Family Talks Of Teen’s Tragic Huffing Death

Six months after a teen’s death, his Lancaster County mother is still trying to make sense of his passing. But she is convinced that there are still children out there doing the exact same thing that killed her son.

Eyewitness News anchor Debi Faubion has the story this mother desperately wants you to hear.

His room is still the way Jason Moree left it that day in November.

His aunt, McKenzie Smith, showed Eyewitness News his trophies.

"He had won so many trophies, if you look around. He played soccer since he was 5 years old,” she said.

His soccer ball remains in the corner, along with his shoes and his bookbag.

"It's been hard. It's been really rough getting through this," Smith said.

Moree, 15, a student at Buford High School, had discovered a dangerous pastime, one that caught his mother, Wendy Cooper, off-guard.

"He denied it, but I could smell it," she said. "He (would) come up behind me in the kitchen, and it was all I could smell -- gasoline."

Cooper said Moree later admitted huffing gasoline for a cheap, quick high. She immediately took him to counseling.

Two weeks later, he spent the night at his grandmother's house.

“His grandmother called me about something after 12, saying, ‘I think Jason's dead,’” Cooper recalled.

The death certificate and autopsy results both list Moree's cause of death as "probable inhalation of gasoline."

“He was a part of me, and when he died, a part of me died,” Cooper said.

Helen Harrill with Substance Abuse Prevention Services in Charlotte said most young people don't understand the dangers of huffing.

“These are products we are running through our body that are not for human consumption, and so breathing it in and everything, it goes through the liver, and it's very damaging,” Harrill said.

Huffing can involve other toxic products besides gasoline, like aerosol sprays, paint, paint thinner, nail polish remover and correction fluid. The damage happens quickly.

“Seven minutes of inhaling does as much damage to your liver as seven years of drinking,” Harrill said.

Moree’s mother and grandmother believe the teen just didn't understand the risk.

“I talked to some of his friends and they admitted after Jason died that they had been doing it about three months,” Cooper said.

“They did not know it could kill you. They had no idea that huffing gas could actually kill you,” said Ruby Starnes, Moree’s grandmother.

The family is sharing its story now to spare other parents and grandparents the pain by making them aware.

“We're finding out more and more that these kids say, ‘Oh yeah, you know, I knew about huffing gas. I know about that.’ Duh -- I didn't!” Starnes exclaimed.

"And it's so tragic because he was such a good kid," Smith said.

Experts said the No. 1 sign that a child may be abusing gasoline or any type of inhalant is the smell. You can smell it on their breath, around their mouths and on their clothing.

Experts also say that inhalant abuse is often a gateway to other drug us, so parents need to pay attention.

LINK: Substance Abuse Prevention Services, CharlotteLINK: Inhalant Abuse Warning Signs, Resources & Other InformationLINK: Products Commonly Used In Inhalant Abuse