|
STORIES
BY LOU KILZER
Over the edge
The incident that precipitated Corey's final showdown with his mother involved beer, cars and friends.
The weekend before he died, Corey and a friend had a party at Laura's house, says Mitch Humason, Corey's father. Laura was away.
The friend told Humason that he and Corey had been "smoking marijuana before the weekend was over, like on Sunday night." Corey gave the leftover pot to his friend, "I guess in anticipation that Laura was going to be looking around the house for marijuana or something," Humason says.
What Laura did find was enough.
"She had told him not to use her automobiles, which he did," Humason says. "She told him not to have kids over to the house, which he did. She told him not to drink, which he did.
"And I guess he left the barbecue on."
Corey set off the exit plan by choosing to leave home rather than follow the rules, Laura says.
"He wasn't being sent from the house," she said. "He was electing to leave. He knew he could stay here as long as he wanted. All he had to do is follow house rules, just as you have follow rules when you work in a hotel."
The discussion upset Corey and as he charged through the house, hetipped over a lamp, breaking it.
Laura gave the News this account of what happened March 21:
"I dialed 911, and then he went into the laundry room and I thought, well, he's going to cool off. It's going to be OK. And so I hung up. Well, 911 calls me back.
"And I was in the process of telling them, 'Well, you know, Corey, my son, is thinking about leaving the house, and he's a little upset right now, and he's looking like he's maybe going to break a few things. But I think we'll be OK, I think he's going to calm down.'
"And while I was talking to them, he ran. I had the gun up above my refrigerator way high. I'd have to get on a stool to get it, but Corey didn't. He could jump. And he jumped up there. I thought he was getting a stash of pot or something 'cause he thought the police were coming to the house.
"And he ran into the bedroom and locked the door. And when I realized what he had, I was screaming at him and calling 911 again. He didn't say anything to me. He didn't say a word to me."
Shortly after he shut the door, Corey fired a shot into the bedroom wall.
Then, Laura told the News, "I broke the door down. I broke in and he was standing there loading the gun. And I said, 'Please, Corey, put it down. Please put it down. Don't do this.' And he started showing, you know, right hand, right temple, left hand, left temple. And kind of dancing around the room.
" ... He was just being kind of an ass and posing with it. You know what I'm saying? He was playing with it, and I think that ... he would have eventually put it down, but because of his behavior it would have forced me to put him back into the program rather than letting him take his exit plan.
" ... And he pointed it straight at his forehead. And I think he was just as shocked as I was when it went off. I don't think he knew what was going to happen."
Laura says she is convinced that Corey did not know the revolver could go off with the pressure he was putting on the trigger.
She also says she thinks she knows why Corey was behaving dangerously.
"I think he was trying to manipulate me into sending him back into the program where he could get the help he really needed," she says.
"It is very unfortunate that in his inability to cope with life he couldn't just ask me, because I would have sent him back if he wanted to go ...
"He was happy in the program ... All you have to do is read his letters."
Corey wanted something else from his mom, Laura now believes.
"He wanted me to say, 'I don't want you to leave the house,' which was true, and he already knew it. But he wanted me to say it. He wanted me to forbid him to leave the house. If I had known that he was as upset as he was, I certainly would have."
Desperate Measures: Home
| Epilogue: Lost Boy
|
