In 9th grade Daniel had a falling out with his “best friend,” Randy Yost.
Randy Kemper related the following story to me decades after Daniel related it to him: While watching a monster movie together, Daniel turned around to find Randy Y. masturbating. He was extremely upset and angry. Days later, Daniel attempted to drown Randy Y. in the Johnston family pool.[1]
When questioned about Daniel’s junior high school depression, old friends Ron Harris, Dale Dudgeon, and Mike West speculated that it had something to do with a falling out with Randy Yost. Ron would later elaborate by saying that Daniel told him, around the same time period, that Randy Yost had told Daniel he couldn’t hang out with him anymore because he was “too weird.” It seems most likely that that conversation between Daniel and Randy occurred after the masturbation incident.
Although it was worthy to explore a connection between the rift with Randy and Daniel’s first major depression, it seems most likely that there was no inciting incident and that, as is usual with one’s first experience with major depression, Daniel’s own depressive episode came out of nowhere as he later described it. [2]
[1] NBZ014, p. 100; Randy Kemper interviews on September 21, 2019, the day Daniel is laid to rest, and Dec. 24, 2019