POST FALLS, Idaho — A Post Falls family is warning other parents about dangerous online trends after their 11-year-old daughter died last month in what they believe was connected to the “blackout challenge.”
Heaven LaFountain died after what her parents initially thought was suicide.
However, Dustin and Shannon LaFountain now believe their daughter’s death is tied to an online trend where children make themselves pass out by cutting off their air supply.
“At first it wasn’t clear what happened. We thought she had taken her life because of the way we found her,” Dustin LaFountain said.
The parents say Heaven learned about the challenge while talking to people on Discord, a communication app popular with gamers.
“I had never really heard of Discord. I heard it was a gaming app but it evolved into something much more darker,” Dustin LaFountain said.
Discord requires users to be at least 13 years old, but younger children like Heaven have bypassed age restrictions.
The platform says it has implemented safety features for teen accounts that restrict access to potentially harmful content.
According to a 2022 Bloomberg study, more than a dozen children 12 and under died from this type of challenge. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a similar warning to parents in 2008, but incidents continue to occur.
The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office says there have been allegations linking Heaven’s death to the “blackout challenge,” but nothing has been confirmed.
The LaFountain family has now made it their mission to warn other parents about online dangers.
“She didn’t deserve to die like this… no kid.. no family deserves to go through this and I just want to spread awareness that this is not okay,” Shannon LaFountain said.
Sergeant Brad Johnson with the Post Falls Police Department, who works on internet crimes against children cases, emphasizes the importance of parental oversight.
“Giving a child unfettered access to the internet is likely going to create problems or so if you’re not paying attention. You’re kind of rolling the dice and playing with fire, in my opinion,” Johnson said.
Johnson recommends parents have open conversations about online safety and monitor platforms that allow children to message others, which pose the most risk.
“Your child might be a good kid, and a lot of times kids are inherently trustworthy as well,” Johnson said. “But the truth of the matter is, they truly don’t know who it is. And even though the child is good and and means well, the person on the other end who has spent time grooming them over however many weeks or months, will likely gain trust of a of a well-meaning or good child.”
Parents can turn off messaging features or download monitoring programs to track app usage. Johnson says it’s never too late to implement safety measures.
“I think it doesn’t serve anybody well to say. Well, they’ve already had it. What am I supposed to do now?” Johnson said.
The LaFountain family hopes their story will encourage parents to take online dangers seriously.
“There just needs to be education and people need to know what these apps are really about,” Dustin LaFountain said.
Sergeant Johnson says Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and National Center for Missing & Exploited Children are good places to start for parents looking for online resources.
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