.
.
08.15.98: jumper, male,
lives
unnamed |
08.15.98, © St. Petersburg Times;
Sheriff's deputies coax man out of Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg,
Fla.; Aug 17, 1998;
Manatee County sheriff's deputies spent several hours Saturday evening trying to persuade a man swimming in Tampa Bay to be taken back to shore and to a mental hospital.
Deputies first discovered the man at the southern Sunshine Skyway rest area about 5:30 p.m. after receiving a call that someone was trying to commit suicide from the bridge.
The man ran away from an officer and jumped into Tampa Bay, where he refused to be rescued by authorities. The sheriff's dive team finally persuaded the man to give up.
The Manatee Sheriff's Office would not release the man's name Sunday. |
.
08.05.98: jumper, male, dies
Sean Benton,
25 |
winner: chris, sarasota
guessed: 08.05, 11pm, male.
comments: can we expand the pool to include estimated
time for recovery of body? (ok.) |
|
tbo.com, Parked car
on southbound side of center span, got out, jumped. |
.
07.27.98: jumper, 2:15am, male, dies
Donald Lee Evans Jr.,
35 |
winner: miles t., tampa
guessed: 07.26, 2am, male.
his response to winning: i'm so excited that i
won.. i haven't slept since i received the notice. where do i pick up all
of the prizes? (miles, your name here is your prize.) |
07.28.98, © St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg,
Fla., Man dies after jumping from Sunshine Skyway
TAMPA - A 35-year-old Bradenton man jumped to his death off the Sunshine Skyway Bridge just before 3 a.m. Monday, said Lt. Greg Brown, spokesman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
He was identified as Donald Lee Evans Jr. of
[address withheld]
Evans was at least the 11th person to commit suicide this year by jumping from the bridge.
In 1997, eight people fell to their deaths from the span. |
.
|
1998 articles about skyway jumpers before this pool was
created. |
.
| 05.27.98: article • 10 times too many, they
chose Skyway |
05.27.98,
sptimes.com, By HOWARD TROXLER
Stephanie Lee Banasiak, 45,
rented a 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier on Monday afternoon at St.
Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport.
I
do not know why she chose a Chevrolet Cavalier, or why she did the things that
she did afterward.
At about 7:30 p.m., she was
driving south on Interstate 275, toward her home in Bradenton. At the top of the
Sunshine Skyway, she pulled her car onto the shoulder and got out.
It is a glorious and scary view. Over your right
shoulder you can see St. Petersburg, and the white outline of Tropicana Field.
Behind your back, far to the east, if the sky is not too hazy, you can see the
skyline of downtown Tampa.
The deck of the
bridge shudders menacingly under the weight of passing cars. A steady, strong
breeze whips your hair as you stand there under the giant, graceful web of the
bridge cables, 200 feet above the water. Look straight down and the tiny
whitecaps seem deceptively close; only when you raise your eyes and look around
do you realize how high up you are.
The sun was
within an hour of setting, and low in the western sky, when Stephanie Lee
Banasiak stopped her car, got out, got up on the concrete wall, which is only
about 31/2 feet tall, and jumped.
She was the
10th person to die after jumping from the Skyway so far this year, which is not
yet half over.
In all of last year, eight people
did it.
The year before that, there were six.
I talked Tuesday to some good people at the
Crisis Center of Hillsborough County (the center of the bridge, from which most
people jump, is in Hillsborough). I asked them if publicity about these deaths
encourages copycats.
They said that here is what
needs to be publicized:
Anyone who has read or
heard about these things happening on the Sunshine Skyway, and who feels
desperate enough to follow, should take one more second, one more minute, and
dial an easy telephone number first.
The number
is 234-1234.
"Suicide is a very permanent
solution to a temporary problem," Bev Hanney, a spokeswoman for the crisis
center, said sadly Tuesday afternoon.
"They just
for the moment feel so hopeless," Hanney said. "That's why it's so important to
let this community know that there is a resource. It's free. It's confidential.
It's anonymous."
That's 234-1234.
