5 named, 1 charged, Glasgow, Missouri (2016 - 2018) [bullying leading to student's suicide]

Discussion in 'Other Improper Behaviors' started by News Readers, Feb 2, 2017.

  1. News Readers

    News Readers The Paperboy

    Named & sued but not charged:
    • Mike Reynolds, superintendent of the school district
    • Sonya Fuemmeler, assistant superintendent
    • Stacey Kottman, Glasgow High School principal & business teacher
    • Kyra Yung, former Glasgow Elementary School principal.
    upload_2019-8-25_4-54-34.png upload_2019-8-25_4-54-45.png upload_2019-8-25_4-56-22.png upload_2019-8-25_4-54-57.png
    Mike Reynolds, Sonya Fuemmeler, Stacey Kottman, Kyra Yung

    Named & charged:
    • Dairy Queen manager Harley Branham charged with second-degree involuntary manslaughter
    upload_2019-8-25_5-4-19.png
    Harley Branham
    Victim:

    upload_2019-8-25_5-11-28.png upload_2019-8-25_5-15-2.png
    Kenneth Louis "Kenny” Suttner
    Find-A-Grave Memorial #174289987


    Restaurant manager charged after bullied teen's suicide

    At high school and at his job at Dairy Queen, Kenneth Suttner was a constant target of ridicule. Everything from his weight to the way he talked was fodder for bullies, his best friend Lexie Graves said, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune. One day, Suttner simply couldn't take it anymore. The 17-year-old high school junior committed suicide on December 21 near his family's home in Howard County, Missouri. Suttner died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Howard County coroner Frank Flaspohler said. On Thursday, nearly a month and half later, Suttner's manager at Dairy Queen in Fayette was arrested and ...


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    http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/02/us/suicide-dairy-queen-charge-trnd/index.html
     
    Mike Reynolds, Sonya Fuemmeler, Stacey Kottman, Kyra Yung, Harley Branham, Kenneth Suttner, Lexie Graves, Howard County, Missouri, Glasgow High School, Fayette, Howard County. R-II School District, Kenneth “Kenny” Suttner, special prosecutor April Wilson, Tom Mickes, Dairy Queen, coroner Frank Flaspohler, Glasgow
  2. News Readers

    News Readers The Paperboy

    Dairy Queen manager charged after bullied teen kills himself

    At high school and at his job at Dairy Queen, Kenneth Suttner was a constant target of ridicule. Everything from his weight to the way he talked was fodder for bullies, his best friend Lexie Graves said, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune. One day, Suttner simply couldn't take it anymore. The 17-year-old high school junior committed suicide on December 21 near his family's home in Howard County, Missouri. Suttner died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Howard County coroner Frank Flaspohler said. On Thursday, nearly a month and half later, Suttner's manager at Dairy Queen in Fayette was arrested and ...


    Continue reading...

    http://fox8.com/2017/02/02/missouri-dairy-queen-manager-charged-after-bullied-teen-kills-himself/





    Dairy Queen manager charged after bullied teen’s suicide

    At high school and at his job at Dairy Queen, Kenneth Suttner was a constant target of ridicule. Everything from his weight to the way he talked was fodder for bullies, his best friend Lexie Graves said, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune. One day, Suttner simply couldn’t take it anymore. The 17-year-old high school junior committed suicide on December 21 near his family’s home in Howard County, Missouri. Suttner died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Howard County coroner Frank Flaspohler said. On Thursday, nearly a month and half later, Suttner’s manager at Dairy Queen in Fayette was arrested and ...


    Continue reading...

    http://q13fox.com/2017/02/02/dairy-queen-manager-charged-after-bullied-teens-suicide/





    Missouri Dairy Queen manager charged after bullied teen kills himself

    At high school and at his job at Dairy Queen, Kenneth Suttner was a constant target of ridicule. Everything from his weight to the way he talked was fodder for bullies, his best friend Lexie Graves said, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune. One day, Suttner simply couldn't take it anymore. The 17-year-old high school junior committed suicide on December 21 near his family's home in Howard County, Missouri. Suttner died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Howard County coroner Frank Flaspohler said. On Thursday, nearly a month and half later, Suttner's manager at Dairy Queen in Fayette was arrested and ...


    Continue reading...

    http://fox61.com/2017/02/02/missouri-dairy-queen-manager-charged-after-bullied-teen-kills-himself/
     
  3. News Readers

    News Readers The Paperboy

    People mentioned / implicated thus far (but none actually charged):
    • Superintendent Mike Reynolds, Glasgow School District
    • Assistant School District Superintendent, Glasgow School District
    • Principal, Glasgow High School
    • 1 or more teachers, Glasgow High School
    Dairy Queen manager charged in suicide of bullied teen employee

    It was not immediately clear if anyone besides Branham will face charges, but the jury found that Dairy Queen was negligent in its employee training. Jurors also found that the Glasgow School District was negligent in preventing the bullying, of which several people testified that district officials were made aware. Graves’ mother testified that her own son was a victim of bullying by at least one teacher who had also ridiculed Suttner. A second woman testified that she removed her son from the district because nothing was ever done about the bullying he suffered, the Tribune reported.



