The boy died in February, less than 24 hours after having arrived at Trails Carolina, a for-profit program that has since lost its operating license. Trails Carolina has said the death appeared to be accidental and that staff members performed CPR after they found the boy unresponsive the morning after he arrived. He was inside a bivy, a one-person tent secured with an alarm. 

The camp has said it routinely placed children in bivvies overnight for their safety when they arrived. The autopsy report said the inner mesh panel of the boy’s bivy was torn, so counselors sealed the outer, weather-resistant door panel instead, which was not the camp’s protocol.

Before its license was revoked, Trails Carolina, in Lake Toxaway, served children with behavioral issues and diagnoses such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism and post-traumatic stress disorder. A medical examiner’s report released with the autopsy findings said the boy who died had ADHD, anxiety, migraines and social challenges, including “a very hard time making friends.”