An elementary school principal from Orange County, California died after committing suicide by jumping from a parking structure balcony at Disneyland.
Christopher Christensen, 51, was the principal at the William T. Newland Elementary School in Huntington Beach, California.
Anaheim police said they got a call from the amusement park about a jumping incident at around 9 pm on Saturday, December 4. Officers found the man dead from the fall when they arrived at the amusement park. Although the police were unsure if he had fallen or jumped, they believe he committed suicide.
Christensen had recently gotten in trouble with the law after his wife accused him of battery and child endangerment. He had a court appearance on Monday and entered a not-guilty plea to both charges.
The 51-year-old man wrote a final post on Facebook before his death, which sounded like a farewell note.
In the post, which went viral after the news of his death broke, Christensen shared several pictures of himself and his wife, Marlena, smiling from ear to ear. He said that he and Marlena had married privately more than three years ago and had a fantastic marriage until recently. He continued to explain what had transpired between him and Marlena that led to his arrest.
According to the post, the ordeal began two weeks before his suicide when he and his wife had a heated argument in front of his two stepdaughters.
He said that during the argument, tempers flared, and he and Marlena exchanged “strong” words. After their argument, Marlena got angry and decided to call law enforcement on her husband, which landed him in jail for the night.
Marlena accused him of being violent towards her and her two daughters, but Christensen vehemently denied that claim. Christensen said that during their argument, he never slapped, hit, or hurt his wife in any way, adding that he did not touch his stepdaughters and that he never has and never would.
According to Christensen’s post, he loved Marlena’s daughters as his own, and everyone who knew him knew how much the kids meant to him.
He was torn apart by the serious allegations by his wife and seemed astonished that he spent a night in jail even though he had never harmed anyone in his life.
Christensen announced that he had been placed on administrative leave as the case unfolded and criticized the American legal system, saying it was “flawed.” He said that the legal system was unfair to fathers and men. He said that after his wife saw all he had lost because of her allegations, and the dent the charges made to his reputation, she tried to make things right and clear his name but was unsuccessful.
He wrote in his post that it would be his final post on the platform, and he wanted to let everyone know that he was a kind and loving man who got destroyed by an unfortunate night.
Christensen said that he loved working at the school and being an educator. He also thanked his band, Seaside Strings, for performing with him for over 30 years.
Disneyland’s seven-story parking lot has been used for several suicides since it opened in 2000.