Former students still disagree on whether sessions helped or harmed.
NORTH PORT, Fla. — A true-crime episode released this month is renewing questions about a former Florida high school principal who hypnotized students and later faced investigations and a plea deal after three teenagers who had private sessions died in spring 2011.
George Kenney, the longtime principal of North Port High School, offered hypnosis sessions to students seeking help with test anxiety, focus and sports performance. After the deaths of Marcus Freeman, Wesley McKinley and Brittany Palumbo within a span of weeks, the school district hired investigators, state regulators opened inquiries and prosecutors later charged Kenney with practicing therapeutic hypnosis without a license. The case ended in criminal court with a no-contest plea and ended in civil court with a 2015 settlement paying each family $200,000.
The new attention is less about courtroom outcomes than about what happened behind a closed door and what teens carried away afterward. Supporters say Kenney provided free help in a high-pressure school environment and that many students improved academically and athletically. Critics argue that he acted as an unlicensed therapist, that he failed to screen minors for mental health issues and that the techniques made it easier for some students to dissociate or self-hypnotize during moments of crisis. The episode highlights that the core dispute remains unresolved: whether the hypnosis was merely a coincidence in a tragic year or a factor that amplified hidden risk.
Kenney has said he was drawn to hypnosis as a teenager and later pursued training after watching a stage hypnotist perform at a large student gathering. He took a short course in late 2009 and began using hypnosis in group demonstrations tied to school events, then expanded into private sessions. Students came to him with worries about exams, attention problems and athletic performance, and he recorded some sessions while collecting permission slips for participation. In later statements, Kenney said he believed he was trained enough to help and that his intent was to calm students and boost confidence.
Investigators later focused on how the sessions were conducted and what Kenney did not do. Accounts summarized in coverage of the case said Kenney did not consistently ask students about depression, medications or other medical history. In later interviews, he acknowledged he did not screen students for mental health issues before hypnosis. That omission became central for families who argued that a technique designed to lower a person’s guard should not have been used on minors without professional oversight, especially when students sought help for anxiety and stress that could signal deeper problems.
The three deaths that made the case notorious began with Freeman, a 16-year-old athlete. He died March 15, 2011, when his car left the road and hit a tree as he drove home from a painful dentist appointment with his girlfriend. A friend later said Freeman attended hypnosis sessions before football games and seemed unusually blank or distant at times afterward. Kenney said he worked on performance, not pain blocking, and he rejected claims that he encouraged dangerous behavior. The crash left the community shaken and set the stage for scrutiny that escalated weeks later.
On April 8, 2011, McKinley, also 16, died by suicide. His mother later described a son who seemed altered after sessions, including moments when he did not respond to his name and seemed confused about simple things. Kenney had hypnotized him the day before his death, a detail that prompted investigators and reporters to ask whether timing mattered. Kenney later said he had no signs McKinley was depressed and suggested the teen was facing bullying and other personal pressures. McKinley’s death intensified fear among parents and students who had heard about hypnosis sessions happening on campus.
Palumbo’s death followed on May 4, 2011. She was 17 and had sought help for test anxiety and college-related stress, including worries over SAT scores. Her mother later said she attended at least one session and believed her daughter could not remember parts of it afterward, including the posture she held for minutes during the recording. Palumbo’s scores did not improve, and her family said she became distraught. After she died by suicide, Kenney initially denied to a local newspaper that he had hypnotized her, then later acknowledged he had sessions with her and Freeman as well as McKinley.
The contradiction became a key piece of the district’s investigative report. According to accounts from that period, Kenney told investigators he lied under extreme stress. His lawyer said at the time that no one had proven hypnosis caused any death and argued the tragedies were coincidences among many students Kenney worked with. School officials, facing public pressure and grief, declined to make statements connecting hypnosis to the teens’ deaths while law enforcement reviewed the matter. Kenney was placed on leave and reassigned, but student protests also erupted in his defense, reflecting how strongly many viewed him as a caring principal.
As more students spoke up, the narrative grew more complicated. Some described hypnosis as helpful and controlled, saying they remained aware and could stop. Others described experiences that felt humiliating or disorienting, including claims that students woke up with lipstick on their faces after sessions during a school trip and did not remember how it happened. Kenney denied wrongdoing, and no criminal charges were filed over those specific allegations. Still, those stories broadened concern beyond the three deaths, raising questions about boundaries when an educator uses psychological techniques with minors.
State regulators and prosecutors ultimately framed the issue around licensing and oversight. Florida law restricts therapeutic hypnosis unless it is performed by qualified professionals under medical supervision. Kenney was charged with misdemeanors related to practicing without a license and later entered a no-contest plea to one count. He resigned in 2012 and later received probation and community service. In 2013, he gave up his teaching license under pressure from state education officials and could not reapply, according to accounts of the case’s aftermath.
The families pursued civil claims even after the criminal case ended. In December 2012, the parents of Freeman, McKinley and Palumbo sued the school board for wrongful death, arguing district leaders failed to stop Kenney after warnings and after concerns surfaced about his sessions. The district denied liability but settled in October 2015, paying $200,000 to each family. The settlement closed the lawsuits but did not settle the public dispute over cause and responsibility, leaving room for documentaries and new reporting to revisit the same unanswered questions.
Those questions are now being reintroduced to a new audience through the latest true-crime coverage. The episode presents Kenney’s view that he tried to help students and that he did not understand the potential harms, alongside parents who say the sessions changed their children in ways they could not explain. It also reflects a lasting tension for schools: where to draw the line between supportive coaching and unlicensed therapy, especially when students seek help for anxiety, focus and stress in the middle of adolescence.
Author note: Last updated February 20, 2026.