The last few paragraphs in his post make me believe that he might be telling the truth... to some extent.
Wanting to get murdered so his father could read it in the papers as a way to make him feel bad is something that rings true to one that feels unjustly accused/punished.
as for the spider story... dunno. If his father works in college, he might want to wait until the end of his dads shift and speak to him about this again. Quitting school and running away might appear that he is guilty of something. In any case, he should at least find a neutral third party to mediate between him and his parents.