The Deaths at Trails Carolina
On Nov. 10, 2014, a 17-year-old young man named Alec Lansing went missing after he left a group from Trails Carolina, an organization in Western North Carolina that offers wilderness therapy for young adults and children. At the time, Lansing, who was from Atlanta, Georgia, had been camping with a group off NC 107 in the forest near Heady Mountain Church Road. A search for Lansing involved the U.S. Forest Service, the North Carolina Highway Patrol, the local sheriff’s office, the Glenville-Cashiers Rescue Squad, Jackson County Emergency Management and Cashiers Fire Department. Authorities had received reports that Lansing was seen at a gas station in Cashiers on the evening he went missing from the group, but because of technical issues with the store video, they were unable to confirm that a young man matching Lansing’s description was actually in the store.
On November 15, 2014, an article in The Asheville Citizen-Times reported that after a week of mostly ground searches, a helicopter was sent out for a second time to try and get a better aerial view of the forest in the hopes of spotting Lansing. However, heavy canopy in the dense woods limited their visibility. They did find a vest in the woods near the camping area where the young man was last seen. It was decorated with reflectors and was similar to garments worn by transportation workers. Major Shannon Queen with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office asked the media on that day to share its stories and information about Lansing’s disappearance with affiliates in the Atlanta news market, in case he had made his way back home. At the time, law enforcement was unaware if his friends from Georgia even knew he was missing from the group.
On November 24, searchers found the body of Alec Lansing in a stream in a remote area of the Nantahala National Forest. His autopsy revealed he had a broken hip, but the cause of death was listed as hypothermia. Investigators noticed moss had been removed from a tree that leaned over the stream where Lansing was found. They believed he had scaled the tree and fallen into the water, breaking his hip, which would have left him immobile. The temperatures during the time Lansing went missing had dipped into the teens overnight, and with his placement in the water, hypothermia would have set in quickly with him unable to move.
About Trails Carolina
According to information found on the Trails Carolina website, the camp was founded in 2008, with the belief that a wilderness setting enhances the benefits of therapy. It accepts children ages 10-17 on wilderness expeditions, and therapists are supposed to meet with the campers on a weekly basis. The program bills itself as helping minors with conditions such as depression, anxiety, anger management and oppositional defiant disorder. Participants typically stay with the program for 85 days, with tuition ranging from $675 to $715 per day. There isn’t a whole lot of information available about exactly how or why Alec Lansing came to be at Trails Carolina. I read in a few different places that he had been grieving the loss of his brother and his mother made the decision to send him to the camp as part of his healing.
A Department of Health and Human Services report investigating the death of Alec Lansing showed a deputy with the local sheriff’s department said staff at Trails Carolina waited five hours after the young man had gone missing to call for help. The deputy told DHHS that they believed they would have had a better chance finding Lansing alive if they had begun the search earlier. Trails Carolina was fined $12,000 but was allowed to keep operating.
I noticed something else when learning about Alec Lansing. There are several conflicting dates about when he went missing. Some articles said November 17. Others said November 10. November 10 makes sense to me because one of the articles I found in the Asheville Citizen-Times was published on November 15 and said he’d been missing for several days already. He was found on November 24 according to the published reports. His obituary said he died on November 22. I’m assuming it was hard to estimate exactly how long he had been dead because of the conditions outside, but I hope he wasn’t in the water for 10-12 days before he succumbed to his injuries. Did his group take even longer to report him missing than what was published? The most important question is, why was Alec so determined to leave the group? He wasn’t the only one who had escaped it before, seemingly out of desperation.
Two months before Lansing walked away from his group, in late September 2014, two males, ages 15 and 16, left Trails Carolina, prompting a massive search in the Silversteen Road area of Transylvania County. They were found two days later and charged with several felonies related to breaking into unoccupied homes in the area and stealing firearms.
Another Death at a Program Designed to Help Teens
I bring up Lansing’s case now because another death at Trails Carolina earlier this month has put the camp in the national spotlight, and this time, the camp was ordered to shut down almost immediately.
On the morning February 3, 2024, a 12-year-old boy was found deceased at Trails Carolina. Here are details that came out of a search warrant executed by the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office, with reporting provided by WBTV news:
The boy, whose name has not been released to the media, was found on a mat on the floor of a bunk house. He was already in rigor mortis. He was lying on his back with his arms on his chest and his knees bent upwards toward the sky. He was wearing a hoodie and t-shirt but his pants and underwear were placed next to his shoulder. None of the staff interviewed by the detectives could explain how his pants and underwear were taken off and ended up in that location. The staff member who was assigned to watch the boy overnight said he experienced a panic attack between midnight and 12:30 a.m. They said the boy was checked on at midnight, 3 a.m., 6 a.m., and found dead at 7:45 a.m. However, he was cold to the touch when they found him dead. This child had arrived at the camp less than 24 hours prior to his death.
