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STORIES
BY LOU KILZER
Epilogue
Inside Corey Murphy's backpack when he died were two photos. One was of his car, a source of pride for him until a friend took it for a spin that weekend and scraped its side. The other picture showed Corey with a girl.
Mitchell Humason, Corey's dad, says he was surprised by the kids who came to Corey's funeral.
"Many were kind of Rastafarian, with dreadlocks hair and, you know, kind of stoner kids," he says.
Humason had been golfing recently with Corey and noticed that the boy grew anxious as the day went on. But Humason didn't suspect that something powerful could be happening psychologically with his son.
Presiding at the funeral was the director of Teen Help's Spring Creek Lodge.
At the service, Humason says, he told his ex-wife, "Wow. I really didn't know him."
"Don't feel bad," he says Laura responded. "I lived with him and I didn't know him."
Kasio told her mother she wasn't surprised by Corey's early death.
"To be honest, Mom, I could never see him growing up," Laura says Kasio told her. "He was too vulnerable. He was too tender."
"My beautiful and loving son Corey killed himself Tuesday morning," she wrote. "I heard many people speak at his funeral about his power, his caring and his willingness to be a friend, a guide and a support in the midst of their pain.
"Parents — MOTHERS AND FATHERS — I must tell you to STOP fighting among yourselves and BELIEVE in your kids."
She says she had no regrets about Teen Help's programs.
"Without the program, Corey would never have had a vehicle for his power and his 'highs.' ... I KNOW I did everything I could for Corey, and I don't regret for a moment that he was involved in this program. ... I only wish Corey had been less successful at concealing his pain and his morbid sense of failure.
"Many others manage to survive — BECAUSE OF THIS PROGRAM AND THE HELP IT GAVE THEM."
Teen Help, Laura told the News, "is not nearly as harsh as jail, or boot camp or life in general. I think a lot of these kids really need to understand that life is not necessarily kind."
Contact Lou Kilzer at (303) 892-2644 or kilzerl@RockyMountainNews.com.
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