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Double-suicide suspected in Mooney teens’ deaths
By Denise Dick
By DENISE DICK
BOARDMAN
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Colin Hart
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Jamie Serich
It’s been five months since the bodies of two Cardinal Mooney High School students were found in a township cemetery — both with gunshot wounds to the head.
Gunshot residue tests showed that both boys had fired the gun, suggesting double suicide.
Although police from the beginning suspected double suicide or homicide-suicide, there’s still been no official finding from the Mahoning County Coroner’s office.
A police officer found the bodies of Jamie Serich, 17, of Walker Mill Road, and Colin Hart, 18, of Wildwood Drive, the morning of Dec. 6 in Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Hart still clutched the gun in his hand.
Both were seniors at Mooney.
Dr. Joseph Ohr, forensic pathologist and deputy county coroner, said he expects to complete the reports soon.
“As soon as I finish a couple of other things, they’re working their way to the top of my stack,” he said.
Police Chief Jack Nichols said the amount of time the coroner’s office is working on the Hart and Serich cases isn’t unusual compared with other cases. There’s a lot of paperwork and laboratory tests involved, and all of that can be time-consuming, the chief said.
Both families declined to comment.
Gunshot-residue tests showed that both boys had fired the gun, suggesting double suicide, Dr. Ohr said.
But that’s a preliminary finding, he said.
“I have to speak one more time to Boardman Police to find out if their investigation has found any other evidence,” Dr. Ohr said.
Sometimes when a case appears to rest neatly in one area it gives Dr. Ohr reason to proceed even more cautiously before issuing a finding to ensure nothing gets missed, he said.
“That raises our radar even more,” Dr. Ohr said.
Toxicology tests were taken from both teens, but the pathologist declined to release those results until his report is complete.
The tragedy came on the heels of Mooney winning the state football championship last fall.
School officials organized a memorial service for both boys at the school. Masses of Christian Burial at St. Charles and Holy Family churches were packed with students and faculty, family and friends.
Serich’s mother had reported her son missing about 11:30 p.m. Dec. 6. A police report said the woman had last seen her son about 8 p.m. that day.
The mother told police she was notified by several of her son’s friends that they had received text messages from Jamie Serich saying he was going to kill himself that night, and that he was depressed and couldn’t take it anymore, the police report said.
The mother tried to call her son several times on his cellular phone, but he didn’t answer. She said he was driving in her 2007 Pontiac G6 with his friend, Hart. Serich’s friends told her that Hart carried a gun.