The warrant stated camp staff blocked investigators from speaking to any of the other children, or from obtaining names or birthdates of the campers. Social workers with the Transylvania County Department of Social Services were also prevented from speaking with or seeing the campers. The camp allegedly has four locations, three in the mountains of North Carolina and another in South Carolina. The FBI Charlotte Division confirmed to local media that they are assisting the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office with the investigation.
Trails Carolina released the following statement after the news article was published:
“Trails is aware of the contents of the search warrant and we are saddened for the family to have these details made public. The search warrant document contains misleading statements; there are details we will not address at this time out of respect for the family and the investigation that is still underway. We can address the statement that Trails prevented children from speaking to investigators. Trails asked parents’ permission for any children involved to speak with law enforcement and state regulatory agencies, and we complied with each parent’s preference, as we are required by law to do. Children were moved from the area to protect them from seeing what was happening, not to avoid investigators. We are a mental health facility treating children with severe, complex mental health diagnoses. Not moving children from the area would have harmed their mental well-being.”
“Trails maintains there is no evidence of criminal conduct or suspicious acts, based upon all knowledge available to us and information and statements from involved agencies. Trails and all related personnel have not been charged with any crimes. Knowing the truth about what caused the loss of this young boy’s life is what matters, and we eagerly await the report by the chief medical examiner.”
News outlet WLOS said officers on the scene noted that when they rolled the child’s body, he frothed at the mouth, leading them to wonder if he had ingested some type of poison. They also noticed he had an extended vein in his neck and possible bruising around the eye. They learned on the night he arrived, the boy was loud and irate and refused to eat dinner. He did eat some snacks later in the evening. Here is what they noted when the examined his sleeping quarters:
Trails Carolina dictated that the boy was supposed to sleep on the floor of the bunkhouse on his first night. The base layer of the bunkhouse was covered in heavy plastic, cut approximately six feet and tied on each end with a string. On top was a sleeping bivy, or a small tent. One side was collapsed, the other side held up with a flex pole. A sleeping bag was inside the bivy. On the zipper of the bivy was a small alarm set to go off anytime someone exited.
Within a week of the boy’s body being found, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services sent a letter ordering Trails Carolina to stop accepting new patients. On February 16, 2024, state officials ordered all children to be removed from Trails Carolina to “ensure the health and safety of the children.”
What are Wilderness Therapy Camps?
An investigative journalist named Nicolle Okoren wrote an in-depth piece on teen wilderness therapy camps for The Guardian that was comprehensive and told the history behind the concept. She wrote that the first modern wilderness program was founded in 1941 by a German educator named Kurt Hahn. Outward Bound started with one school in Wales and now has 38 well-respected schools in six different continents. Then, in 1966, a professor at Brigham Young University taught a course called “Youth Leadership Through Outdoor Survival” to students who were facing academic probation. Today, there are more than 59 wilderness therapy programs in Utah alone. In 1995, a reporter with Outside Magazine published an article that detailed six preventable deaths of minors at multiple wilderness therapy programs throughout Utah.
The nonprofit, Breaking Code Silence, promotes the rights of youths and evidence-based alternatives to the troubled teen industry here in the United States. This includes not only wilderness therapy programs, but residential treatment centers and juvenile detention centers. The Guardian article said that only 22 wilderness programs are accredited by the OBHC. It does appear that Trails Carolina is one of them. If you go to the website Breaking Code Silence, you’ll find an In Memoriam page that lists deaths related to victims of the troubled teen industry, and it goes as far back as the 1950s.
To learn more, visit the full episode of the podcast Missing in the Carolinas, Episode 88, here.
Sources:
Asheville Citizen-Times
November 15, 2014
Helicopter sent out in search for Atlanta teen; vest found
https://www.newspapers.com/image/113382047
Asheville Citizen-Times
November 14, 2014
Officials search for teen missing since Monday
https://www.newspapers.com/image/113381719/
Asheville Citizen-Times
November 26, 2014
Autopsy: Teenager died of hypothermia
https://www.newspapers.com/image/113384420
https://www.wbtv.com/2021/05/24/its-beyond-cruel-inside-nc-wilderness-therapy-program-teens/
https://www.wyff4.com/article/autopsy-missing-teen-fell-broke-hip-died-of-hypothermia/7011704
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article285379627.html