Utah teen found dead in family's corn maze with rope around neck after apparent accident
A Utah family is grieving after a teenager was found dead in a corn maze over the weekend with a rope tethered around his neck in what appears to be a freak accident, local officials and his family said.
The 13-year-old boy, identified by relatives as Maximus Charles Knight, died on Saturday in Venice, an unincorporated community in south central Utah about 160 miles south of Salt Lake City.
The Utah Medical Examiner confirmed the boy's death to USA TODAY on Wednesday.
Sevier County Sheriff Nathan J. Curtis told USA TODAY foul play is not suspected in the case and the boy's death appears to be accidental in nature.
Maximus' official cause and manner of death are pending autopsy results from the state medical examiner's office, the sheriff said.
"The Sevier County Sheriff's Office offers our sincerest condolences to the family," Curtis wrote in an email.
The boy's family owns Knights Corn Maze which is located near their Richfield-area home, the sheriff said.
The maze was closed Wednesday, the business' website showed.
USA TODAY has reached out to the boy's family.
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Cleaning up his family's corn maze
According to the sheriff, Maximus was cleaning up his family corn maze at the end of the day when, after a while, his family could not located him there.
When family went looking for him the sheriff said, they found him unresponsive "with the rope from a tether ball poll around his neck."
The boy, Curtis said, had no pulse and was taken to a hospital where he later died.
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A 'beautiful, sweet and loving child'
According to an online fundraiser set up by the boy's aunt, Laurie Ann Thor, Maximus was "a beautiful, sweet and loving child." the youngest of three siblings and is survived by his parents.
"As labor of love, the Knight family brought joy and togetherness to many with their family corn maze," Thor wrote in the fundraiser, created to help raise money to help family with funeral expenses. "Maximus was actively involved with the family corn maze and with his community."
According to his obituary, which the family posted on the corn maze Facebook page, Maximums attended Red Hills Middle School, "enjoyed hanging out with his friends." He loved "wrestling, shooting NRL competition.22s, driving the tractor at the corn maze, (and) riding 4-wheelers," his family wrote.
His funeral is slated for Saturday.
As of late Wednesday morning the fundraiser created by his aunt had raised more than $25,000.
"Our hearts are broken as we struggle to make sense of this tragedy," she wrote on the page. "We will forever mourn his passing."
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.