Probe of student's suicide continues

By Brian Hassler
Staff Writer

FARMINGTON — More details have surfaced while police are conducting two investigations on the apparent suicide of a female student at Navajo Prep on Monday afternoon.

The first investigation concerns the suicide of a female student on Monday, while the second investigation will check for any relation between this suicide and the suicide that occurred at the school on Oct. 26.

"It has been mentioned that this is the second suicide and that is something that we are going to look into," Det. Sgt. Robert Perez, of the Farmington Police Department. "The school is interested in determining the root cause of this and we haven't made determination if this is anunrelated incident or if it is related."

"Based on the interviews we've had," added Perez. "We will take the next step and identify if there is a connection on our own, but so far we can't really say that there is or isn't one."

School officials are conducting an investigation of their own into the suicide, said Perez, and police will make use of that information as well. Police will also have to wait until they have completed their investigation of Monday's suicide before fully investigating the conditions at a school that has seen two students commit suicide since late October.

Police were contacted at 5:12 p.m. on Monday afternoon about the body of a 16-year old female student that had been found. The student was then transported to San Juan Regional Medical Center and was alive when she was transported.

Family members of the student were contacted on Tuesday by the school, the hospital, and then police officers, while the body of the student has since been sent for an autopsy.

Upon arriving on the scene, officers found no drugs or paraphernalia and no evidence of foul play. Perez added that it was still being considered an apparent suicide and that they were looking for information to support or dispute that fact.

Sources within the school point to a planned cover-up by school officials with fears that enrollment will go down when parents take into consideration the suicides that have occurred at the school.

Currently, students can leave the campus for the remainder of the week if their parents choose to pick them up, and concerns over the atmosphere at the school remain.

"They had a meeting and talked about 'getting their stories straight' for the police and the reporters," said one parent. "Students were getting yelled at and told to be quiet so that they could have this meeting."

Parents point to concerns over an atmosphere at the school that they feel is contributing to the suicides that occurred earlier in the week and in October.

On Oct. 26, Kyle Valenzuela, 17, hung himself with his belt in his dorm room at Navajo Prep, and administrators closed the school for the remainder of the week and allowed students to return home.

Messages left for Navajo Prep administrators were not returned.

Brian Hassler is The Independent's Four Corners reporter based in Shiprock. Contact him at (505) 360-7862 or via email at brianhassler@hotmail.com.