    Other parents told the jury that they had specifically gone to the school board to complain about Suttner being terrorized at school. The Missourian reported that the district’s superintendent and assistant superintendent both testified that they had no record of the bullying.

    Special prosecutor April Wilson asked the superintendent, Mike Reynolds, what his response was when he was served a subpoena to appear at the inquest, and Reynolds said he did not remember.

    Wilson told him that his response, which was recorded, was, “This is all just a crock of (expletive),” the Missourian said.


    After the inquest, Wilson read a statement from Suttner’s family in which they said they hope the school district will finally address the bullying that they say took their son’s life. “They really feel that was Kenny’s voice today, and they feel like it’s justice for Kenny,” Wilson said.


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    http://www.statesman.com/news/natio...bullied-teen-employee/NPgaw4hZKAsMBoZUZhzFJI/
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 17, 2017
  4. News Readers

    News Readers The Paperboy

  5. News Readers

    News Readers The Paperboy

    Woman charged in Howard County teen's suicide makes first court appearance

    Shortly after a woman charged with manslaughter for a Howard County teen’s suicide in December made her first court appearance Tuesday, the special prosecutor in the case released the first formal statement from the teen’s family. Kenneth Suttner’s parents, Mike and Angela, thanked the community for its support but said they hope there will be no “negative backlash” in the community because of the details about alleged pervasive bullying in the Glasgow School District and Howard County that came out during a recent coroner’s inquest into Kenneth Suttner's death. “There are so many good people in the community and school, ...


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    http://www.columbiatribune.com/news...cle_70241f3a-f2dc-11e6-89b3-9b63975c8716.html
     
  6. TMP

    TMP Himself

    Inquest finds teen’s suicide caused by bullying at work, school

    1 Feb 2017


    A Howard County coroner’s jury ruled Tuesday that a 17-year-old’s December suicide was caused by involuntary manslaughter, the result of harassment he suffered at work and at school, placing principal blame on the teen’s former manager at Dairy Queen in Fayette. The verdict was announced after a daylong coroner’s inquest in which witnesses described widespread bullying at the Glasgow School District and said administrators were reluctant to address the problem. After the verdict was read, a Howard County sheriff’s deputy left the courtroom to arrest Harley Branham, one of Kenneth Suttner’s managers when he worked at Dairy Queen, on suspicion ...



    Lexie Graves, who said Suttner was her best friend, testified she had seen students pick on Suttner in virtually every area of the school building.

    “A lot of people, kids, made fun of the way -- basically everything about him,” Graves said, including his weight, a speech impediment, the way he walked and how he acted.

    She only reported the bullying once, Graves said, because usually nothing would happen when it was reported. Her mother, Chanda Graves, said her son also had experienced bullying at the school, at least once by a teacher who also had ridiculed Suttner. Meeting with administrators did not help, Chanda Graves said.

    Another mother, Barbara Smith, said she moved her son out of the district because the bullying was so bad.

    “Every time we went to the school to do something about the bullying, it just got worse,” Smith said.

    Mary Korte, a friend of the Suttners, also testified that she and her husband had gone to the school board and told them of faculty bullying kids in the district.

    “These things were brought to the attention of the appropriate school officials, and it’s a shame it was swept under the rug,” Korte said.


    Glasgow School District Superintendent Mike Reynolds also took the stand, admitting that bullying happens in the district, but he said it is not a systemic problem. Howard County Coroner Frank Flaspohler said this was the fifth time he had called an inquest in the 24 years he has served as coroner. He said he decided to do an inquest because bullying is a public safety problem. “If we don’t take care of bullying, we’re going to have more of these,” he said.


    http://www.columbiatribune.com/6b4ec3e4-94e8-5696-b854-9ff48cf768f1.html
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2017
  7. TMP

    TMP Himself

    Bullying seen as cause in the suicide of 17-year-old Kenneth Suttner

    31 Jan 2017


    Early on the morning of Dec. 21, Kenneth Suttner sat on a snow-covered log, texting and calling his family and friends. He sat there so long, the snow beneath him turned to ice. He placed his last phone call at 12:39 a.m., put the barrel of a .22 to his head and squeezed the trigger. Suttner was a 17-year-old junior at Glasgow High School. Now, his former manager at Dairy Queen is accused of subjecting him to harassment and may face a charge of manslaughter. On Tuesday, a Howard County jury convened for a coroner’s unusual inquest into Suttner's death. ...



