Boy, 12, had panic attack before dying at North Carolina therapy camp

The body of the 12-year-old boy who died at a controversial North Carolina therapy camp was found naked below the waist and foaming at the mouth — just hours after counselors watched on as he suffered a panic attack, a search warrant reveals.

The pre-teen — identified only as a white male “CJH” in the documents — had arrived at Trails Carolina Camp in Lake Toxaway from New York less than 24 hours before he died.

When the boy died, and what caused his death remains unclear, but forensic pathologists previously stated it “appeared to not be natural.”

Camp staff told police that CJH had been “loud and irate” upon arriving at Trails Carolina, and refused to eat dinner after he was brought to the property on Friday, Feb. 3.

The boy calmed down later in the evening and eventually ate some snacks that counselors provided, but he again grew inconsolable around midnight after he was put into a cabin, where he was ordered to sleep on the floor, per camp protocols, according to the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office warrant.

CJH was given a sleeping bag that was inside a small tent called a bivy bag, which was equipped with an alarm that would blare if he tried to leave at any point in the night.

Two counselors “stood along the wall” of the cabin while CJH experienced the midnight panic attack, though it’s not clear whether they offered any help other than opening the bivvy to check on the boy.

One of the two counselors interviewed by police “did not mention if he or other counselors attempted to assist CJH with ‘any easement during his anxiety attack,’” the warrant states.

Counselors checked on CJH at midnight, 3 a.m. and 6 a.m., they claimed, eventually finding the boy dead — “cold to the touch and stiff” — at 7:45 a.m.

Panic attacks can’t cause death, according to studies, but they can lead to other, long-term health complications.

Police, who previously said it was clear the pre-teen had been dead for some time, found the boy in Rigor Mortis lying on his back with his arms on his chest and his knees bent toward the ceiling.

He was wearing a sweatshirt, but was naked from the waist down — his pants and underwear were found on the ground next to his right shoulder.

“During interviews, camp counselors were asked how his pants got into this position and they did not know,” the documents state.

CJH showed small bruising on the lips and in and around his eyes, as well as an extended vein on his neck. He was also foaming at the mouth, “which could’ve indicated that he ingested some sort of poison.”

Camp staff allegedly blocked investigators from the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office and Department of Social Services from interviewing other juveniles who were in the cabin by moving them to another location 30 miles away.

The self-described “wilderness camp for troubled youth” railed against the sheriff’s office assessment in a statement Monday, stating the warrant contained “misleading statements.”

While saying it would not discuss some details “out of respect for the family and the investigation,” the camp disputed that it had “refused” to allow the other juveniles to speak to investigators.

“Trails asked parents’ permission for any children involved to speak with law enforcement and state regulatory agencies, and we complied with each parent’s preference, as we are required to do,” the statement said.

“Children were moved from the area to protect them from seeing what was happening, not to avoid investigators. We are a mental health facility treating children with severe, complex mental health diagnoses. Not moving children from the area would have harmed their mental well-being.”

Trails Carolina reiterated its prior claims of innocence and that preliminary investigations do not indicate criminal conduct.

Police had last week called the boy’s death “suspicious,” but autopsy results are still pending.

Trails Carolina, which is located about 35 miles southwest of Asheville, describes itself as a nature-based therapy program that helps 10- to 17-year-olds “work through behavioral or emotional difficulties, build trusting relationships with their family and peers and achieve academic success.”

The program which costs up to $715 per day, depending on a student’s age.