Garrett was 15, so age could have been a factor. However, there is no evidence to show that the two were having problems at home or in their relationship. The couple eventually died from .22 caliber gunshot wounds to the head. Police tried to determine who shot first, but came up empty.

In November 2012, a rumored suicide pact among middle school students rocked the small town of Garrett, Indiana. Reportedly, students signed up for the pact and planned to carry out suicides once a week, concluding after Christmas break. Parents were understandably horrified when they got the news; most heard about the pact from their own children who attended Garrett Middle School. Many of the students said that those who signed up for the pact were not the usual suspects; they were quiet and earned good grades in school. However, some reported these students did not have idyllic home lives. While the superintendent could not provide any evidence of the pact, it bothered most of the community. No suicides were reported during the weeks up to and after Christmas break.

Seven years later, in Garrett, a 14-year-old boy was found dead in his father’s car from a gunshot wound to his head. The news broke and the town reeled. Could this be the first in a line of suicides from a more recent suicide pact? Reports showed that the boy, who remained unnamed, was having troubles in school and at home. Rumors of another suicide pact spread quickly throughout the schools and the town. Many parents worried that their own children may have made a pact with friends. After a few days, the rumors died down, and there was no evidence of a recent pact. However, there is still some mystery surrounding the real reasons for the teen’s suicide.

When the pandemic hit, parents feared the worst. Were their children going to be all right? As recently as January 2021, The New York Times reported 18 teen suicides in the nine months schools in Clark County, Nevada were closed. The report isn’t blaming the school closing but says that the lack of mental health resources available to teens could have been a factor. The youngest suicide reported was a 9-year-old child. The schools in Clark County were forced to reopen because of the suicides, as they wanted students back in a safe environment where they could get the mental health assistance they needed. There is no evidence that a pact of any kind was made.

As parents, we must be vigilant. Our kids are suffering more now than ever before. Some of this can be linked to the lockdown, where kids did not think they had anything to look forward to. The suicide pacts made among students in middle and high school are more than concerning, and one can only hope that school health officials and administrators are forthcoming with parents and other relatives in the districts about any information they receive regarding these pacts. We need to keep up with what our children are doing on social media and whom they’re associating with. While this may become a nuisance to our children, it is for their own safety. If you hear of a suicide pact, report it. If you know someone who is having suicidal thoughts, especially your child(ren), please contact The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.