Hudnall's cell phone rang as he was driving south for the training. Brown was calling from Moab: "We just found a third body."

The young man who'd died was Brandon, Stephen Cannistraci's brother.

Katherine knew the Cannistraci boys. Kelly Sowell, the last of the young people to commit suicide, knew all of those who'd died during the 15-month period.

Teen suicide is now part of Moab's legacy.

How did it happen?

Back in the fall of 2004, in the wide-open panic following Mario's death, one school official shuddered and whispered, "Stephen, what have you done?"

In his best-selling book, "The Tipping Point," author Malcolm Gladwell writes about the phenomenon described as "that magic moment when an idea, trend or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips and spreads like wildfire."

Gladwell dedicates most of a chapter to the "imitative" characteristics of teenage suicide.

"The central observation of those who study suicides is that, in some places and under some circumstances, the act of one person taking his or her own life can be contagious. Suicides lead to suicides."

As it turned out, young Stephen Cannistraci, with his impish smile, wrestling accolades and 4.0 GPA, was the tipping point.

 · · · 

"My final letter. ..." — From Stephen's suicide note, found July 30, 2004

 · · · 

Despite a frightful childhood filled with abuse, upheaval and interventions by the state Division of Child and Family Services, things seemed to be looking up for Stephen Cannistraci.

Stephen had moved in with his father the previous summer after his mother abandoned him and his brothers in East Carbon.

His dad, also named Steve Cannistraci, worked as a maintenance man at the upscale Sorrel River Ranch Resort and Spa 17 miles outside Moab. The man put his namesake son to work at the resort restaurant. Although the young man said structure, chores and responsibilities tethered him, and he didn't like people at the ranch calling him Junior, Stephen excelled at the job, winning the ranch "Rookie" award.

Few knew Stephen was seeing a counselor for depression. Or that he'd told her he wished he could "not wake up" and that life was "a lot to bear."

Instead, most people in the Moab area knew a popular dynamo of a kid who got straight A's and was the May Student of the Month. Barely 5 feet tall, Stephen ruled the 103-pound wrestling weight class and was ranked fourth in the state's 2A classification.