The crisis center is working with GTE to install
crisis telephones atop the bridge. There already are 18 telephones along the
4.1-mile span to link motorists to road assistance, but none are exactly in the
right spot.
More problematic is whether the
Department of Transportation can install a fence or some other sort of barrier
to make jumping harder. The waist-high concrete wall is no obstacle.
The department is looking at what others have
done to make bridges less accessible. That will be finished in about 60 days.
But any remedy is likely to be expensive and complicated -- and not, so far, in
any budget.
The Skyway is a bit of an orphan,
geographically speaking. It links Pinellas and Manatee counties, but lies in
Hillsborough. There are no voters or taxpayers there; no feeling of political
responsibility that would spur one mayor or another, one county commission or
another, one local legislator or another, to lead the way.
So we wait for studies, while the crisis center works with GTE to at
least put a telephone in the right spot, to give those who stop there one more
chance.
In the meantime . . .
In the meantime, for those who go to the Skyway,
intending to do this final thing, the only "one more chance" will come from
themselves.
Please, please make this promise:
Before you go, before you even get in the car,
dial this number.
It's 234-1234.
Do it. |
.
05.25.98: jumper
Stephanie Lee Banasiak, 45, female, died |
05.26.98, © St. Petersburg Times,
Year's 10th Skyway suicide reported; St. Petersburg;
A woman apparently jumped to her death from the Sunshine Skyway early Monday evening, officials said.
Hillsborough County sheriff's officials said the body of a white female in her mid-40s was recovered by a private boater shortly after she jumped from the bridge about 7:30 p.m.
The death was the 10th suicide from the bridge this year.
A witness on the bridge saw the woman jump and reported it within minutes, said sheriff's Deputy B. Bryan. He said the victim had been identified, but officials were withholding that information pending notification of the woman's relatives.
05.27.98, © St. Petersburg Times,
Monday's Skyway suicide identified; St. Petersburg, Fla.;
Correction (5/28/98): The woman who jumped to her death Monday off the Sunshine Skyway bridge was
Stephanie Lee Banasiak. Her name was misspelled in a story Wednesday. A woman who jumped to her death Monday from the Sunshine Skyway Bridge has been identified as Stephanie Leigh
Banasiak, of [address withheld], Bradenton. Banasiak, 45, parked at the top of the southbound lane on the bridge about 6:50 p.m. and jumped over the railing, Hillsborough sheriff's deputies said. An unidentified boater pulled her from the water and took her to a marina.
05.27.98, © St. Petersburg Times,
10 times too many, they chose Skyway
Stephanie Lee Banasiak, 45, rented a 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier on Monday afternoon at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport.
I do not know why she chose a Chevrolet Cavalier, or why she did the things that she did afterward.
At about 7:30 p.m., she was driving south on Interstate 275, toward her home in Bradenton. At the top of the Sunshine Skyway, she pulled her car onto the shoulder and got out.
It is a glorious and scary view. Over your right shoulder you can see St. Petersburg, and the white outline of Tropicana Field. Behind your back, far to the east, if the sky is not too hazy, you can see the skyline of downtown Tampa.
The deck of the bridge shudders menacingly under the weight of passing cars. A steady, strong breeze whips your hair as you stand there under the giant, graceful web of the bridge cables, 200 feet above the water. Look straight down and the tiny whitecaps seem deceptively close; only when you raise your eyes and look around do you realize how high up you are.
The sun was within an hour of setting, and low in the western sky, when Stephanie Lee Banasiak stopped her car, got out, got up on the concrete wall, which is only about 3 1/2 feet tall, and jumped.
She was the 10th person to die after jumping from the Skyway so far this year, which is not yet half over.
In all of last year, eight people did it.
The year before that, there were six.
I talked Tuesday to some good people at the Crisis Center of Hillsborough County (the center of the bridge, from which most people jump, is in Hillsborough). I asked them if publicity about these deaths encourages copycats.
They said that here is what needs to be publicized:
Anyone who has read or heard about these things happening on the Sunshine Skyway, and who feels desperate enough to follow, should take one more second, one more minute, and dial an easy telephone number first.
