Scouts Honor: The tragic case of Christopher Schultz

❘ Published: 2023-09-06T19:01:18

Netflix

Netflix‘s latest documentary Scout’s Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America tells the harrowing truth behind America’s biggest youth organizations and years of secret sexual abuse. Part of the stories in Scout Honor includes Christopher Schultz, a young boy who was abused and took his own life as a result.

When people think of the American image, many know about the Boy Scouts. A youth organization dedicated to nurturing young growing boys in the necessary skills of survival, cooking, and friendship. But, behind the smiles of those young boys was a plethora of sexual abuse cases by BSA (Boy Scouts of America) leaders, pedophiles, and even priests.

Scouts Honor breaks open the door to the years of negligence by the organization since its inception in the 1930s. At the heart of the documentary are the Perversion Files or the Red Flag List. A list of noted assault cases that were purposely kept from authorities, parents, and other Scout leaders.

To tell the truth of the darkness that plagues the BSA are its survivors. Scouts Honor tells the story of Christopher Schultz but told through his older brother Richard. Warning: Some may find this content distressing.

Christopher Schultz photo in Scouts Honor

Scouts Honor: What happened to Christopher Schultz?

In 1978, Christopher Schultz was sexually assaulted by a New Jersey priest and local Scout Leader Brother Edmund Coackly. The gravity of the abuse and the effects on Christopher led him to die by suicide.

While Scouts Honor uses the testimonials of real BSA survivors. But none hit as hard as the story behind one that didn’t make it. Journalist Patrick Boyle steers the documentary into the reality of the BSA having foundational ties to religion. Boys from different religious backgrounds came together in the BSA. But it also became a hunting ground for pedophiles. In Emerson, New Jersey, Christopher attended a local Catholic school where Coakley was a teacher.

Christopher’s story is told through his brother Richard, who was also a Boy Scout. “I was a target, but to be used as leverage for the real target, which was my brother,” explained Richard. Coakley purposely chose Christopher and gained the family’s trust.

Scouts Honor tells the haunting reality of Coakley performing “sadomasochistic sexual acts” on Christopher at a camp over a weekend. The damage of what occurred changed Christopher as Richard recounts his brothers having panic attacks and hallucinations. Richard explains a phot Coakley whispering to Christopher to stay quiet or he would be killed.

“Christopher Schultz epitomized the worst thing that could happen to a family in an abuse case. Not only was your son abused, but he was so emotionally distraught that he took his own life,” said Boyle.

Scouts Honor: What happened to Brother Edmund Coakley?

Christopher Schultz’s death brought to light the brutal reality of the sexual abuse he had endured, forcing Coakley to be kicked out of the church and flee the state.

Audiences are dismayed to learn that not much was done about Coakley after Christopher’s death. In Scouts Honor, Boyle explained he had simply fled while the Schultz family was ostracized by the church and community. Richard recounts how a parish priest visited their home. The priest tried to persuade his mother to drop the case and what had happened to Christopher.

“The length that certain people were going to, to try and get you to shut up and get this to go away to protect the church,” said Richard. Scouts Honor showed a newspaper clipping of a New Jersey Archdiocese not being held liable for the boy’s suicide, audiences can speculate the person in question is Coakley.

Scouts Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America is available to stream on Netflix now, and you can check out more of our documentaries coverage below: