I agree, many people stage their suicide so it appears to be an accident or random homicide. Death by police is a common one (commit a minor crime, convince the police you have a gun & are about to shoot at them, get shot down... thankfully a lot of officers recognize them as suicidal and are able to talk them down, especially if they don't really have a gun). Single vehicle accidents are another (intentionally hit something at high speed in some remote area). There was even a census worker in KY who was found hanging from a tree with "FED" written on his chest who was later determined to have committed suicide. He'd had a history of cancer & had took out a large insurance policy shortly before his death, but it didn't pay out for cancer or suicide. I suspect this boy was trying to do something similar -- make it look like a random hate crime & hope his friend doesn't get caught.