Death at welcome sign turns spotlight on suicide prevention
His name, in case you missed the brief item in the newspaper, was David Bryan Moore.
When I wrote about him two weeks ago, his name wasn’t public, but it became public when Clark County Coroner’s Investigator Felicia Borla solved the mystery and located his next of kin in Maryland.
Moore, 48, was the man who shot and killed himself in the early morning of Aug. 5 in a parking lot, but not just any parking lot. He chose the parking lot at the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada sign, which has been on the Strip for 50 years.
What saddened me, other than the sorrow of someone killing himself, was that after nearly two weeks, the coroner’s office hadn’t found a next of kin to notify. That cried out that this was a lonely man living in isolation.
But Borla did finally find his parents to tell them of their son’s death.
Borla, a coroner’s investigator for 10 years, knew Moore’s name and address because he had his driver’s license. She just didn’t know whom to notify. She started with his mobile home, but there was little there. Most of his personal effects were gone. The manager of the mobile home park said Moore was a commercial truck driver, but currently unemployed.
But Borla found a work identification badge in Moore’s home that indicated he worked at the Levi Strauss plant in Henderson.
Borla called but no one answered. So she called the company’s security office to ask about Moore.
Security told her a woman in human resources had the same last name.
What a horror, being told the coroner’s office is looking for you to talk about someone with your name.
“She panicked, thinking I was calling about a family member. She called back instantly,” Borla said.
The woman, who asked that her first name not be used, began researching David Moore and found he had worked for the company between 1995 until 2007 in the distribution center, before taking a voluntary buyout. She called corporate headquarters.
There, in the file, was his 401(k) beneficiary: His mom. And her address.
Except the name of the town in Maryland had changed. Borla used her sleuthing skills to find the new name of the town. The street address was the same, and Moore’s parents still lived there. The parents were notified. Borla’s job was done.
The parents have not agreed to speak to me about their son, but what is known is that he stopped returning their calls after he lost the trucking job he had from 2007 to 2008.
No one knows whether this Las Vegas man died from suicide because he couldn’t find a job or whether there was some other reason. But there didn’t seem to be an addiction issue, drugs or alcohol, which frequently are contributing factors to suicide. He had no criminal record.
Levi Strauss officials wouldn’t talk about Moore, and his parents didn’t answer my request for a call back; so I’m no closer to finding a reason for his actions than before.
No one called to say what kind of a man he was.
The chilling facts: Nevada has the fourth highest rate of suicide in the United States and suicide is the sixth leading cause of death for Nevadans.
We should care about suicide prevention, and care before it’s too late.
Sept. 12 at 8 a.m. there’s a three-mile fundraising walk beginning at Bob Miller Middle School in Henderson. The Walk in Memory/Walk for Hope is more than just a fundraiser staffed by people whose lives have been touched by suicide. It’s also a site for information about suicide prevention.
For information about the walk, contact Linda Flatt in the Office of Suicide Prevention at 702-486-8225.
For information about suicide, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 1-800-273-8255.
For information about David Bryan Moore, well, that wasn’t forthcoming. But at least his parents finally know what happened to their son. Without Borla’s efforts, they might have gone on thinking he was just ignoring their calls.
Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.
