FLORIDA BOY HANGS SELF TO AVOID TEASING ABOUT WEIGHT.

Byline: Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

To 12-year-old Samuel John Graham, the start of middle school meant getting teased by new kids all over again, detectives said. It meant being called fat again.

Broward County Sheriff's detectives said Samuel so dreaded the idea of walking into the first day of school at Parkway Middle School on Monday morning that he got up in the middle of the night and hanged himself from a fruit tree in the back yard of his Fort Lauderdale-area home.

His younger brothers, Joshua, 8, David, 10, were getting ready for school about 6 a.m. Monday when they looked through a sliding glass door in the kitchen and saw Samuel hanging from the neck by a rope. They called their father.

Vincent Graham, the boys' father, cut Samuel down, called paramedics and tried to resuscitate his son, detectives said, but it was no use.

Rescue workers pronounced Samuel dead at the scene.

Detectives were still at the house when Vincent Graham started chopping down the tree his eldest son had used to take his life. His wife, Jacqueline Graham, collapsed from grief again and again, Detective Jim Carr said.

Carr said there was no sign of foul play.

Samuel, who stood 5 feet 4 inches and weighed 174 pounds, had spoken of suicide before, Carr said. He had been overweight for years and was very sensitive to teasing from other kids at school.

His parents tried to help him by taking him to physicians and counselors, Carr said. He said they even sent Samuel to Jamaica this summer to spend time with an uncle who is a fitness buff, hoping that would help both tone his body and build his self-image.

``He was just big for a 12-year-old boy,'' Carr said. ``And the kids used to make fun of him.''

The last time the family saw Samuel was about 10:30 p.m. Sunday, when Vincent Graham prayed with his three sons, Carr said. Then Samuel went to bed in his room, which is adorned with religious expressions.