The case of a 14-year-old boy’s death, with Attala county ties, is still shrouded in mystery and has yet to be uncovered in South Korea. Michael White, son of Stephanie White, 39, was found face down in 15 inches of water in a sauna pool on May 10.
Stephanie is a lecturer at Yeungnam University in Gyeongsan who has also worked at Konkuk and Hoseo Universities throughout South Korea.
She is the niece of Emogene and Curtis Burrell of Sallis.
Stephanie and Michael, along with two of Stephanie’s friends went to the Hawaiian Sauna in Gyeongsan, of the North Gyeongsan Province. The men and women’s side of the sauna separated Michael and his mom for about two hours. At 9:45 p.m. they parted ways, then at around 11:45 p.m., sauna staff notified her that Michael was being taken to the hospital.
When Stephanie went outside she saw an ambulance crew loading her son into the emergency vehicle.
Apparently at that point, there was mass miscommunication between the sauna employees, police and medical personnel at the hospital where Michael was taken.
Medical staff was surprised at Michael’s condition upon arrival because they had been told by the sauna employees that he was DOA or dead on arrival. Personnel did not expect to have to do much when Michael arrived, but it turned out to be a different scenario as he was still responsive to external stimuli.
In an interview with Seoul Podcast, a Korean blogspot, Stephanie stated, “Without a brain scan they had already determined that he was brain dead…I looked in his eyes myself. When I opened his eyes, the lights are very bright in the ER, there was the slightest ever bit of dilation. His eyes were looking straight ahead. These are good signs. These are signs for hope and there’s possibility.” Police had logged time of death for Michael at 11:20 p.m. when they didn’t even arrive at the hospital until 11:50 p.m.
Stephanie has had to take on a tremendous burden upon herself to continue the investigation of the circumstances surrounding her son’s untimely death. “Police don’t necessarily gather evidence, lawyers gather the evidence,” explained Stephanie. Michael is being housed at a morgue and will not be released until the investigation is closed. The daily fee for housing Michael’s body is about $62 a day, and as of June 17, it has been five weeks.
Unfortunately, cremation has become the only option left to bury Michael’s body as American standards for embalming and preserving do not exist in the region.
Lawyer’s fees, morgue costs and other expenses have so far amounted to $2,500 for Stephanie. To complete the investigation, $20,000 will be needed and so far only about half has been raised.
Three candlelight vigils were held outside the sauna in memorial of Michael, which also gave a chance for Stephanie to search for witnesses in the case. Witnesses are sought after by lawyers and the victim’s family in such cases, not by local police.
The U.S. embassy, located in Seoul, has so far provided little assistance in the ongoing investigation to help progress the case along. Since the passing of the Patriot and Homeland Security Acts, government involvement in foreign affairs has been extremely limited. “Used to if an American died abroad, the FBI could come in and investigate,” Stephanie said. Now such circumstances are allowed and handled by local authorities.
Anti-American sentiment is high in the region where Stephanie lives due to recent beef riots.
According to Stephanie, natives are lead to believe that beef shipped to the region from the U.S. may be contaminated with Mad Cow Disease and local health officials push the fact that Koreans are particularly susceptible to the disease.
“Stereotypes play a big role in how they (Koreans) views us…they see us (Americans) as drug addicts, pedophiles, lazy…” Stephanie continued.
Stephanie continues on working toward closure in the unclear death of her own son. She urges people back in the U.S. to write their congressmen and letters to the editor asking ‘Why doesn’t American Embassies protect Americans abroad?’ “Unless this issue gets international attention, Korean authorities will just sweep this under the rug.”
For more information on Michael’s death and Stephanie’s struggle check out www.mightiemike.com.
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