The number is 234-1234.
"Suicide is a very permanent solution to a temporary problem," Bev Hanney, a spokeswoman for the crisis center, said sadly Tuesday afternoon.
"They just for the moment feel so hopeless," Hanney said. "That's why it's so important to let this community know that there is a resource. It's free. It's confidential. It's anonymous."
That's 234-1234.
The crisis center is working with GTE to install crisis telephones atop the bridge. There already are 18 telephones along the 4.1-mile span to link motorists to road assistance, but none are exactly in the right spot.
More problematic is whether the Department of Transportation can install a fence or some other sort of barrier to make jumping harder. The waist-high concrete wall is no obstacle.
The department is looking at what others have done to make bridges less accessible. That will be finished in about 60 days. But any remedy is likely to be expensive and complicated - and not, so far, in any budget.
The Skyway is a bit of an orphan, geographically speaking. It links Pinellas and Manatee counties, but lies in Hillsborough. There are no voters or taxpayers there; no feeling of political responsibility that would spur one mayor or another, one county commission or another, one local legislator or another, to lead the way.
So we wait for studies, while the crisis center works with GTE to at least put a telephone in the right spot, to give those who stop there one more chance.
In the meantime . . .
In the meantime, for those who go to the Skyway, intending to do this final thing, the only "one more chance" will come from themselves.
Please, please make this promise:
Before you go, before you even get in the car, dial this number. It's 234-1234.
Do it.
|
.
| 05.16.98: article • Trooper brings people back from edge |
05.16.98,
sptimes.com, St. Petersburg, Fla.
He has no training in crisis management.
He has never done any counseling.
But three times in the past four days, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper James C. Covert has managed to talk distraught people out of jumping off the Sunshine Skyway bridge.
The 27-year-old former carpenter says humility and the ability to engage each person in conversation went a long way in helping him prevent three potential suicides.
"I just want to get them to talk to me," said Covert, who most recently persuaded a middle-aged man not to jump from the bridge late Thursday. "I assured him I wasn't that brave that I could wrestle somebody on the top of a bridge where I could go over myself."
But Covert's supervisors say the trooper has a special gift. They have recommended he receive a commendation for
bravery.
"It takes a special person to do what Covert did and make it go right," says Highway Patrol Lt. Mike Guzman. "That kind of thing can turn on you in a second. . . . He definitely is above the norm in being able to talk to people at a time when the end is near."
Covert says he doesn't understand why so many Tampa Bay residents recently have committed suicide from the Skyway.
Nine people have taken their lives from the bridge already this year. Eight people committed suicide off the bridge in all of last year. The increase in deaths has caused some Tampa Bay residents to call for fences and phone hot lines to be installed along the bridge.
"It seems a little busier," Covert said. "I don't know if the recent publications about people going up there . . . if that's spurring people or encouraging people to go up there. . . . I don't know."
Covert joined the force nearly three years ago. He was raised in Darian, N.Y., and graduated from the State University of New York- Brockport with a degree in criminology.
While a class at the police academy offers instruction in how to handle potential suicides, troopers learn how to defuse crisis situations through on-the-job training, Guzman says.
Normally, Covert is assigned to patrol state highways on the midnight shift out of the Pinellas Park district. He says he does not routinely cover the Skyway, but that changed earlier this week when he was dispatched to the top of the bridge to help a stranded motorist.
As he approached the car, he found an elderly woman standing next to the guardrail, looking off into the distance. Covert says the woman appeared to be in good health. As soon as she started complaining about problems at home, he said, he realized her car was not the problem. She openly told him she was going to jump.
"It sends shivers up your spine," he said. "I wanted to know what they were thinking. . . . I wanted to hear what they had to say and try what I could to remedy it. I tried to create a little bit of a rapport."
Covert says the 15-minute conversation felt as if it lasted five hours. In the end, he persuaded the woman to drive her car to the nearby pier, where the two discussed her problems. The woman was admitted to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.
