Updated research information on the student suicides

After a few hours, I came back with some research material about the student suicides in 1993.

I went through these four rolls of microfilm to look for newspaper articles listed as important dates.  Here is what I discovered.

An article was listed named W.B. teen-ager commits suicide  in The Hawk Eye on March 21, 1993.

The first of the three suicides occurred on March 19, 1993 at 2:30 a.m.  She committed suicide by a gunshot to the head.  Latricia Nacole, 15, of West Burlington, attended West Burlington High School.  She was a cheerleader for the football team.  She originally was a student at the Burlington School District, but was transferred to West Burlington the year before.

The news about the suicide was going around before authorities released any information about Latricia.








An article was listed named W.B. copes with 2nd teen suicide in The Hawk Eye on March 22, 1993.

On March 20, 1993 at 11:30 p.m., a second suicide was reported.  He committed suicide using a 12-gauge shotgun.  Jade Klein, 15, of West Burlington, attended West Burlington High School.  He received the National Merit Science Award, and enjoys the outdoors, fishing, and hunting.

Police and school officials identified five to six other high school students to be potential risks and the parents were asked to keep an eye on their children.  Half dozen students left the high school without alerting school officials.

The newspaper listed an obitchuary, but no photo was published of Jade Klein.


An article was listed named Police probe 3rd suicide in The Hawk Eye on March 23, 1993.

On March 22, 1993 at around 5:30-6:00 p.m., a third suicide was reported.  He committed suicide by shooting himself.  Curtis Taylor, 14, of Burlington, attended Oak Street Middle School.  He was involved in a school play and was featured in the December 1992 newspaper about a book that he wrote in regards of Vietnam as part of a class project.  He researched war at the library, looking for poems and songs during that time period.  A copy of his book was placed in the library at Oak Street school.

In the same article, George Rinker, 19, of Burlington, threatened to commit suicide on March 23rd at 1:20 a.m.  It wasn't clear though on whether or not he was a current or former student at the time.

After the report of Curtis's death, letters were mail out from Oak Street School to acknowledged the students' parents about the death of the recent student.

The letters were written out by Robert Dodder, President of Board of Education.

 Meetings were created for not only the affected schools, but other schools around the general area, such as the Burlington and Mount Pleasant schools.  Counselors were organized to work with students, as well as having support being given by Governor Branstad with bringing in state counselors.  Churches also did their part with setting up meetings in order to help prevent anymore suicides from taking place.  Letters to the Editor were published by students, as well as a couple of other individuals, expressing their emotions on the suicides.

The events unfolded from March 21st through the late end of the month.  It was unclear whether the discussion began on the 20th.  That is due to the lack of the entire March 20th newsprint.

An article was listed named Father sues school over son's suicide in The Hawk Eye on November 11, 1993.

On November 10, 1993, the father of Curtis Taylor files a suit against the Burlington School District.  On the same day of the suicide, Curtis told his school counselor Elwin Kendell that he was thinking about suicide.  Elwin wasn't able to reach Curtis's father at work.  He then sent Curtis home after making a promise to meet with him the next morning.

Curtis had some history of psychological problems and the father believed that he should have done more with his son on the day of the suicide.

He filed a suit because the school district failed to properly supervise and protect Curtis and other students at school.

His son was reported to be harassed and bullied by other students.  The school didn't do enough to stop the problems.

An article was listed named School district reaches settlement in The Hawk Eye on May 1, 1996.

In late April of 1996, the school district paid $160,000 worth of damages to Curtis Taylor's father.  In addition to the damages, a change of policies were made.

The district agreed to implement a plan for identifying students who are at risk for suicide and a list of responses to be considered after identifying such a student.  The new policy must be forwarded to the board for approval within eight months.

I looked into researching the names of the victims shortly after I looked through the microfilm, which lists articles from the newspaper.  None of the victim's names showed up in the special section for deaths, even though their names should have been added years ago for the listings.