State and local agencies are investigating the apparent suicide of a 15-year-old boy found hanged in his cell at the Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center.
A county medical examiner's report listed the death as a suicide, and stated that Austin Dakota Wallace hanged himself. Diagrams on the report show three-quarter-inch abrasions around Austin's neck.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent-in-Charge Jerri Powell said investigators are interviewing detention center staff and inmates and awaiting lab reports to either confirm or refute the cause of death and determine if there were any criminal violations.
The boy's mother, Heather Stein, told the Associated Press that Austin had lived in New Jersey until last summer, when he moved to Knoxville after "developing behavior problems."
Hamilton County Juvenile Courts Administrator Chris Albright could not comment on details about Austin, both because he was a minor and the open investigation by TBI, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office and the Tennessee Department of Children's Services.
"We had a horribly tragic event that has been devastating to our staff," Mr. Albright said.
Employees found Austin during a shift change at about 5 p.m. July 1, he said. The boy had been checked into the center on June 30.
Mr. Albright said if residents of the detention center are deemed a suicide risk, they are put on suicide watch and checked every 15 minutes. He could not say if Austin had been deemed a suicide risk.
But Ms. Stein told the AP the detention center "knew he was a suicide risk. Every time he's been (in custody) he's been on suicide watch."
Records show Austin was charged early this year with possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia and public intoxication, according to The Associated Press. He was later charged with violating a court order and being a runaway, which kept him under Knox County Juvenile Court supervision, the AP reported.
While at the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Service Center in Knoxville, Austin threatened to kill himself at least once and was prescribed medications that included antidepressants and anti-psychotics, according to the AP.
In recent months, Ms. Stein had taken her son to several hospitals and clinics to address his problems, she told the AP.
Austin was eventually sent to the Scholze Center for Adolescents in Chattanooga for substance abuse treatment, she said. He tried to escape several times before he was taken into custody June 29, she said.
The boy's birthday would have been this Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.