Father of Sandy Hook Victim Dies in Apparent Suicide in Newtown

In the more than six years since his daughter Avielle was killed in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Jeremy Richman had devoted his life to preventing families from experiencing the kind of tragic loss he did.

With his wife, Jennifer Hensel, he created the Avielle Foundation to support research into brain abnormalities that could be linked to violent behavior. In this endeavor, he stressed mental health education and compassion.

“Compassion is the ability to feel somebody else’s suffering, to empathize,” Richman, a neuroscientist, said in a video for the foundation. “But most importantly, it’s the hope that you can do something to alleviate that suffering.”

On Monday, Richman, 49, was found dead in an apparent suicide in the Newtown, Connecticut, building where the Avielle Foundation had an office, local police said. His death was all the more shocking given the scope of his work, community members said.

“Our hearts are shattered, and our heads are struggling to comprehend,” the foundation said in a statement.

“Tragically, his death speaks to how insidious and formidable a challenge brain health can be and how critical it is for all of us to seek help for ourselves, our loved ones and anyone who we suspect may be in need,” it continued.

Police were called to Edmond Town Hall, a movie theater and event space that also rented offices and meeting rooms, at about 7 a.m. Monday by contractors who were working there, said Lt. Aaron Bahamonde of the Newtown Police Department.

Upon arriving, police found a note left by Richman. Bahamonde did not disclose what it said.

Police and the state’s medical examiner’s office were investigating the death, Bahamonde said.

Richman’s death came more than six years after a gunman stormed Sandy Hook Elementary School, killing Avielle, 6, and 25 other people, before turning the gun on himself. The massacre, on Dec. 14, 2012, thrust Newtown into the caustic national debates on gun control and mental health.

Some of the police officers who reported to Edmond Town Hall on Monday had responded to the school shooting, Bahamonde said.

“It’s something that you never expect to see happen, but in the back of your mind you know that many of us are still suffering,” said Neil Heslin, whose son Jesse Lewis, 6, also died in the shooting. “He was a good friend, and it was an honor and a privilege to have known him. He did a wonderful job with the foundation, building his daughter’s legacy.”

Heslin added: “I’m sure it will rip open a lot in Newtown again. The town hall will be another tragic place here, like the school.”

After the Sandy Hook shooting, Richman expressed grief over his daughter’s death through verse, friends said. On Fridays, the day of the week that the shooting occurred, Richman posted haiku on his Facebook page. Some of the poems were haunting, including one on Dec. 5, 2015, titled “Anniversary,” which he posted beside a photograph of himself and his wife on a visit to Avielle’s grave:

But Richman also channeled his grief into action, leaving his job at a pharmaceutical company to focus full time on the foundation. He began hosting discussions and speaking at academic events about brain health and violence.

Last week, he was the keynote speaker at a summit at Florida Atlantic University, where he talked about research that was geared toward helping people identify the symptoms of those in crisis and to support people at risk of harming themselves or others.

As the Avielle Foundation pursued grants to encourage such research, Richman often spoke with lawmakers to discuss the nonprofit’s findings and push for action.

Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., who has been a leading advocate against gun violence, said he was devastated and heartbroken by Richman’s death. The two became close friends, Murphy said, and Richman regularly briefed staff members on Capitol Hill about his foundation’s work.

They last met in the senator’s Washington office two weeks ago.

“He seemed as excited about his work as I’d ever seen him, which makes the morning’s news so unthinkable,” Murphy said in an interview Monday.

Richman earned a doctorate in pharmacology and toxicology from the University of Arizona in 1998. He also received a bachelor’s degree in molecular and cellular biology from the university in 1992.

Before starting the Avielle Foundation, he worked in drug discovery for pharmaceutical companies in California and Connecticut.

He also had an appointment as a faculty lecturer in psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. In 2016, Yale’s Department of Psychiatry honored Richman and Hensel with its Research Advocacy Award.

Richman and Hensel were among the Sandy Hook families who had filed lawsuits against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the host of Infowars, a radio show and website. Jones has said that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax.

The lawsuit involving Richman and Hensel alleges that Jones embarked on a campaign of “abusive and outrageous false statements in which Jones and the other defendants have developed, amplified and perpetuated claims that the Sandy Hook massacre was staged and that the 26 families who lost loved ones that day are paid actors who faked their relatives’ deaths.”

After the shooting, some conspiracy theorists targeted Richman and his family, falsely claiming that Avielle’s death was faked as part of a moneymaking scheme.

In a statement, Jones’ lawyer, Norm Pattis, said Jones “sends his condolences to Mr. Richman’s family and wishes only for peace.”

The news of Richman’s death came shortly after two students who survived last year’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, died in apparent suicides. Their deaths sparked a discussion about suicide prevention efforts and the need for long-term resources for young people struggling to cope with trauma and loss.

In Newtown, school district administrators reached out to counselors, psychologists and social workers early Monday, alerting them to Richman’s death so they could prepare to help students and staff members grieve, according to the Newtown school superintendent, Lorrie Rodrigue.

Through his foundation, Richman had worked closely with the school district’s central office. Some Newtown High School students had also interned with the Avielle Foundation.

“I knew this was going to be very devastating to the entire community and school community,” Rodrigue said.

In addition to his wife, Richman is survived by two children, Imogen and Owen.

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