Early Tuesday, Covert was pulled off an assignment and sent to help a disabled motorist at the top of the Skyway. When he arrived, he found a middle-aged woman who said she had problems at home.
"The first time it caught me off guard," he says. "The second time, I was hoping it was just a disabled vehicle. A tire change or a tow truck or something like that."
Again, Covert got the woman to drive to the south fishing pier and talk. She later drove home.
On Thursday evening, Covert was patrolling along the bridge when he received his third call. He found a middle-aged man, dressed in a shirt and jeans, standing next to the barrier at the top of the bridge. The man told Covert he was having problems and intended to jump.
"I tried to get him to talk about his kids," says Covert. "I tried to explain to him, (his kids) were young and maybe the kids would blame themselves. That's a heavy burden to put on his children."
The conversation worked. The man was admitted to a hospital.
His bosses were thankful Covert was in the right place to help.
"He's special," Guzman said. "Not everyone can do what he did." |
.
05.08.98: jumper
Veronica Williams,
55, female, died |
05.09.98, ©
St. Petersburg Times, Drivers report seeing woman jump off Skyway
Drivers reported that a woman jumped off the Sunshine Skyway bridge about noon Friday. Deputies found a car that had been left on the bridge, but a search of the water below turned up nothing.
Hillsborough sheriff's deputies searched for hours. The car was towed away from the southbound span.
If a woman was killed after jumping from the Skyway, she would be the ninth suicide from the bridge this year. The last one was John P. Radd, 44, of Lakeland who jumped from the bridge with his dog early Wednesday. The female Rottweiler survived the
drop.
tbo.com,
Car found abandoned on bridge. Body
recovered same day. |
.
05.06.98: jumper - shasta, the skyway jumping dog,
lives
John Radd, 44, male, died |
|
05.07.98:
dog jumps over the edge after his master - master dies, dog lives
05.08.98:
dog
lovers clamor to take shasta home
05.09.98:
shasta
the dog going home again
05.12.98:
shasta
the skyway dog plays role in picking new owner
05.15.98:
home quest resumes for dog hurt in bridge fall
07.30.98:
skyway
dog finds a new home
|
06.07.98, ©
St. Petersburg Times, News leads TV through an ethical maze, Man dies, dog survives; how to cover?
The first challenge presented itself early in the month, springing from the May 6 suicide of
John Radd, a Lakeland area man who took his life by jumping off the Sunshine Skyway bridge with his dog,
Shasta.
Immediately, a conflict emerged between area news outlets' general aversion to covering suicides and the almost made-for-TV poignancy of a dog that survived its owner's fatal plunge from a bridge that has been the site of 10 suicides in 1998 alone.
Eventually, most TV news shops pressed ahead in covering the plight of Shasta, the Rottweiler that survived the 197-foot-fall, only to become the subject of a brief custody battle between two friends of Radd, each of whom claimed a connection to the animal.
In the process, some people wondered: Has the media's aversion to the details of suicide created a situation where we hear more about the dog that survived than the man who died?
Melissa Klinzing, news director at Bay News 9, the 24-hour cable news channel, says focusing on the dog emphasized survival rather than death, giving viewers the sense they could still get involved by helping Shasta.
"If it was a story about an institution, like a school, it's hard for people to think 'I can fix that tomorrow,' " she says. "But (helping the dog) is a pretty redeeming thing we can do right away."
But Steve Schwaid, director of news and production at UPN affiliate WTOG-Ch. 44, has a blunter view: "There's an old axiom in TV news, and I'm not saying it's right, but it says you can always keep the viewer with kids and pets.
"There's something brutally wrong with this society when we're more worried about dogs than (people)."
The media's aversion to covering suicides has a long history, based on the idea that part of what prompts such actions is a desperate cry for attention.
"It's an interesting psychological state potential suicides are in . . . and there's evidence that (media coverage) triggers rather than dissuades them," says Jay Black, the Poynter/Jamison endowed chairman of media ethics at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg.
But Patricia Daly, development supervisor at Personal Enrichment Through Mental Health Services - a Pinellas Park-based agency that helps counsel individuals considering suicide - suggests media coverage that doesn't downplay or ignore suicides but that emphasizes alternatives for those on the edge.
