On Friday, September 10, my father, Charles Joseph Hammond, went to Pisgah National Forest and committed suicide. His car was there for three weeks, from 9/10/21 to 9/27/21. Park rangers were unconcerned. My mother, Maranda Hammond, and stepfather Jim Jamesson found his vehicle in Pisgah Forest on 9/27 and notified the police. We should have laws in place that state parks systems and National Park Services (NPS) notify management and authorities when a vehicle has been at the park for 24 hours or is bringing up concern to ensure the safety of all its visitors. If these laws were in place and being heavily enforced, my family and I would have found my father so much sooner rather than suffering all that time looking for him.
My family reported my father as a missing person on 9/13/21. Unfortunately, Henderson County NC Sheriffs Department didn't announce him missing until we found his car on 9/27/21 when our search was already over. They gave us no answers and didn't take our situation seriously.
My father and stepmother were going through a divorce at the time. My stepmother encouraged my father to commit suicide in texts and in-person, knowing he already experienced suicidal thoughts and mental health issues. He signed a 50B restraining order explicitly designed for domestic abuse victims to give them protection against their abuser. After the restraining order was put into effect, my father got full custody of my three half-siblings for ten days. A caseworker for Henderson County Social Services department expressed her personal opinions to my father, saying he could not support my siblings and was not doing what was right for them. Those statements were so far from the truth. the following are texts from my father to me. "I just wanted to see my kids and not be harassed, I didn't want to rip them out of everything they knew"-9/8/21 "This is too much for you to have to put up with, and I'm sorry for that, but I am trying for you kids"-8/31/21.
My father experienced so many injustices, and our system failed him; our community failed him. So we're raising money to try and make a difference, so our system fails no one else. My family and I are also raising money to get him a beautiful burial next to his father in Kentucky.
-McKenzie Hammond
I know I'll go to heaven cause I've already been through hell, peace at last.
CJ Hammond 9/23/73-9/10/21
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org
https://www.pathways.com/northcarolina
https://www.opencounseling.com/blog/what-to-do-when-you-re-thinking-about-suicide
