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CBS 4 NEWS

Military School Teen's Death God's Will, Says Mom

August 14, 2006

Shomari Stone
Reporting

Click here for video: http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_225204808.html


(CBS4 News) LAUDERHILL The mother of a 13-year-old cadet at a private military academy who died while camping at Oleta River State Park in North Miami said her son’s death was “God’s will”, and said she was just happy for the time they had together.

In an exclusive interview CBS4 Reporter Shomari Stone, Dena Cullinane spoke for the first time Sunday night about the death of her son, Alex, while on a camping trip with his military school class last weekend.

“I think it was God’s will. I think it was his time to go,” Cullinane said. “As painful as that is, I need to find a way to accept that, and to know that this is what was meant to be.”

“I know that through this pain, on the other side, I’ll grow through it.”

Cullinane has requested an autopsy to help determine how her son died, but the 15 year old boy who acted as his squad leader believes he may have been dehydrated.

Brandon Scott told Stone in an exclusive interview that the teen had problems earlier in the day doing running exercises.

“He said he had spinal problems, and that his spine was really hurting him, and his news were hurting him,” Scott said. “He was just a little bit slower than the rest of them.”

Scott said the boy had refused food earlier, and even though adult drill instructors had urged him to eat and drink more, he believed the boy was not getting enough water.

“Dehydration. Dehydration led to his death, that’s what I think,” said Scott.

Victor Jusino of Sunrise says his nine- and ten-year-old sons told him the older boy continuously threw away food after the 33 cadets arrived early Wednesday at the Back to Basics Christian Military Academy's Training and Leadership Corps camp-out.

North Miami police have released few details about their investigation into the death early yesterday at the park. An autopsy is pending.

The Lauderhill academy's principal, Lynda Browne, has said the cadet got out of bed in the middle of the night to tell a drill sergeant he didn't feel well, and collapsed on the way to the bathroom.

Scott said there was nothing he could do to help the teen. “I felt like I wish I could have done something more,” he said.

Jusino says his sons told him they were given three meals a day after starting each morning with a long hike. But the boys were dehydrated, sunburned and had insect bites when he picked them up yesterday morning.

Browne says it is against the rules of the academy to physically or verbally abuse the children. The school leases space from a Lauderhill community church.

As to what killed the teen, Brown told CBS4’s Stone, “We have absolutely no idea. What we are doing and before we begin to speculate or guess, we know the parent has asked for an autopsy, and so we’re just waiting at this point for the results.”

 

 

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