    Lexie Graves, Suttner's classmate at Glasgow High School, said she had personally witnessed Suttner being bullied hundreds of times.


    Howard County Sheriff’s Deputy Brad Young, the first person at the scene of Suttner's death, answered questions from Flaspohler and Special Prosecuting Attorney April Wilson for about an hour about his investigation. He described a pattern of harassment Suttner endured at work and school, including at the hands of Branham. Allison Bennett, who had worked with Suttner at Dairy Queen, said he was often harassed at work to the point of going outside and crying. But Branham said she did not believe she had bullied or harassed Suttner and denied much of the previous characterization of her work relationship with ...



    Both Mike Reynolds, superintendent of Glasgow Schools, and Sonya Fuemmeler, assistant superintendent of the district, testified, as did two of Suttner's teachers. Reynolds and Fuemmeler said they had no record of Suttner being bullied.

    However, Young, the sheriff's deputy, said parents had complained at a school board meeting about Suttner being bullied. Reynolds and Fuemmeler said they could not recall that particular meeting but that they're typically present at school board meetings.

    Wilson asked Reynolds [Superintendent of Glasgow Schools] to recall what he said when he was served a subpoena to appear at the inquest. Reynolds said he couldn't remember. Wilson said his response was recorded and that he'd said: "This is all just a crock of (expletive deleted)."


    Wilson was appointed special prosecuting attorney after Stephen Murrell, Howard County prosecutor, recused himself due to a conflict. Wilson said she expected Branham to be charged by Wednesday night, but she didn't know whether she or Murrell would be handling it. Wilson could not provide Branham's age, but court records indicate she is about 21 years old. Suttner's family issued a statement through Wilson shortly after the jury's decision was announced. In that statement, the family referred to the decision as "justice for Kenny."


    https://www.columbiamissourian.com/...cle_0a18d14e-e815-11e6-8f85-c77fabe621da.html
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2017
  8. TMP

    TMP Himself

    Dairy Queen manager is arrested after 'bullying worker, 17, until he killed himself': Teen committed suicide after she made him clean the floor by hand and threw a burger at him

    1 Feb 2017

    • Kenneth Suttner, 17, shot himself in the head on December 21 outside his home
    • The Missouri teen had been bullied for years at school and at work
    • His former Dairy Queen manager, Harley Branham, allegedly bullied him
    • She was arrested and placed on a 24-hour hold for her connection with his death
    A Missouri jury ruled that a Dairy Queen manager be charged with involuntary manslaughter for her role in the suicide of a 17-year-old employee. The Howard County coroner heard how Kenneth Suttner wrote several suicide notes to friends and family before he shot himself in the head in the early morning of December 21 outside his family's home. The Howard County coroner sought an official inquest into his death and after the verdict was read Tuesday, a Howard County sheriff's deputy arrested Harley Branham, one of Suttner’s managers at the Dairy Queen where he worked, reported the Columbia Daily Tribune. ...


    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4181400/Coroners-jury-recommends-charges-teenagers-suicide.html
     
  9. News Readers

    News Readers The Paperboy

    Mother, school district reach settlement in Kenneth Suttner wrongful death case

    Angela Suttner and the Howard County R-II School District have reached a settlement in Suttner’s wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the suicide of her 17-year-old son, Kenneth Suttner, in December 2016. Boone County Circuit Judge Jeff Harris approved the settlement Monday and dismissed the lawsuit. The settlement terms remained undisclosed, and the attorneys for the plaintiff and defendant could not be reached for comment. Angela Suttner filed the lawsuit in July 2018, claiming that despite knowledge of severe bullying by students and teachers, school authorities had failed to take action against perpetrators or acknowledge the bullying of Kenneth Suttner, according ...


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    https://www.columbiamissourian.com/...cle_1e9ab2ee-be15-11e9-92d4-4f553aced299.html
     
  10. TMP

    TMP Himself

    GLASGOW SCHOOL BOARD ACCEPTS RESIGNATION OF SUPERINTENDENT MIKE REYNOLDS

    21 February 2019


    The resignation of a longtime administrator has been accepted by an area school board. According to a release from the Glasgow School District, the school board accepted the resignation of superintendent Mike Reynolds during its meeting on Wednesday, February 20. Reynolds says his resignation will be effective at the end of the day on June 30, 2019- the end of the state’s fiscal year. Reynolds said he has been superintendent for the last 14 years; an administrator in the district for the past 20 years; and a part of the district for 30 years. The school board also approved Sonya ...


    https://www.kmmo.com/2019/02/21/gla...-resignation-of-superintendent-mike-reynolds/
     
  11. TMP

    TMP Himself

    On Vimeo:

    upload_2019-8-25_4-30-19.png

    Mike Reynolds is the principal and superintendent at the small rural school Glasgow Schools in Glasgow, MO. A town of about 1,200 people, everybody knows everybody, and everybody went to Glasgow. Mr. Reynolds wears many hats throughout the day as both the principle and superintendent, but days are never the same.
     
