This is part 3 of a series. On Friday, February 11, family and friends joined to say their final farewells to 14-year-old Maurice Johnson, a freshman at Sumner High School. Johnson would have celebrated his 15th birthday later this month.
According to a media advisory issued February 4, in which Johnson was unnamed, at 4:20 p.m. February 3 he was found unresponsive in his room at the City of St. Louis Family Court Juvenile Detention Center due to an apparent suicide attempt. Personnel at the center attempted to resuscitate Johnson, to no avail.
On Wednesday, February 9, Johnson’s family contacted the American, indicating that the family was having difficulty with Johnson’s funeral expenses. His insurer would not honor his policy because the boy’s death had been ruled a suicide. After initial telephone conversations, the American unsuccessfully attempted to contact several members of Johnson’s family; it is from their communications with the paper that we identified the youth who died at the juvenile center as Maurice Johnson.
According to court records, Johnson entered custody of the juvenile court on January 10 after being charged with unlawful use of a weapon, carrying a concealed weapon and property damage.
Johnson’s file also indicates that during his time in custody he evinced behavioral problems. Several times he had to be placed in confinement because of his unruly behavior.
Although this initial picture of Johnson might seem bleak, witnesses interviewed immediately after Johnson’s suicide indicate that all day he had exhibited his normal, happy personality.
One of Johnson’s peers wrote, “What was good about him was he was a happy kid and he liked to play.”
In fact, the juvenile whose room was directly across from Johnson’s said that, just 10 minutes before his body was discovered, Johnson could be seen though his window trying to make him laugh.
The boy in the room adjacent to Johnson’s tells a more somber story.
“I went in my room and started to read my book and about an hour ago I was still in my room and he was crying,” he wrote.
This same boy would soon discover Johnson’s final act.
“When I pushed open the door,” he wrote, “the door came right back to me. I looked on the floor and his body was lying on the floor.”
Johnson gave one clue, however subtle, that he might soon die.
“He said he was going to see his uncle, so I asked, ‘Where is your uncle?'” another boy wrote. “And he said, ‘Dead,’ but I didn’t know he was going to hang his self.”
Although the boys had many different theories as to why Johnson took his life, they all wrote about the confusion and fear they felt.
“I never knew that he was ready to end his life,” one boy wrote, in a burst of profundity after an interview with a grief counselor.
“It’s just like Hamlet. ‘To be or not to be, that is the question.’ So what Hamlet is saying is to live or die. I guess he decided.”
A trust fund has been established to assist the family with Maurice Johnson’s funeral expenses. Donation can be made to: Mike Winston, C/O Maurice Johnson, Arsenal Credit Union, 8651 Watson Rd., St. Louis, MO 63119, account number 11350-0.
