More than 32,000 suicides took place in the United States in 2004, 89 suicides per day, or one suicide every 16 minutes.
Cristal Bravo, at 19 the oldest of seven siblings, has assumed a leadership role in a family beset by tragedy: On Aug. 29th 2007, father Sergio Bravo fatally shot mother Maria Bravo before killing himself. After some talk of their being separated, the 7 siblings - including Jonathan, 4 - now live under the same roof.
A new five-year analysis of the nation's death rates recently released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the suicide rate among 45-to-54-year-olds increased nearly 20 percent from 1999 to 2004, the latest year studied, far outpacing changes in nearly every other age group.
