Three teen suicides in seven weeks at 750-student high school rock small St. Clair MO

A high school community is in shock after three students have committed suicide in just seven weeks.

Jordan Halmich, a 16-year-old junior, was the first to take his life on September 28; five weeks later, Donna Cooley, a 15-year-old sophomore, was found hanging in her bedroom.

And on Monday night, former cheerleader Destiny Pearson, 16, became the latest student at St Clair High School in St Clair, Missouri to kill herself.
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'Obviously there are a lot of emotional problems with these individuals,' St Clair police chief Bill Hammack told MailOnline. 'But each case has specific identifiers.'
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He added that accusations of bullying had surrounded all three deaths.
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(Dr Michael Murphy, school superintendent) added: 'One common thread that I would see that is occurring is that there is social media involved.'
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The city of St Clair, which is around 55 miles southwest of St Louis, has 4,700 residents.

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Skagirl said:

I'm always really surprised when I hear about a girl hanging herself--it's not usually a method girls choose, according to what I learned in a psychology class, because a lot of times there's nothing that can be done if the girl has 2nd thoughts. This is truly heart-breaking to see these suicides happening so much lately.

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A 2008 review of 56 countries based on World Health Organization mortality data found that hanging was the most common method in most of the countries,[5] accounting for 53 percent of the male suicides and 39 percent of the female suicides.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_by_hanging

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tlcox said:

very sad. Unfortunately, I have noticed this with teens in the past. One teen commits suicide in a small community, then the next, then the next.

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Skagirl said:

I'm always really surprised when I hear about a girl hanging herself--it's not usually a method girls choose, according to what I learned in a psychology class, because a lot of times there's nothing that can be done if the girl has 2nd thoughts. This is truly heart-breaking to see these suicides happening so much lately.

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Sonya610 said:

Hanging is quite common for females, especially young females. I believe it is the second most popular method behind an overdose.

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