Apparent suicide probed at Green Valley High School

Jen Lawson and Emily Richmond

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 | 11:10 a.m.

Green Valley High School maintenance workers found a body hanging near a campus sports field this morning, the apparent victim of a suicide, Henderson Police said.

The man, whose name was not released this morning, is not believed to be a student, Officer Todd Rasmussen, a Henderson Police spokesman, said.

He appeared to be in his 20s and has distinctive "body art" unfamiliar to campus employees who said they did not recognize him.

The man apparently hanged himself behind a small building near the school's softball field, Rasmussen said. He was found at 7:03 a.m., although it was not clear this morning how long he had been there.

Students began arriving for classes about that time but entered from the front and side of the campus located on North Arroyo Grande Boulevard at Warm Springs Road, Officer Darnell Couthen, a spokesman for Clark County School District Police, said.

As of 10:30 a.m., authorities had not found a suicide note in connection with the man's death, Rasmussen said.

Couthen said he did not think any students were aware of the death.

"No students saw him," Couthen said. "We were the initial responders and we set up a crime scene after a number of the staff (members) found him."

Yellow police tape sealed off part of the field and a yellow tarp shielded the body from view this morning.

Pat Nelson, a school district spokeswoman, said some of the students were taking Advanced Placement exams and school officials did not want to interrupt them with an announcement.

Instead, school officials will send letters home with students to inform parents of the incident, she said.

"Normally, we call in the crisis team, but since it appears it was a non-student, they probably won't," Nelson said.

Student Sam Gray, 15, said she was happy the man was not a student.

"It's sad," she said. "It's weird that someone who isn't a student would do it out here."

In January a Green Valley teacher attempted suicide in his classroom shortly before the start of the school day, stabbing himself multiple times in the abdomen with a knife. He was found by a co-worker and rushed to University Medical Center, where he required surgery.