A second-year engineering student at Fort Lewis College was found dead in a college residence Wednesday, according to email sent by interim President Steve Schwartz to the student body.
Ruby Anne Iker, 19, died by an apparent suicide, La Plata County Coroner Jann Smith confirmed. Smith responded to a call on campus around noon on New Year’s Day after college staff conducted a welfare check at the request of Iker’s family.
For help
Help for people having suicidal thoughts or for those who fear a person is considering suicide:
Axis Care Hotline:
24/7 local response to your crisis & behavioral health needs: 247-5245
NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLINE:
988
RED NACIONAL DE PREVENCIÓN DEL SUICIDIO:
(888) 628-9454
FORT LEWIS COLLEGE COUNSELING CENTER:
247-7212
BOYS TOWN HOTLINE:
(800) 448-3000.
SAFE2TELL COLORADO:
(877) 542-7233 or safe2tell.org
COLORADO CRISIS SUPPORT LINE:
(844) 493-8255 or text “TALK” to 38255 or online at coloradocrisisservices.org to access a live chat available in 17 languages. The line has mental-health professionals available to talk to adults or youths 24 hours a day.
AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION:
Colorado chapter information available at afsp.org/chapter/afsp-colorado/
FOR MEN:
A website for adult men contemplating suicide is available at mantherapy.org
Iker was from Durant, Oklahoma.
“I want to acknowledge that hearing about the death of an FLC community member, particularly involving suicide, can have various impacts,” Schwartz wrote to the community. “It hurts to lose one of our community members. This type of loss affects all of us in different ways, and experiencing a wide range of feelings and responses is normal.”
The college’s counseling center will reopen for regular hours on Jan. 13.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
