Pennsylvania teen's jump is ruled a suicide

The Montgomery County coroner has ruled that the death of a Horsham-area teen who plunged from a 174-foot cemetery bell tower this month was a suicide.

Walter I. Hofman said Friday that 16-year-old Nick Carr's decision to climb the eight-story tower in Whitemarsh Memorial Park in Horsham was so reckless that it could not be considered an accident.

"This is high-risk behavior," Hofman said. "And high-risk behavior is suicidal."

Authorities and friends were initially perplexed by the Nov. 7 death, unsure whether Carr, a junior at Hatboro-Horsham High School, wanted to kill himself or was being adventurous.

The cemetery has been a regular hangout for area teens, and the tower is its most imposing structure.

Investigators think Carr carried a ladder from his nearby home to the park, then propped it against a generator to gain access to a lower opening in the tower. From there, he climbed an interior stairway to the top.

Hofman said Carr had traces of marijuana in his system but probably not enough to impair his judgment.

Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said there was no evidence of a crime. But she said Friday that the investigation was not yet closed, in part because she had not seen the coroner's results or talked to him about his ruling.

"We still have questions that remain unanswered," Ferman said, "such as, were there potentially other individuals who were involved or were aware what was going on?"

Hofman said he met twice this week with Carr's parents before releasing his ruling. He said he empathized with them but could not declare the death an accident.

Hofman said it wasn't comparable to a mountaineering tragedy, when a climber slips or is crushed by a boulder. "That's an accident," he said. "This is not in the same league."