America’s new ‘death valley’: Inside the rural town where the suicide rate has mysteriously exploded to become ‘the fourth highest in the world’

The suicide rate in a rural area of Wyoming has skyrocketed to become the fourth highest in the world, one coroner has claimed.

The unnatural deaths in Natrona County began last fall, and have continued into the new year.

Coroner Jim Whipps on Tuesday urged county commissioners to address the issue, after 12 people, mostly young adults, killed themselves over the past four months.

‘If you extrapolate that out, that is like 36 to 40 suicides that I can expect this year,’ five-year vet Whipps said. That would break a record set in 2022, he pointed out – when 32 people Natrona County committed suicide.

The root cause, he said, remains unknown –  leaving citizens of county seat Casper concerned. The town is where a 14-year-old boy was stabbed to death as he tried to protect his girlfriend from two teens at a mall – a blow to the tight-knit community.

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‘This has been a different kind of year,’ Whipps told attendees at the Natrona County School District Board of Trustees.

‘It kind of started last fall, but case count is going way up on unnatural deaths.’

Citing overdoses as a fueling factor, he said the suicides are ‘through the roof.’

The county’s suicide rate, meanwhile,  is ‘on pace for another record year in this county,’ he added. 

‘Our record setter for this county was a couple years ago at 32 or 33.’ 

‘So far this year we are sitting on 12 in four months,’ Whipps said of the recent suicides. 

‘If you extrapolate that out, that is like 36 to 40 suicides that I can expect this year.

‘[It] is going way up.’

The words of caution come a couple weeks after Whipps aired similar concerns at Natrona County School District 1  in Casper, where he told staffers he believes the problems stem from the school system.

‘It’s like I was telling the school board when I look at these kids in their 20s and 30s, I can almost always pinpoint that a big part of their problem that led to that suicide started in their adolescent years,’ he said. 

In his five years as coroner, Whipps said he has investigated eight adolescent suicides – none of them coming this year. 

Slamming the district for what he views as inaction on their part, he said: ‘We don’t need to worry about whether we’re opening Pandora’s box, because I’m going to tell you right now that it’s already open and has been for a long time.’

 ‘Per capita, Natrona County has one of the highest suicide rates in the state, in the nation and, believe it or not, in the world,’ 

‘It’s time for a top-down approach through policy and implementing programs in the schools such as Sources of Strength, which is a broader-base proven program of resiliency,’ Whipps said.  

He demanded they to do something ‘now’ to help students dealing with mental health issues – posing the implementation of programs that would address those issues as they are occurring. 

‘I got to tell you from the outside looking in, it looks as though there is a lot of turning the heads, hiding the heads in the sand, passing the buck, and dragging the feet from school district, the board,’ he said during the public comment period. 

‘I am willing to make myself available (to) assist. … Something needs to be done now, not five years from now, something needs to be done now.’

Also tapped to speak was Anni Dundas, a Casper resident who categorized herself as a suicide survivor. 

Speaking of the community climate and recent events like the stabbing death of a teen by two other minors at a local mall, Dundas said it was time to admit there is and issue.

‘It is known across the state that the Natrona County School District does not have this kind of collaboration with the community and with the resources in the community,’ Dundas claimed, citing how she’s already spoken to district officials in an effort to make youth mental health a priority. 

Student Elora Nations, a member of the Youth Empowerment Council, also took the podium, telling those in attendance: ‘This year has been incredibly hard on Natrona County students.’

‘We know from our extensive research that kids as well as adults are at a higher risk of suicide when they have been just impacted by a heavy loss.’

She urged the trustees and administration to monitor the schools to see if there has been an uptick in suicidal students since, telling attendees: ‘We don’t want to lose any more students this school year and we fear that we might,’ she said. 

Robert Dean Maher, 14, died after he was stabbed twice in the stomach with a stolen kitchen knife at Eastridge Mall in Casper on April 7th at around 1.40pm. 

Dominique Antonio Richard Harris and Jarreth Joseflee Sabastian Plunkett, both 15, were arrested the same day near the mall.

They were allegedly seeking revenge after Maher, who had called them ‘freaks’ a week earlier. 

They are charged as adults with felonious conspiracy to commit murder, felonious aggravated assault and battery and a misdemeanor theft

After the board meeting, district spokesperson Tanya Southerland did not allow Superintendent Michael Jennings to respond to Whipps’s and the others’ chidings.

She said the district would answer questions the following week, after which Whipps made his second attempt.

County Commission Chairman Peter Nicolaysen thanked Whipps on Tuesday for again going to the school board and raising the issue of youth suicide, saying: ‘I personally would say keep up the effort and the pressure.’

DailyMail.com has reached out to Whipps for comment.

Casper is a city in central Wyoming. It offers breathtaking landscapes and scenery, is the second-most populous city after Cheyenne. It has some 60,000 residents. The surrounding county has about 20,000 more.