Christopher Christensen, 51, was found dead after jumping from a parking garage at Disneyland on Saturday. He took his own life in front of Anaheim park-goers who’d gathered to watch the annual Candlelight Ceremony.
On the evening of his death, Christensen published a Facebook post in which he described an “amazing” marriage that took a turn one recent evening during a “heated argument”. He formatted the post as a suicide note.
Chris Christensen of Westminster took to Facebook on Saturday evening to discuss a recent domestic dispute. He was facing misdemeanor charges of child endangerment and battery prior to his death. As a result of this disturbance, he was supposed to be due in court on Monday.
Christensen wrote on Facebook that his wife regretted calling the police on him and that ‘people need to start treating each other better’. He also cited his fear of losing his job as a principal over the charges. He claimed that the fear he was experiencing was on of the reasons he wanted to take his own life.
In the lengthy post, the man said he had never hurt his wife or their daughters during the argument, but that the ‘extremely flawed’ legal system would end up putting away an ‘innocent man’.
Christensen thanked his coworkers, friends, and families for their support over the years, and said he loved educating and leading thousands of students and families. According to his post, spent the day reaching out to those closest to him before the fateful incident.
Christensen had worked as a principal with the Fountain Valley School District for more than 20 years. Grief counselors were available at all FVSD schools to help students, staff and their families through this time.
The principal’s death at Disneyland is one of four total suicides that have occurred at the same theme park parking structure.