Posted on 04/06/2010 3:43:44 PM PDT by LibWhacker
Six-year-old Samantha Kuberski was a happy kid who did well at school. Which is why tragedy was compounded by shock back in January, when medical examiners in Yamhill County, south of Portland, declared Samantha's death a suicide, making her the youngest person to take her own life in Oregon's history.
On December 2, the first-grader was allegedly sent to her room after getting in a fight with her mom. While her mother and three sisters were in other parts of their McMinnville house, Samatha reportedly crawled into an unused crib that had no mattress or box spring, tied a cordurouy belt around her neck and onto the crib's top railing and hung herself.
Samantha was found unconscious and rushed to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. Her parents and siblings were later interviewed by police, who ruled out any foul play and said they found no signs that the young girl had ever been abused.
Now the only thing left to parse is what to call Samantha's tragic death. While the medical examiner has ruled it a suicide, detectives insist on calling it an accident, saying that a child that small could have no idea of the consequences of her actions, an argument backed up by adolescent psychiatrists like Dr. Kirk Wolfe.
"Most kids this age are not aware of what death actually is," he told the Yamhill Valley News-Register. "Not until they get to be 8, 9 and 10 do they understand death is final and you don't come back."
I dont’ think she meant to kill herself.
Probably an accident.
TV?
When I was three I had a concept of... tricycle. LOl!
“Or someone killed her.”
Maybe mommy was more pissed at her than everyone thought.
The only lesson to learn from this story is that life is a horrible curse and nobody should exist in the first place.
I’m not so sure. Depression is a horrible thing. It hits some people very early, and having a loving home life doesn’t make one immune.
She wasn’t a depressed kid, according to the story.
“Or someone killed her.”
This seems like more of a possibility than most on this forum or the article comments even seem to want to explore.
maybe nobody knew she was depressed, and that was the problem.
Children imitate what they see on TV and some times that can lead to a fatal result.
Turn on your closest TV to answer your question.
Tragic for both the family and our culture.
Yes, she must have seen someone doing something similar.
My brother and I jumped off the roof of our house while holding umbrellas, figuring they'd work like parachutes. (Fortunately we were both fine.)
I agree. It’s one thing to wrap something around one’s neck. It’s another to affix one end to the crib, wrap the other around the neck, climb up and over the rail....I have reasonable doubt on the coroner’s theory.
*Six years old*....that's the key.
I was tutoring six year old twins after their school day.
A note came home advising that one of their classmates had died and the parents should discuss this with their children.
When I mentioned to the boys that Jon had gotten very sick over the weekend and died they told me the teacher had told them that but they were sure that Jon would be back in school on Monday.
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