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New Port Richey Boy, 9, Found Hanged In Closet

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By LISA A. DAVIS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 24, 2008

Updated: 11/24/2008 07:50 pm

NEW PORT RICHEY - After eating dinner Saturday with his mother and younger sister, 9-year-old Efrem Tyree went to take a bath.

Jacqueline Tyree was working on her daughter's hair when she realized she hadn't heard any noise coming from her son's room.

When she went to check on Efrem, she found him hanged in his closet.

She and a neighbor tried CPR until paramedics arrived. Efrem was taken to Morton Plant North Bay Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.

"There's nothing suspicious or foul play suspected," Pasco County Sheriff's Office spokesman Kevin Doll said today.

For someone so young to commit suicide is unusual, Doll said.

"I don't recall anyone that young," he said.

The River Ridge boy's death is being investigated, and the Pasco-Pinellas Medical Examiner's Office is awaiting toxicology reports before making a final determination of how he died. The reports could take weeks.

Neighbor Billee O'Shaughnessy told deputies the family moved to the area recently from Fort Myers after the parents divorced. She said she babysat for the family and Efrem was a good child.

Jacqueline Tyree told deputies she and her son had argued a lot lately because of trouble at school. On Saturday, one of Efrem's teachers called to discuss his performance, but Tyree said that didn't lead to an argument with her son.

Tyree said her son never mentioned suicidal thoughts, although he had "been depressed lately because he was having a hard time at school, both academically and socially," deputies said.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.

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