  12. TMP

    TMP Himself

    Named in lawsuit:

    • Mike Reynolds, superintendent of the school district
    • Sonya Fuemmeler, assistant superintendent
    • Stacey Kottman, Glasgow High School principal
    • Kyra Yung, former Glasgow Elementary School principal.

    Howard County School District seeks dismissal of wrongful death lawsuit in Suttner case

    5 September 2018


    Howard County School District’s lawyers filed a joint motion for dismissal last month of the wrongful death lawsuit against it and four individually accused employees in connection with the suicide of Kenneth Suttner. Angela Suttner, the mother of the 17-year-old who was a junior at Glasgow High School, filed the suit in July, alleging an inadequate response by the district to the repeated bullying of her son. He took his life in December 2016. She filed the petition against the school district and Mike Reynolds, superintendent of the school district; Sonya Fuemmeler, assistant superintendent; Stacey Kottman, Glasgow High School principal; ...


    https://www.columbiamissourian.com/...cle_d0a2e570-b11d-11e8-b78b-07c9dd9feda1.html
     
  13. TMP

    TMP Himself

    From Find-A-Grave Memorial #174289987:

    Kenny Suttner, age 17, of Glasgow, died on Wednesday, December 21, 2016.

    Funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday, December 23, at the Friemonth-Freese Funeral Home in Glasgow. Burial will follow in the Washington Cemetery.

    Visitation will be held from 5 to to 8 p.m. on Thursday, December 22, at the funeral home. Memorials are suggested to Kenny Suttner Memorial Fund.

    ++++++++++

    Below info provided by Member # 47520578

    Kenny Suttner passed away Dec. 21, 2016 at his home place in rural Glasgow, Missouri. He was 17 years of age. Kenneth Louis Suttner was born on Jan. 14, 1999, in Columbia, Missouri, to Michael and Angela (Hill) Suttner. He attended Glasgow High School. During his time at GHS, Kenny stayed active within the FFA organization. The highlight of being a member of FFA was being able to take trips to the National Conventions, which Kenny truly cherished. He worked at Dairy Queen in Fayette. He was an avid reader, he enjoyed hunting and drawing, and he had a special love for all animals. Kenny had a heart of gold and a genuine kindness that will be deeply missed by friends and family.

    He is survived by his parents, Michael and Angela Suttner of Glasgow; three brothers, Ryan, Jackson, and Logan Suttner, all of Glasgow; grandparents, Richard and Karen Gray of Armstrong, Missouri; and numerous aunts, uncles and relatives. Kenny was preceded in death by his grandparents, Louis and Nancy Suttner. Funeral services in Kenny’s honor were held at 1 p.m., Friday, Dec. 23, 2016, at Friemonth-Freese Funeral Home in Glasgow, with Rev. Earl Howell officiating. Visitation was from 5-8 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 22 at the funeral home. Burial followed the funeral at Washington Cemetery in Glasgow.

    Memorial contributions are suggested to the Kenny Suttner Memorial Fund c/o Tri. County Trust Co., P.O. Box 217, Glasgow, MO 65254.

    FAYETTE — Early on the morning of Dec. 21, Kenneth Suttner sat on a snow-covered log, texting and calling his family and friends. He sat there so long, the snow beneath him turned to ice. He placed his last phone call at 12:39 a.m., put the barrel of a .22 to his head and squeezed the trigger. Courtesy of Howard County coroner Suttner was a 17-year-old junior at Glasgow High School. Now, his former manager at Dairy Queen is accused of subjecting him to harassment and may face a charge of manslaughter. On Tuesday, a Howard County jury convened for an unusual coroner’s inquest into Suttner's death. After hearing nearly a full day of testimony, the jury returned a recommendation that his former manager at the Fayette Dairy Queen, Harley Branham of Armstrong, be indicted for felony involuntary manslaughter. Missouri law allows for a coroner to call for an inquest into the manner and cause of a person’s death. Howard County Coroner Frank Flaspohler asked a six-person jury to determine whether Suttner's death was a felony or an accident . Because bullying was suspected to be a contributing cause to Suttner’s death, Flaspohler called the inquest to determine whether the death stemmed from a public health risk.

    Suicide was the second leading cause of death for Americans ages 15 to 19 in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Nearly one in five deaths in the age group were a result of suicide, totaling 1,834 that year. Guns were used in half of all suicides in 2014. Because compiling statistics takes some time, 2014 numbers were the most recently available.