Friends mourn St. Charles East student

ST. CHARLES – Ben Tran loved the color purple, swimming, playing drums and Jif peanut butter.

About 100 classmates – most wearing purple – gathered Monday at Lincoln Park in St. Charles for a candlelight vigil to remember their friend.

The 17-year-old St. Charles East junior, who was known for jokes, making people laugh and being a supportive friend, took his own life on Friday, friends said. Friends said they confirmed Tran's suicide through the family; Kane County Coroner Charles West said his death is still under investigation. Friends said his parents were in shock and would not speak to the media.

Kane County Sheriff's Police spokesman Lt. Patrick Gengler confirmed they and St. Charles paramedics responded to a home on the 6N000 block of Route 25 in St. Charles Township at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Tran was found unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene, Gengler said.

"He was probably the most genuine person you could ever meet," said Claire Flowers, 16, a sophomore. "He was the nicest person, always caring about other people – he never had time to worry about himself. And I think that's what got to him. He was always such a good person. He was so fun, always making everybody laugh."

Tran's best friend, Nick Ciccone, a 16-year-old junior, organized the vigil.

"Ben was smart. He was funny," Ciccone said. "He was a good kid who did no wrong to anybody."

Ciccone and other friends said they could tell something was wrong, but Tran was a master at masking his feelings with the very humor he used to cheer people up.

"There were signs throughout the week, but he would just slowly cover them back up and he would tell me everything was OK," Ciccone said.

Janet Burns said Tran lived with her family recently for about three months.

"He was bright on the outside, but he had a lot going on on the inside," Burns said.

Her daughter, Kassandra Hileman, held the arm of Tran's girlfriend, Brittany Dieter, both 17 and juniors at East, as they both cried.

"He was our rock," Hileman said tearfully. "When we were down, he would hold us up and tell us everything was OK ... that there was always a positive side to something bad."

Funeral arrangements are pending, friends said.