Suicide's Shock Wave

In the stable where Wyatt Halikas ended his life this week, his name is engraved in the concrete floor, a reminder that he helped build the place.

The 17-year-old Elsie Allen High School student's presence is felt everywhere on his family's 12-acre ranch just south of Santa Rosa: Horse saddles hanging in a stable shop, a bull-riding pen he built last year, an older model Ford F-150 pickup that was a birthday present from his parents 11 days ago.

Metal trusses for an indoor bull-riding rink that Wyatt and his father were to build this spring lie on the ground, waiting to be moved.

They are an afterthought now.

"This is where I found him," Savvas Halikas said, his hands on the gate of a horse stall where his only child wrapped a rope around the highest pole and hanged himself Monday night.

The private moment belies the public reverberations of his son's death, which is believed to be the first juvenile suicide in Sonoma County in four years.

Wyatt's death rocked Northern California's amateur rodeo circuit, where he was a star performer, and the 1,400-student Elsie Allen campus, where he was known as an actor and leader at school assemblies.

Principal Mary Gail Stablein said she asked Wyatt during a meeting in her office two weeks ago if he would mentor underclassmen this coming semester.

"I wrote his name down on my paper and I was going to pull that together. And here we are," she said, her voice dropping.

But the brown-haired, brown-eyed boy was troubled about some things. His family wants his story known so that other teens might come forward with their problems before it's too late.

"Kids have to know that there's nothing in the world that can't be worked out," said Savvas Halikas, a foreman for North Bay Construction Inc.

The family Friday delivered Wyatt's practice horse to the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, where the teen was supposed to participate this weekend in a high school rodeo.

He was a regular fixture on the Northern California circuit, earning belt buckles, blankets and ribbons in calf roping, bareback and saddle-bronc riding and bull riding, the sport's most dangerous event.

"I think the kid was fearless," said Larry Morrison, president of the Northern California chapter of the National High School Rodeo Association. "Myself, I can't see why anyone would want to ride a bull. He loved that adrenaline."

On Sunday, the second day of the Santa Rosa competition, a riderless horse and bull will enter the ring in honor of a fallen cowboy, Morrison said.

Several championship belt buckles rest on Wyatt's bedroom dresser, including one recognizing his first-place finish in the saddle bronc competition at the 2005 Laytonville rodeo.

A video that was shared with several teens at the Halikas house Thursday showed Wyatt fighting to hang on as the horse bucked wildly. Following the successful ride, the boy tipped his hat, revealing a close-cropped Mohawk beneath.

Also in his room was a pair of crutches leaned against a wall. Wyatt had blown out a knee three months ago and was awaiting surgery.

On another bedroom wall was a gold certificate honoring Wyatt as an outstanding drama student at Elsie Allen, where he acted in school plays and was master of ceremonies at a recent battle of the bands competition.

Savvas and his wife, Dawn, attended the event and were stunned by the sight of a young man dancing and singing at the microphone, exhorting his classmates to get into the spirit.

"Savvas and I looked at each other and said, 'Where is this coming from?' At home, he was pretty quiet," Dawn said.

Wyatt most recently appeared in the school's "Scene Show" in November featuring second-year drama students. He played a philandering doctor in a scene from "Summer and Smoke," written by Tennessee Williams, Wyatt's favorite playwright.

His performance, a video of which is available at www.pressdemocrat.com, brought down the house.

"No other student showed the level of artistic integrity that he did," drama teacher Rob Burt said. "He spent hours working on the scene after school. He always wanted to get good."

But Burt had noticed a cloud hanging over the young man's head in recent months.

"I could see that he was depressed about the fact that he was having trouble getting enough credits to graduate on time," Burt said. "He wasn't sure if he was going to be able to continue to take drama in the second semester."

Wyatt, a junior, was struggling to catch up after missing several months of school his freshman year, after he had gone to live with his mother, Savvas Halikas said.

That led to the meeting with Stablein and a counselor two weeks ago. Despite the teen's struggles, Stablein said she considered Wyatt a "bright light" on campus.

In the aftermath of his death, teachers opened their classrooms for students to hold memorial gatherings and T-shirts with his photo were made and distributed across campus.

On myspace.com, an online chat room, the tributes poured in. Several teens also openly wondered why Wyatt had done what he did.

In an interview, 16-year-old Angelo Chambrone said he had a dream the night he learned of his best friend's death.

In it, he asked Wyatt why he killed himself.

"He just wanted to see the reaction," Chambrone said.

Teen suicide is usually much more complicated than that. But who really knows what was going through Wyatt's mind when his parents watched him go outside that evening?

They thought he was just blowing off steam after they had had words about his skipping classes at Elsie Allen and not cleaning the horse stall as his father had asked.

An hour later, Savvas Halikas went after his son, using a flashlight to lead the way. Finding the boy slumped in the stall, he ran back to the house and told his wife to phone 911.

It was too late.

"I cut him down and sat with him for a couple of hours," Savvas Halikas said. "The look on his face was just unbelievable, but in my heart, I'm happy for him because he will never have to go through that pain."

Still, he believes his son's death was a mistake.

He bases that belief on the fact that Wyatt was clutching one end of the rope when he found him. Had he simply pulled the rope, it might have undone the slip knot, and Wyatt might still be alive.

"I think he was, 'I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this' and he hyperventilated and passed out," Savvas Halikas said.

Whatever the case may be, the family is preparing for a memorial service at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Daniels Chapel of the Roses, 1225 Sonoma Ave., Santa Rosa. Visitation will be noon to 8 p.m. Monday at the chapel.

"I always told him that I loved him," Savvas Halikas said. "That's the one thing I won't regret."