PLANTATION

Teen's camping death haunts mom

A grieving Plantation mother seeks answers after her 13-year-old son died abruptly while on a camping trip in North Miami.

BY ROBIN M. PEGUERO
August 14, 2006

rpeguero@MiamiHerald.com

Alex Cullinane was scared.

He had attended Plantation's Community Christian Academy since kindergarten, but after it closed this year, the 13-year-old would have to start anew. And his mother's school of choice, the Back to Basics Military Academy, stressed physical fitness. The history buff, who skipped the seventh grade last year and was supposed to start ninth grade today, was more brain than brawn.

''He likes to do what he's good at,'' said his mother, Dena Cullinane of Plantation.

And that wasn't athletics.

He left for the academy's four-day leadership training camp at Oleta River State Park in North Miami on Wednesday, and never came back.

He died after he awoke with a start at 3 a.m. Saturday, and authorities still don't know why. North Miami police are investigating.

''He wasn't in top shape, but he wasn't a sick child,'' Dena Cullinane said. ``He just wasn't into sports.''

Miami Herald news partner WFOR-CBS 4 quoted other kids at the camp saying Alex had refused to eat or drink.

''Dehydration left him to his death, and that's what I think,'' said Brandon Scott, 15, a squad leader at the camp.

Dena Cullinane said she spoke to camp staff Friday and they said Alex was fine. She had not spoken to him since Wednesday.

The 33 kids at the getaway had completed relays on the park's beach that Friday, said the school's principal and owner, Lynda Browne. They wore military fatigues, engaged in marches and exercised. Physical education had always been a vital component of the Christian, military-style school, she said.

''Kids miss that. We have brought back that side of school,'' Browne said. ``We don't brutalize, curse at, or traumatize children in any way.''

The school, at 5770 W. Oakland Park Blvd., Lauderhill, is heading into its second year. Cullinane said she worried about its military image, but she ultimately felt it was a good school led by good people. She still does.

''I trust them, and I'm not into blame,'' she said. ``Blame is not gonna bring Alex back.''

Browne contracted Fort Lauderdale-based Juvenile Military and Leadership Corp. to run the camping trip. A few of the drill sergeants are national guardsmen, she said.

Although the school often accepts children with behavioral and academic problems, Browne said it serves a diverse group of students.

''We felt a lot of our children needed a strong biblical base. They also needed a strong academic background,'' she said. ``Our teachers teach and our drill sergeants discipline.''

Alex did not need the discipline, according to his mother. He was a straight-A student, she said. The brown-haired, brown-eyed stocky kid won the Christian character award every year at his last school, and had an affinity for knickknacks relating to ancient Egypt. He was a spiritual intellectual, and physical acumen would have helped complete the trifecta, she said. ''He was wonderful, simple, sweet spirited,'' she said. 'He was loving, and always said `I love you.' ''

The academy's answering machine refers to the school as a ''military juvenile boot camp,'' but Browne backed away from the label Sunday afternoon.

''It's not a boot camp. We're Christians,'' she said.

For now, Cullinane awaits the autopsy report that might explain how her child, whose physical examination found him a healthy teen, suddenly died in the middle of the night.

''It's not even going to matter,'' she said. ``Whatever it is, I know I just need to find peace in it.''

Their black cat, Sophie, looks for him. A slew of honors and awards litter his neatly made bed.

''It's a real loss for me,'' said Cullinane of her only child. ``He was my life.''

Miami Herald staff writers Tim Henderson and Diana Moskovitz contributed to this report.