"(The media) is in a position to say, 'Here's what the warning signs are' . . . or ask 'What has been done to make it more difficult for people to park their cars and jump?,' " Daly says. "A lot of times, people don't know . . . there's help out there."
(In that spirit, here is the number for the 24-hour help line offered by Daly's office: 791-3131.)
tbo.com, Jumped with his dog. Dog survived.
|
.
| 04.13.98: article • For many, Sunshine
Skyway bridge is a dark symbol of sadness and loss |
04.13.98,
sptimes.com, By CHRISTINA HEADRICK, © St.
Petersburg Times
On the morning of Dec. 23, Linda Blankenship told her elderly mother she
had to run an errand. Then she drove to the Sunshine Skyway and pulled over at
the crest of the bridge.
She got out and sat on
the railing, her feet dangling over the side, 197 feet from the water.
A few minutes passed. Then, Blankenship pushed
off and fell to her death.
She was one of eight
people to commit suicide last year from the bridge linking Pinellas and Manatee
counties. Already this year there have been seven more, and the increase has led
to a call for better safety measures on the bridge to save lives.
The family of 46-year-old Blankenship believes
that jumping from the Skyway presented itself as too easy. They wonder whether
her death could have been prevented.
Blankenship
was divorced and had lived with her mother in Gulfport for three years. Her
ex-husband and two college-age children live in Georgia.
A slim, neatly dressed woman in family photos, Blankenship went to
therapy and took medication for depression. She volunteered at local charities.
She seemed to be doing well.
Perhaps she was
upset that she could not give her kids lavish Christmas presents. Perhaps she
had driven to the bridge to find her brother, Michael Yakes, who oversees safety
at state toll plazas. Maybe she had a spontaneous impulse to jump.
Her family theorizes. They will never know.
But Yakes has asked his employers at the Florida
Department of Transportation to study placing a barrier on the bridge's main
span to prevent suicides.
"It's hard to accept
the death of my sister," said Yakes, who also is the mayor of Gulfport. "But I
would feel better if I could prevent this from happening to some other family. I
see my mother every day, and this won't go away."
Yakes says he is approaching state officials as the brother of a suicide
victim, rather than as a 37-year employee of the DOT or as the seven-year mayor
of the small town of Gulfport.
He and another
engineer in the Tampa Bay Regional Toll Office, Lee Bohning, estimate it might
cost the state about $20,000 to study suicide prevention on the bridge. Bohning
supports Yakes as a friend, not as a state employee.
Yakes finds himself among several local suicide prevention groups and law
enforcement agencies who are concerned about increasing suicides from the
bridge.
Barely four months into the year, seven
people have paid their $1 toll and killed themselves, according to the
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, which has jurisdiction for investigating
suicides.
Eight people died in 1997, and police
persuaded 11 others to leave the edge.
In 1996,
six people killed themselves. Two people actually survived the fall. Five people
were stopped from jumping.
Most of the victims
were white, middle-aged males. Often, they were intoxicated.
"The numbers are going up," said Hillsborough
sheriff's Lt. Stan Doss, who oversees suicide prevention efforts.
The most recent suicide from the bridge was on
Sunday. William David Chester, a 41-year-old Sarasota truck driver with a
history of drug abuse, stopped at the toll plaza about 4:30 a.m. Sunday. He
handed a worker his watch, wallet and a note with his address. Then he drove to
the top.
"We used to go fishing down at the pier
there," said his grandmother, Alvera Walker, with whom he lived. "I think he
just started thinking about his problems and felt desperate. Now, nothing can
bring him back."
Nationwide, only a small number
of suicide victims jump to their deaths. Most suicides -- 60 percent -- involve
guns. In 1996, the six Skyway deaths were only 2 percent of some 307 suicides in
the Tampa Bay area.
