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Teenager's death caused by injuries from crash
Avenue resident, 18, was going through ‘troubled time'
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009
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The state medical examiner's office reports that a 7th District teenager purposely took his own life through the injuries that local authorities said he suffered last week in a vehicle crash discovered in Bushwood.
Family and friends gathered Monday for prayer services before a funeral for Adam Palmer Burch, an 18-year-old Avenue resident found dead Thursday with the wreckage of a 1997 Chevrolet pickup truck in woods off White's Neck Road.
A missing person's report was filed earlier that week with the sheriff's office, Capt. Terry Black said last Wednesday. A family member of the teenager sent out an urgent e-mail earlier that day stating that Burch was "upset and distraught," and asking people to keep a lookout for the vehicle.
State highway crews were working in the area of the 7th District roadway shortly after 1 p.m. Thursday when they discovered the wrecked truck, and a deceased male at the scene, according to the sheriff's office. Sheriff's deputies responded and identified the victim as Burch.
There were no indications that Burch had any injuries other than the ones suffered in the crash, authorities said this week, surmising that the findings by the state medical examiner's office after an autopsy were based in part on recent comments he made and notes he'd written.
"He was going through a troubled time," according to Brittney Welch, who said she had been dating Burch for three years and that they planned to get engaged upon her graduation from Chopticon High School.
Burch attended the high school for four years, Welch said, and an obituary states that the lifelong county resident worked as a service station attendant in Clements and spent his free time enjoying football and music.
"He enjoyed hanging out with friends," Welch said Monday when reached for comment, before joining with the family for visitation and prayers at a funeral home in Leonardtown. "He loved cars," she said. "He loved his family very much."
A funeral service was held Tuesday in Charlotte Hall.
St. Mary's detectives and a sheriff's office reconstruction team took part in the investigation of Burch's death.
