Choking Game Leads to Millbrae Teen's Death

Dylan Piefer, 14, was buried on Friday after an apparent choking “game” went terribly wrong, according to KGO.

Dylan was found by his friends last Saturday near San Francisco International Airport with a rope around his neck hanging from a branch about four feet off the ground. 

Apparently, he was taking part in a choking game, whereby teens cut off oxygen to their brain through suffocation to produce a drug-like high.

Dylan was meeting his friends at a place called “the fort” on SFO property, according to KGO, but by the time his friends arrived, it was too late.

The game often begins with teens choking each other to generate a high without the risk of being caught with drugs or alcohol, according to GASP, a nonprofit that educates parents and teens on the dangers of the game. Thousands of children suffer permanent brain damage through this game, and many accidentally die, according to GASP.

Dylan was a freshman at Mills High School, and his classmates have signed posters offering comforting words to the Piefer family. Dozens of people have also singed an online guestbook with their thoughts and prayers.

“Elizabeth, Tom & I along with the rest of our family send our love & sympathy for your loss of your son. We will keep you & your family in our thoughts & Prayers,” said the Fernandez family in the guestbook. 

Dylan was buried at the Committal Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma.

"Thank you for all the warm thoughts. We are so very sad and miss Dylan so much, I am so grateful he touched so many people’s hearts. Thank you," the Piefer family said on the The Thunderbolt, the Mills High newspaper, website.