A wilderness camp in Colorado was supposed to improve the 15-year-old's behavior and make him more respectful, said Dawn Boyd, Jensen's mother. That's why a Utah court sent him there.

Now Boyd wants something else out of the camp: answers as to how her son died.

"What's important to me is other mothers don't ever have to go through this again," Boyd said, "because this is the most horrible thing a mother can ever go through, losing a baby they think is going to get better."

Colorado authorities say Jensen died from a staphylococcus infection. Personnel at the camp, Alternative Young Adventures, observed signs of the infection, according to a state agency, but neglected to properly care for it. The state of Colorado suspended the company's license this week.

Boyd suggested the state of Utah bears some responsibility, too. Speaking from her Salt Lake City apartment, Boyd said Jensen had been susceptible to infections, particularly on his face, ever since he was a toddler and contracted impetigo, a common skin infection in young children. The state of Utah had Jensen's medical history, Boyd said, before it sent him to the camp.

"He would get [an infection on his face] one day and the next day his face would just be swollen huge," Boyd said.

Boyd described her son as being somewhat different than the average teenager. He could have a bad attitude, the mother said, two or three times worse than other kids.

But the Bryant Middle School student also was smart, Boyd said. He was a writer, composing something between poetry and rap lyrics. He was funny, too.

"Maybe he could have been a comedian," Boyd said. "Maybe he could have been a lawyer. He could have been anything. He was so smart."

Boyd declined to give specifics of what her son did to get in trouble with the law, but said it was not violent, nor an egregious crime.

"He was one of those kids that wanted to fit in with everyone," Boyd said, "and he got in with a group of kids and they dared him to steal something and he got caught."

A juvenile court issued a sentence, Boyd said, but Jensen did not follow the terms. The court then sent Jensen to the Youth Adventures camp near Montrose, Colo. Boyd said the court informed her of what was happening to her son but did not give her a choice in the matter.

Jensen arrived at the camp on March 28. He wrote once a week to his mother or two sisters.

"He just mainly spoke of how they hiked up big mountains, and how tired he was from hiking everyday," Boyd said.

"He was so tired and he just explained to us that he was optimistic to get out of the program and do what he needed to do to come home and get back right with his family," she added.

Then on May 2, Boyd received a telephone call from someone at Youth Adventures. A man on the other end told her Jensen had been placed on a helicopter to be flown to a hospital and he died.

Boyd said she asked the man what he was talking about. Then she realized what he was saying.

"It was all blurry," Boyd said in an interview. "I lost it. I handed the phone to my fiance."

Her fiance, Boyd said, learned from the man Jensen had been on a "down day," where the kids take a break from hiking to attend lectures and counseling sessions. Jensen was sitting on his sleeping bag speaking to a staff member, the man said.

Five or 10 minutes later, Boyd said the man told her fiance, someone called out to Jensen and he didn't answer. At some point, the boy slumped over.

The family does not know where her son was pronounced dead. Boyd said she did not receive any information from the coroner investigating her son's death until she hired an attorney.

Then, Boyd said, she had to make the arrangements to bring her son's body to Salt Lake City. At some point she received $1,500 in checks, but in her confusion she didn't note whether they came from the state or from Youth Associates.

Boyd said she saw her son's body for the first since he left Utah on Tuesday, the day before his funeral. He had sores on the outside of his mouth, Boyd said.

"It wasn't even until the day before my son's funeral that I was overnighted a letter from [Youth Associates] with an apology," Boyd said.

Boyd declined on Friday to say who she holds responsible for her son's death. Instead, she just talked about the answers she's seeking.

"I don't know any of the details [of Jensen's death]," Boyd said. "I'd like to know what my son's last words were."

ncarlisle@sltrib.com