But the latest figures place
the Sunshine Skyway among the most notorious American bridges for suicide, says
Diane Smith, a spokeswoman for the Crisis Center of Hillsborough County, which
runs a suicide hot line. The most infamous is San Francisco's Golden Gate
Bridge, where 45 people were reported to have jumped in 1995, the last year with
available statistics.
Jerry Vazquez, president
of the Crisis Center in the Tampa Bay area, has formed a task force with the
Hillsborough Sheriff's Office and GTE Corp. to develop the concept of putting
phones on the Skyway connected to a suicide hotline.
"If we do nothing, we continue to allow people to commit suicide without
the chance of making contact with help," Vazquez said. "We have an obligation to
do something."
Ken Hartmann, the DOT's district
secretary, says he is willing to listen to such proposals for suicide
prevention.
At the top of the Skyway, only a
concrete wall roughly 31/2 feet high borders the apex of the main span of the
4.1-mile suspension bridge. The wind can be gusty at the top. The bridge sways
slightly.
The plunge to the water lasts about
3.5 seconds. Most people are killed when they hit the water at 75 mph, breaking
their necks and rupturing their organs. Some live for minutes before they drown.
Suicide barriers have successfully deterred
suicide on other bridges and structures such as as the Empire State Building and
Eiffel Tower, although no one knows if would-be victims merely choose another
way to kill themselves.
The Golden Gate Bridge
District is in the final stages of developing a $2.5-million high-tech, metal
wire suicide barrier for the landmark, where at least 1,200 people have died. A
community coalition believes that a barrier will be more effective than suicide
hot lines already on that bridge.
But the idea
has been controversial.
"There is a lot of
public sentiment about changes in appearance to the bridge," said Mervin
Giacomini, district bridge engineer.
The
Hillsborough Sheriff's Office has suggested adding suicide barriers on the
Skyway, but has been told they would be unattractive and expensive, said Doss,
the sheriff's lieutenant.
Among his jobs, Doss
oversees six deputies who are trained to talk to people who threaten suicide. He
also spent four years negotiating on the Skyway himself, although he is scared
of heights. The Florida Highway Patrol, which often arrives on the bridge first,
doesn't have such specialists.
Doss supports
installing hot line phones.
"Most people have a
temporary problem," Doss said. "If they pick up a phone and we can get someone
up there to talk to them, there's a 99 percent chance they won't jump."
If people can be prevented from jumping,
research shows they may not go on to commit suicide other ways, says Richard
Seiden, a psychologist and retired college professor in the Golden Gate
coalition.
Seiden studied 515 people who had
been hauled off the Golden Gate over 40 years. Only 6 percent committed suicide
in the next 20 years of their lives.
Back at the
Skyway, it costs about $1,200 each time the U.S. Coast Guard has to recover a
body from Tampa Bay. But the cost in pain and suffering of the families who lose
loved ones at the bridge is impossible to measure.
Another recent victim was Daniel Israel Johnson, a 21-year-old senior at
the University of South Florida. He died April 3. Johnson's body washed ashore
at Egmont Key on Tuesday.
Johnson studied
management information systems in the College of Business. He had earned good
grades as a McNair Scholar, a program designed to help low-income and
first-generation students get into graduate school, said Denotra Lee, Johnson's
college adviser.
Friends described Johnson as
responsible, friendly and articulate, sometimes introverted. He was an officer
in groups for African-American business students. He was a hard worker.
"Here is a gentleman who had really surpassed
the stereotypes of the low-income black man," Lee said, crying in her office.
"He could have walked out of the university with
a $50,000 job. He had leadership, experience and the grades. His stock was very
high. I don't know what could have happened. This is really devastating."
Lee is organizing a fund to help pay for
Johnson's burial and create a trust fund for his brother.
Johnson is survived by his mother, Lathenia Eve Johnson, and a
teenage brother, Jason, both of Tampa. His mother could not be reached for
comment.
Johnson was engaged to Felicia Hart, a
20-year-old Hillsborough Community College student. The couple had planned to go
to Cancun, Mexico, this weekend for fun, Hart said. Friday evening, Johnson told
her he was going to the mall, she said. Then he drove to the Skyway.
