Posted on 03/19/2005 12:01:46 AM PST by tang-soo
Neb. Prodigy, 14, Dies in Apparent Suicide
By JOE RUFF : Associated Press Writer Mar 18, 2005 : 8:04 pm ET
OMAHA, Neb. -- A musical prodigy who completed high school at age 10 apparently killed himself at 14, authorities said.
Brandenn E. Bremmer, who taught himself how to read at 18 months and began playing the piano at 3, was found dead Tuesday at his home in southwest Nebraska with a gunshot wound to the head, sheriff's officials said.
Patricia Bremmer said her son showed no signs of depression, had just finished the art for the cover of a second CD of his music, and had plans for Wednesday. She did not disclose details of how he was found.
"We're rationalizing now," she said. "He had this excessive need to help people and teach people. ... He was so connected with the spiritual world, we felt he could hear people's needs and desires and their cries. We just felt like something touched him that day and he knew he had to leave" so his organs could be donated.
She said Brandenn's kidneys went to two people, his liver to a 22-month old and his heart to an 11-year-old boy.
Brandenn had decided in December he wanted to be an anesthesiologist, his mother said. He started taking a biology class at Mid-Plains Community College in North Platte, where he had also taken courses in 2001. She said he had planned to eventually attend the University of Nebraska.
Reached at home late Friday afternoon, Perkins County Sheriff James D. Brueggeman said the investigation was ongoing and declined to comment.
David Wohl, one of Brandenn's professors at Colorado State University at Fort Collins, Colo., where he had been taking classes and lessons since age 11, said Friday he was shocked to learn of Brandenn's apparent suicide.
Wohl, who last saw Brandenn in December, recalled him as an unpretentious young man who had an easy smile. "He wasn't just talented, he was just a really nice young man," Wohl said.
Brandenn was home-schooled through high school and completed his junior and senior years in seven months. For his high school graduation photo, Brandenn darkened his hair, wore round wire-rimmed glasses, and threw on a red cape to look like one of his favorite characters -- Harry Potter.
Like most kids at that age, he loved cartoons, playing video games and going swimming. But he also loved playing the piano and began taking independent study classes at CSU because he was interested in the school's music department.
Must have inherited his intelligence from his father.
Truly sad to see such potential go to waste. Maybe Mr. Prodigy finally discovered girls. That's done in many a young lad.
"Reached at home late Friday afternoon, Perkins County Sheriff James D. Brueggeman said the investigation was ongoing and declined to comment."
What a waste of talent. God bless him.
There is likely alot more to this story than portrayed. I would suspect that he had various issues at hand...and that the parents thought he would "thought-process" these through, and reach a good conclusion. Few suicides are last-minute decisions made in 20 minutes of thinking. There is a thought process at hand, and it can take months and years to reach that point.
I work with a "child-genius" type...almost 25 years old now. His maturity level, in terms of leadership, has only started to form in the past year or two. In terms of individual projects and working issues by himself...he is major asset to the organization. But it may be another 10 years before he can actually go and lead a team on a project.
His mother is a freak. She probably brought him to the breaking point
As the mother of a 12 y/o boy who has become depressed and lately taken to expressing suicidal ideations, my heart truly aches for this family.
Did this kid have any friends? Im not buying that he killed himself in order to donate his organs.
I wonder what the rest of the story is?? Suicide's are rarely spur of the moment deals.
Obviously, his mother is dealing with the senseless grief as well as she knows how.
You're point is spot on. My daughter just turned 16, and will be entering college this fall. She's been so far ahead of her peers, that she doesn't fit in with her senior class, and doesn't fit in with others her age. She'll have an even tougher time fitting in with college age young adults next year (hasn't had her first date yet!!), and she's six years older than this boy was when he graduated from H.S.. Sixteen has been so difficult, that I can't imagine dealing with her burdens at age ten.
So sad.. SFS
Yep that is SOOOOOOOo weird
She talks about his having to "go" as though it were his going to the store, or to the bathroom, or something like that. Genius is (sadly) often a bedfellow of madness, and whereas he was a genius and went mad, she sounds simply mad.
This one is pretty weird, probably a case of depression but the website has some info on Mom's books, "creates the third mystery novel of her "Elusive Clue" series in which ...Bremmer's sleuth, Detective Glen Karst, moves to center stage in this chilling present-day story of a small town murder during a harsh eastern Colorado winter."
Cue the theme from Twilight Zone.
Maybe the child would far prefer the comfort of "belonging" to being a prodigy freak and a parental trophy to be paraded about.
I have no idea what happened here but it's a good guess that this kid was tortured by the fact that he couldn't be a kid and wasn't accepted socially by those in his peer group. Not only that but he was probably teased and taunted by them because kids tend to stigmatize those who are seen as "better" than they are.
Being rejected by your peers while being fawned over by adults can do quite a number on a 14-year-old kid. Again, what do I know about this specific situation. I'm just putting this out in general terms. I had a somewhat similar childhood though certainly not this extreme.
I have one of those too. I also have a child on the other end of the spectrum with learning disabilities. Both are equally challenging and require a great deal of flexibility and creativity. These "off the charts" kinds of kids must know and be known - something few parents are willing to invest the time in.
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