Three students died within weeks of each other in 2011 after being hypnotized by their school teacher.
Videos by Wide Open Country
Fifteen years later, the circumstances surrounding their deaths remain a mystery.
According to the 2023 docuseries True Crime Story: Look Into My Eyes, a former high school principal, Dr. George Kenney, hypnotized more than 70 students.
Some students underwent additional, private hypnosis sessions with Kenney.
Three of them — Marcus Freeman, Wesley McKinley and Brittany Palumbo — all died within weeks of each other, sparking questions and outrage about Kenney's practices.
Per the documentary, Kenney conducted therapeutic hypnosis without having the proper license.
Two Students Commit Suicide After Being Hypnotized by School Principal
Freeman, 16, was the quarterback for North Port High School and died from injuries sustained in a car crash.
McKinley, a 17-year-old musician, said that he would often struggle to remember his own name after hypnosis sessions. His death was ruled a suicide.
Palumbo, 17, sought hypnosis sessions to improve her test scores and also took her own life.
"The school board is as negligent as Dr. Kenney is, or Mr. Kenney, I should say," said Patricia Palumbo. "I need those other families to know that I'm trying to help their kids and their families so that they don't end up like my daughter and my family."
Even after a trio of students died, Kenney defended his methods and said they do not cause harm to students.
An investigation found that despite repeated warnings from school board officials, Kenney hypnotized roughly 70 students and staff members from 2006 to 2011. One basketball player reported that he scheduled more than 40 hypnosis sessions to improve his concentration.
CBS News previously reported that each victim's family received $200,000 from the Sarasota County School District in a wrongful death lawsuit.
In 2012, Kenney pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges, received probation and resigned from his position.
The disgraced ex-principal did not serve jail time. Instead, Kenney was sentenced to one year of probation and 50 hours of community service, per court documents.
Roughly 18 million Americans have undergone hypnosis, according to a study by Academia.edu.
In the same study, 63 percent of participants said they benefited from hypnosis.
