Boy dies from ‘extensive internal bleeding’ after dad tells him to ‘sleep off’ snake bite

QUEENSLAND, Australia (WKRC) – A boy died from a snake bite after his father told him to “sleep it off.”

According to USA Today, citing a coroner inquest document released on October 15, 2025, 11-year-old Tristian Jaemes Frahm suffered “extensive internal bleeding” due to “brown snake envenomation” after he was bitten in 2021.

The documents reviewed by the publication state that authorities found the boy dead on November 22, 2021 at a property in Murgon, Australia, which was described as a rural town.

Citing a report from Coroner Ainslie Kirkegaard, USA Today reported that the boy’s father, identified by the publication as Kerrod Frahm, and two other unidentified adults learned that Tristian may have been bitten by a snake after the boy had fallen off a “ride-on” lawn mower.

The report states that the three adults checked the boy over for bites, but because they found no “obvious puncture marks, and on being told Tristian had earlier consumed alcohol, they attributed his non-specific symptoms to the effects of alcohol, so they did not seek medical attention for him,” per the publication.

The adults then told the boy to “sleep it off,” and sent him to bed, USA Today reported, citing the document. Tristian later experienced stomach pain and began vomiting sometime after, per the report.

According to USA Today, officers arrived on the property at around 9 a.m. on November 22, 2021 and found Tristian dead. He was found lying on his back beneath a sleeping back on the ground outside a portable housing unit, the outlet reported.

Coroner Kirkegaard reported finding two marks on the boy’s right ankle which were consistent with a snakebite, per the publication. A forensic pathologist discovered Tristian had no alcohol in his system at the time, according to USA Today, which cited the report.

Kerrod Frahm was charged with manslaughter, but the charge was ultimately dropped in April 2024, per the publication.

The coroner stated that brown snake fangs aren’t large, which means “their bite marks can be easily missed,” adding that they “can leave fang or puncture marks, a normal looking scratch or no obvious mark at all” further stating that “the circumstances in which he passed demonstrate the importance of taking even the possibility of snakebite seriously.”