Mom blames bullying for son's suicide

Down the block from Brandon's house, a solitary plaque marks his shortened life, a tribute to the passion that drove him to awaken in the pre-dawn darkness each morning so he could fish at the neighborhood lake before school.

"Forever Fishing," the plaque reads. "Brandon Myers."

Fishing was an escape for Brandon. He would go fishing with his buddy Trystyn, or with his mother's boyfriend at nearby Lake Lotawana. Summertime meant bullfrog hunting trips with his grandfather in southwest Missouri.

Inside Trystyn Wagner's home, toy frogs of all shapes and sizes surround a hallway display of baseball cards, fishing photos and other reminders of his late best friend.

A few days before Brandon's death, the two friends argued over a girl. They quickly patched up the dispute, but guilt from that encounter and its proximity to Brandon's suicide hangs over Trystyn, his mother said.

"He said he wanted to be next to Brandon," said Amy Wagner, who said she has since moved Trystyn and his younger sister to a private school as a result of what she calls her son's own bullying experience.

"It's just been a nightmare," she said.

Drawing, note were warnings
During an investigation of Brandon's death, Trystyn told police that Brandon drew a picture of himself hanging from a rope. The drawing was found by another student and turned in to a teacher, according to a police incident report.

Another classmate later shared a note from Brandon that further hinted at his risks of suicide.

I "have had enuf of this crap(p)y life," the note reads. "I will hang myself tonight so if you have anything to say to me I suggest you tell me before 4:35 p.m. tonight."

The note, a copy of which was provided to the AP by Kim Myers, asked the unknown classmate to tell other students in Brandon's class and listed the phone numbers for two students he wished to alert.

Kim Myers said she first learned of the warning note in May, nearly three months after Brandon's death, from a Lee's Summit police officer. The note was given to school officials on March 2 by a student's parent.

The unidentified student's mother told police and school officials that she found the note folded on a table in her home two days after Brandon's death, and brought it to school later that week.

Brandon's unkempt bedroom isn't the only reminder Kim Myers carries of his brief life. She wears a frog ring on her right hand, a Mother's Day gift to commemorate her son's amphibious passion.

She keeps a jar of green BB gun pellets in his honor — tiny memorials that have mysteriously turned up in the most unlikely of places, from the doctor's office where she works to the beaches of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where she and her mother traveled to seek peace after Brandon's death.

"As soon as I picked it up the tide came in and washed everything away," she recalled.

"I think it's him talking to me ... letting me know he's around. He's watching over me."

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