"He did this for reasons we'll never know," Hart
said. "We have to remember him the way that he was -- not the way that he left
us."
|
.
04.12.98: jumper
William Chester, 41,
male, died |
|
tbo.com, Gave toll worker his watch, wallet and note with his address. Drove
to top and jumped.
|
.
04.03.98: jumper
Daniel Israel Johnson,
21, male, died |
04.06.98, © St. Petersburg Times,
St. Petersburg;
Body of Skyway jumper is still missing
A man jumped from the Sunshine Skyway bridge Friday evening, the Florida Highway Patrol reported, but a body had not been found for identification Sunday.
Two troopers went to the top of the bridge about 6:45 p.m. Friday to determine why a man left his parked car and walked toward the edge of the bridge.
The U.S. Coast Guard and Marine Patrol were notified the man had jumped but could not locate his body. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is investigating.
Lt. Greg Brown, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, said it could take three to seven days for a body to float to the surface.
04.09.98, © St. Petersburg Times,
St. Petersburg; Bridge suicide victim found
The body of a 21-year-old man who jumped to his death from the Sunshine Skyway Bridge on Friday has been recovered, Hillsborough sheriff's deputies said.
Daniel Israel Johnson of
[address withheld] in Tampa was last seen driving on the bridge about 7 p.m. His body was found Monday at Egmont Key, deputies said.
04.13.98,
sptimes.com, more here.
|
.
03.28.98: jumper
Fredrick Courtney, 42, male,
died |
10.19.09, Dylan C., Ellenton, FL., (03.28.98, 1:00am, male, hit water, died), Today I discovered
your website while doing some research on my father who passed away from jumping
off the Skyway when I was 5 years old. When I found his name I was, to say the
least, astonished but overall very hurt that everyone could see his death
tragically publicized in just a couple of words without even knowing the truth.
I guess the thing I'm trying to say is that he's
completely misrepresented on this website and the out of the 3 details you have,
two of them are untrue. His name is spelled Fredrick, not Frederick. and he did
NOT leave a note saying "someone should look for his body." The only source of
information I have is from the actual letter which sits in my mom's dresser
drawer. I would hope that's enough proof you to take it off. I'm not quite sure
what source www.tbo.com has, but I can guaranty it's wrong. I'd tell you what it
says but I feel it's none of anyone's business. My father was a great man, and
just the description of the letter gives him the impression as if the only thing
on his mind was to make sure someone found him.
I'm sure these minor details are just the beginning of a bunch of faulty
information and I find it pointless to tell people thinking of comiting suicide
a bunch of lies. The only way you can insure all your information is true is if
someone sends you factual information and if they ask you to post it for
potential jumpers(considering the websites and news papers are usually untrue
and misleading)
I understand what you guys are
doing with the site when it comes to preventing suicide but I really don't think
you see how it's effecting the families. The only thing I get from this website
as a 16 year old teenager is "Haha, your crazy dad jumped off the skyway!" (Many
of my friends see suicide on the skyway as a joke and I feel that personally
this site just makes it more hurtful and depressing) It's bad enough when loved
ones leave you, but it's another thing when you're the one suffering the
consequences of their actions. Thanks for
listening. (we are sorry your father chose to end his life in such a public
manner and can not imagine the hurt he caused you at such a young age. we have made the corrections per your request.
tbo.com
ran a story about skyway jumpers with a database of "all" the jumpers
since the bridge's opening, along with quick "facts" about each jump. we have no idea where they got
their data, but we too have found they missed a few jumpers and that their facts
are off from time to time. however,
these jumper facts are left as they were written, as we have no way to verify
any of them until we receive corrections such as yours. we have offered several
corrections to tbo.com, but have not seen any updates detailing these
corrections. if there is one thing you can gather from reading this site, it is the
blatant, in your face way that the jumpers themselves cause all the hurt that the
families suffer. had they chosen to get help or perhaps pick a less public way
to self eliminate, they would not be listed on this site and perhaps not leave
those left behind to receive the 'crazy jumper' jokes. thank you for your input and
again, we are sorry for your loss.) |
.
