An autopsy of Carson Crimeni showed no injuries or health problems that would account for the 14-year-old Langley teen’s death last week, at least according to third-person information received by his father, Aron, on Tuesday.
“They called me from the funeral home,” Aron told the Langley Advance Times.
Carson was found in severe medical distress in Walnut Grove Community Park on Wednesday night (Aug. 7) by police who tried to revive him while waiting for paramedics to arrive. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
READ MORE: A wave of grief and outrage over death of teen in Langley park
The coroner ordered an autopsy. But no obvious cause of death was discovered, according to Aron.
“He was perfectly healthy,” Dad shared. “They found no cause of death [from the preliminary examination]. He wasn’t choked.”
A blood toxicology test to determine if drugs can be detected has been ordered, Aron added. But he was told that will take, at best, several weeks.
Crimeni expects the results will show his son died from an overdose.
“They ruled out anything else,” he said.
Andy Watson, spokesperson for the BC Coroners Service, would not comment on the open investigation.
“Any details from testing we conduct or order will be included as part of our coroner’s report, which will be available only at the conclusion of our investigation and will answer how, where, when, and by what means this male teen came to his death,” Watson said.
“This investigation is in its early stages and remains open.”
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Sleepless nights for grieving dad
For the single dad, the time since his son died has been a series of sleepless nights spent grieving for his only son.
Aron explained that because he was working in construction, his son had been staying with his grandfather on weekdays.
“I have to be out the door at 6:30 in the morning,” Aron related.
It was also convenient for Carson to stay with his grandfather Darrel, who lived just down the street from Walnut Grove Secondary, where Carson attended.
But with Carson getting old enough to travel by himself on public transit, it had recently become possible for him to move in with his dad, who lives in the Willowbrook neighbourhood, and take the bus to school in Walnut Grove, Aron explained. They’d been living together about a month.
On Wednesday, Aug. 7, Carson didn’t make it home, to his dad’s place, by a pre-arranged check-in time of 7:30 p.m.
After multiple messages to Carson’s cellphone went unanswered, his father and grandfather started searching. Aron drove along the bus route his son would have taken, and Darrel focussed on the nearby park.
READ MORE: VIDEO: Grandfather speaks out about teen who died after overdosing in Langley park
Aron described getting a phone call from Darrel around 9:30 p.m. that night, telling him that Carson had been found in the park.
“He said paramedics were working on him,” Aron recalled. At first, he thought it might be something like a fracture – serious but survivable.
Not until he arrived and found Carson had been placed in an ambulance for transport to hospital, did he fear the worst.
“They wouldn’t let me look in the ambulance,” he recalled. “It’s bad, when they do that.”
He was horrified to later learn that videos of his son, in obvious distress, had been posted on social media, with people laughing and the teen barely able to walk or talk.
READ MORE: Carson: A Langley teen’s death on social media
“We, as a family, have been given a lot of information and it’s heartbreaking,” Aron said.
Based on what he has seen and heard, Dad believes Carson died because some bullies wanted to abuse him.
“This is a bully thing,” Aron said.
Carson had struggled in school, due to ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), which meant it was hard for him to focus in a classroom setting, his father explained.
But when it came to one of Carson’s passions, like playing hockey, or video games or – most of all – cooking, it was a different story.
“If you put him in a kitchen, he had a laser-like focus,” Aron recalled.
“I’m bad [about cooking]. We would go to the store, and I’d get something frozen and he would pull on my sleeve and and drag me to the meat aisle.”
Carson was an accomplished cook at an early age, preparing a full chicken dinner from scratch at the age of 13.
“He was either going to be a chef or a veterinarian,” Aron predicted.
He remembers his son as someone who would make an effort to make other people feel better by getting them to laugh.
“If anyone looked [unhappy], he would be funny.”
Aron repeated the family appeal for witnesses to help police in their investigation.
He also urged people against taking justice into their own hands.
READ MORE: Social media posts about Carson Crimeni could hamper investigation, police warn
READ MORE: Langley teen’s death having a lasting impact
Langley RCMP have set up a tipline at 604-532-3398 for people with information about the case.
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Is there more to this story?
Email: dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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