By Christopher Smart
Salt Lake Tribune
May 10, 2007
A 15-year-old Salt Lake City boy may have died from a severe staph infection while enrolled in a youth wilderness program near Montrose in southwest Colorado.
Colorado authorities continue to investigate the May 2 death of Caleb Jensen in a rugged, mountainous area while at an Alternative Youth Adventures camp. Autopsy results may not be available for another week or more, said Scott Wagner, chief investigator for the Montrose County District Attorney's Office.
But a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Human Services said the youth "showed observable signs of staphylococcus infection that were neglected."
"We suspended their license yesterday," said Liz McDonough of the outdoor program. "That obviously is very serious, and we took what we believe is appropriate action."
A spokesman at the Roseland, N.J., headquarters for Alternative Youth Adventures said the program's staff had acted appropriately.
"We are at a loss to explain this at this point," said William Palatucci. "We are cooperating fully with the investigation. We know this is a good program. We've never had any fatalities."
Preliminary indication from Mesa County Coroner's Office is that he died of "natural causes," Wagner said, meaning his death was not homicide, suicide or due to accident.
"That leaves it pretty wide open," Wagner said. "The cause of death has not been determined."
The youth died near the Montrose County/Mesa County line. Mesa County authorities were first to respond. It was later determined that Jensen died in Montrose County.
Jensen's death is being investigated by the Montrose County Sheriff's Office. But Undersheriff Kevin Walters referred inquiries to the DA's Office.
The investigation is standard procedure, Wagner said. No "request for prosecution" has been made, he said Thursday.
Utah authorities enrolled Jensen in the two-month Alternative Youth Adventures program, according to Carol Sisco, spokeswoman for Utah Juvenile Justice Services.
"He had gone through the courts in Utah and was ordered into our custody," she said. "We placed him in the Colorado program."
Jensen passed a physical exam when he entered the program on March 28, Sisco said.
"This is a program we've used in the past," she said. "And as far as I know, this is the first fatality.
According to the Web site for Alternative Youth Adventures, the program "provides a healthy, protective environment within which troubled youth will have the opportunity to achieve their full potential through the use of treatment and education services that focus on positive change."
