An apparent suicide occurred at a parking garage balcony at the California Disneyland.
Christopher Christensen, 51, an elementary school principal in Orange County, California, was found dead on the evening of December 4, after jumping from the garage balcony. His death has been ruled a suicide.
Christensen was employed at the William T. Newland Elementary School in Huntington Beach, California.
Police attribute the man’s suicide to problems he was having after a fight with his wife. His wife accused him of battery and child endangerment after an argument, and he was detained in a jail cell overnight.
He entered a not-guilty plea to both charges, but his legal problems apparently led to his depression and desire to end his life.
The man wrote what is considered to be a suicide note on Facebook before his jump from the Disneyland parking lot.
In the Facebook post, which went viral after he was reported dead, Christensen shared photos of himself and his wife, Marlena in happier days. He said that he and Marlena had been married for over three years and were getting along well until recently.
He said his legal problems began two weeks before his suicide after the couple had a heated argument in front of his wife’s daughters.
During the argument, he and his wife exchanged “strong” words, and Marlena, who apparently felt threatened, called the police. Christensen spent the night in jail.
Marlena accused him of being violent toward her and her two daughters, but Christensen denied hurting his wife or his stepdaughters, and that he never would.
According to Christensen’s Facebook post, he loved Marlena’s daughters like they were his own children, and everyone who knew him knew how much they meant to him.
Sadly, Christensen was very disturbed by the allegations by his wife and was shocked that he spent a night in jail even though he said he had never harmed anyone in his life.
The incident affected his job and Christensen was placed on administrative leave from his school position. He said he had no faith in the US legal system and that the courts were unfair to fathers and men. He wrote that after his wife saw all the problems that resulted from her allegations, and the damage to his reputation, she tried to clear his name but there was no turning back.
Christensen wrote in his social media post that it was the final post he would write on Facebook, and he wanted to let everyone know that he was a good man whose life was destroyed in one unfortunate night. He said he loved his job and thanked his music band, Seaside Strings, for performing with him for the past 30 years.
Disneyland’s seven-story parking lot has been used for several suicides since opening in 2000.
