Choking game can be fatal

Raleigh News & Observer

Kris Marceno was an actor, a singer, a bright student with a wide circle of friends. But on Nov. 2, he died alone while playing a dangerous game: He strangled himself in an apparent attempt to get a high.

Marceno, a 15-year-old sophomore, died from accidental asphyxiation, his family said. His death has schools, churches and communities talking about the “choking game,” in which children and teenagers choke themselves or each other for a euphoric feeling that precedes blacking out.

“This is not a game,” said Krista Ragan, a death investigator for the North Carolina Child Fatality Review Team. “They think they can stop themselves, but they don’t. They can’t.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified at least 82 such deaths nationwide between 1995 and 2007.

Kris was in his bedroom when it happened, but other family members were at home. His death was initially ruled a suicide, the family said. But relatives began hearing from his friends that he’d choked himself before, even at school, his mother said. Cary Police Capt. Michael Williams confirmed the case is open, as police await the medical examiner’s report.

“There’s a lot of kids doing it,” Kris’ mother, Bobbi Jo Marceno, said. There were no warning signs that Kris was doing it, too, she said.

“He was a great kid. He was smart, funny, just the perfect son,” Marceno said.

The choking game has been around for decades. Youth have passed down techniques in schoolyards and at slumber parties since the 1970s. Now, videos dot the Internet as teens find ways to communicate with peers beyond their neighborhood and school.

The CDC issued an advisory in February, warning parents to watch for signs that their children might be chasing a high through asphyxiation. Most of the victims identified by the CDC were boys.