03.23.98: jumper
Mason Dillard, 69,
male, died |
|
tbo.com, Stopped car on bridge, jumped.
Body recovered immediately by boater. |
.
03.03.98: jumper
Lawrence Smith, 79,
male, died |
03.04.98, © St. Petersburg Times Authorities search for Skyway jumper's body; St. Petersburg;
Sheriff's helicopters and U.S. Coast Guard boats searched Tuesday night for the body of a man who parked his car on the shoulder of the Sunshine Skyway bridge and jumped over the railing.
Several witnesses said a middle-aged man jumped about 5:20 p.m. from the center of the bridge, about 197 feet above the water.
The man had not been identified Tuesday night. Hillsborough sheriff's
spokesman Lt. Greg Brown said deputies found a white Chevrolet abandoned in the
emergency lane of the bridge.
tbo.com, Witnesses saw him park his car on
shoulder and jump off. Body found by boater next day. |
.
02.06.98: jumper
Donna Sarafian, 33, female, died |
|
02.07.98, © St. Petersburg Times Clues point to Skyway suicide, police say; St. Petersburg;
Authorities were searching for a woman they think might have jumped from the Sunshine Skyway Bridge Friday night.
Hillsborough sheriff's spokesman Lt. Greg Brown said a brown 1986 Nissan was found at the top of the bridge about 8 p.m. Friday with its motor running and a suicide note inside. A second, more detailed suicide note was found in the woman's apartment.
Authorities had not released her name Friday night, but had listed her as missing. The U.S. Coast Guard was searching for a body late Friday, officials said.
Units from the St. Petersburg police and the Florida Highway Patrol were called to the bridge for several hours to direct traffic during the search.
Brown said investigators would examine film from cameras mounted on the Skyway to try to confirm if anyone had jumped.
02.08.98, © St. Petersburg Times Police identify the Skyway jumper; St. Petersburg;
Authorities have found the body of a woman who jumped to her death from the Sunshine Skyway Bridge Friday night, Hillsborough County sheriff's officials said. A Coast Guard vessel found the body of
Donna Sarafian, 33, of 1975 West Bay Drive in Largo, about a half-mile from the bridge just before 1:30 a.m. Saturday, officials said. Sarafian drove her 1986 Nissan to the highest point of the Skyway's southbound lane about 7:45 p.m. Friday, left three suicide notes in her car and jumped off the bridge, officials said. Pinellas County sheriff's deputies alerted Sarafian's family after the body was found, authorities said.
|
.
01.12.98: jumper
Mary Sullivan, 46,
female, died |
|
tbo.com, Drove to highest point on
southbound side, jumped. Body recovered same day. |
01.13.09, Christie G., St. Leonard, MD., My mother, Mary Joyce
Sullivan jumped to her death from the Skyway. My sister and I were notified
shortly after, told that her body was found in splattered pieces, there was a
video recording of her jumping off from the bridge cameras, I wasn't allowed
access to the video as per the coronor, my step-dad later sent me a tiny blue
jar with some of my mom's ashes in it. I don't know if she left a note, maybe my
sister knows. She may have already contacted you, her name is Ginger. If not,
you can email me, I'll get with her and try to get the specifics. My step-father
sent me an obit. clipping after wards, but in a rage once, I threw away
everything related to my mom--stupid, I know. We are still grieving. She haunts
my dreams, my thoughts.
05.18.09, Christie G., St. Leonard, MD.,
Was looking at the JumperPool page, and read some of the entries. The part about
the bodies getting all scrambled up... Well, according to the Pinellas County
coroner that I spoke with in '98, my mom splattered when she hit the water. Her
body was found in pieces. They dragged what they could find of her. What was
found, my step-father had cremated and sent a small portion of her ashes to me
in a little blue, see-through jar that had a lid like a Grolsch beer. So, when I
looked at the jar, I could see remnants of her, mostly ash, some small
fragments. |
.
. |
watch 'the
bridge', a documentary movie about 'golden
gate' bridge jumpers, now on this site.
watch the
preview
