Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 12 OcTOber 2017
Police arrest 10 in drinking death of LSU pledge Man accused of

killing priest says
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN pledges, according to a because it was “getting concluding that Gruver
Associated Press police report on the Sept. out of hand.” Another said died of acute alcohol in- he’ll be spared
toxication, with aspiration:
He had inhaled vomit and By KATE BRUMBACK
other fluid into his lungs. Associated Press
An autopsy showed Gru- ATLANTA (AP) — An ex-
ver’s blood-alcohol con- convict accused of killing
tent at the time of his death a Florida priest who had
was 0.495 percent, Clark tried to help him for months
said. said he has reached a deal
The legal blood-alcohol with prosecutors to plead
limit for driving in Louisiana guilty and avoid the death
is 0.08 percent. penalty, an outcome that
All the suspects were asso- would likely have pleased
ciated with Phi Delta Theta; the priest. Steven Murray
one left school after Gru- faces charges including
ver’s death, and eight are murder in the April 2016
still active students, univer- shooting death of the Rev.
sity spokesman Ernie Bal- Rene Robert, a senior priest
lard said. for the Diocese of St. Au-
This combination of undated images shows from top row left to right: Sean Paul Gott, Ryan Isto, All 10, ages 18 to 21, turned gustine in northeast Florida.
Sean Pennison, Elliot Eaton, Nicholas Taulli, and bottom row from left to right, Zachary Castillo, themselves in to LSU police Murray told The Associated
Hudson Kirkpatrick, Zachary Hall, Patrick Forde, and Matthew Naquin. The ten members of the Phi on Wednesday. The frater- Press in a call from jail Tues-
Delta Theta fraternity were arrested Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017, on hazing charges in the death of nity’s national office closed day evening that he plans
Maxwell Gruver, a Louisiana State University fraternity pledge. to plead guilty at an Oct.
(East Baton Rouge SO via AP) the chapter. 18 hearing in exchange for
“The ramifications of hazing
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — 14th death that was re- he warned Naquin and the can be devastating,” LSU a sentence of life in prison
Ten people were arrested leased Wednesday. other member to “slow it President F. King Alexander without the possibility of
Wednesday on misde- Witnesses told police that down” several times, to no said in a statement. parole. “It’s a lot of time,
meanor hazing charges in other pledges were made avail. “Maxwell Gruver’s fam- but I deserve it. Father
the death of a Louisiana to drink that night, but Na- John McLindon, a lawyer ily will mourn his loss for Rene was a good man,”
State University fraternity quin “targeted” Gruver be- for Naquin, declined to the rest of their lives, and Murray told AP. If the deal
pledge whose blood-alco- cause he was frequently comment on these charg- several other students are goes through, it would
hol content was more than late for events. es “out of respect for (Gru- now facing serious conse- seem to be what Robert
six times the legal limit for Naquin apparently didn’t ver’s) family.” quences - all due to a series would have wanted. The
driving, officials said. like Gruver, and “forced” “Let’s just wait until the evi- of poor decisions.” priest opposed the death
One of the 10 suspects — him to drink because he dence comes in,” he said. The other nine suspects penalty and signed a doc-
Matthew Alexander Na- was having trouble reciting Gruver died at a Baton are Zachary Castillo, of ument years ago saying
quin, 19, of Boerne, Texas the Greek alphabet during Rouge hospital after fra- Gretna; Sean-Paul Gott, that if he were to die vio-
— also faces a felony neg- “Bible Study,” a ritual test- ternity members found him of Lafayette; Sean Pen- lently he wouldn’t want his
ligent homicide charge in ing their fraternity knowl- lying on a couch at the fra- nison, of Mandeville; Hud- killer executed.
the death of 18-year-old edge, they said. ternity house around 9 a.m. son Kirkpatrick, of Baton Augusta Judicial Circuit Dis-
Maxwell Gruver, a fresh- One pledge said Gruver that Thursday and couldn’t Rouge; Elliott Eaton, of New trict Attorney Natalie Paine
man from Roswell, Geor- was “made to” take at least tell if he was breathing, Orleans; Patrick Forde, of confirmed in an email
gia, who was trying to join 10-12 “pulls” of 190-proof police said. Several fra- Westwood, Massachusetts; Wednesday that Murray
Phi Delta Theta. Diesel, while other pledges ternity members said they Nicholas Taulli, of Cypress, has a hearing on Oct. 18
Witnesses said Naquin sin- had to drink less of the hard had checked on Gruver Texas; Zachary Hall, of but said she couldn’t com-
gled out Gruver during a liquor, according to the re- “throughout the night,” po- Charlotte, North Carolina; ment on it. Adam Levin, an
hazing ritual involving 18 to port. lice said. and Ryan Isto, from Cana- attorney for Murray, said by
20 pledges the night be- One fraternity member said East Baton Rouge Parish da. Gott and Forde are no email that he also couldn’t
fore he died, forcing him he told Naquin and anoth- Coroner Beau Clark ruled longer enrolled at LSU, Bal- comment.
Murray, who was 28 at the
to drink more than other er member to “cut it out” the death an accident, lard said. q
time of Robert’s death,
was a repeat offender
Ex charged over Pitt student’s death arrested whom Robert had been
trying to help for months.
Police said Murray asked
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The ex- Sheykhet, 20, who was Tuesday spells out why po- wait for him 10 minutes. the 71-year-old priest for a
boyfriend suspected of us- found slain about 9 a.m. lice searched the sewer Darby returned and asked ride in Jacksonville, Florida,
ing a claw hammer and Sunday. Pittsburgh police drain and charged Darby. the driver to wait 10 more and then kidnapped him
two knives to kill a University used a video scope to Darby was at Duquesne minutes then called back and killed him in Georgia.
of Pittsburgh student in her search a sewer drain near University, also in Pittsburgh, in a hushed voice asking Murray was arrested in Ai-
off-campus apartment has Sheykhet’s apartment and about 3:20 a.m. Sunday the driver to wait longer, ken, South Carolina, after
been arrested in South Car- said Tuesday they’d found trying to meet a friend be- but the driver refused and a multistate manhunt, and
olina. Pittsburgh and Myrtle the hammer and knives fore he hired an Uber to drove off, according to the he led police to Robert’s
Beach police confirmed they suspect Darby used drive him to Sheykhet’s complaint. Police indicate body in the woods near
the arrest of 21-year-old to kill her. The Allegheny street near the Pitt campus surveillance video showed Waynesboro, Georgia. The
Matthew Darby, of Greens- County Medical Examiner a couple miles away. The someone matching Dar- motive for the killing isn’t
burg, early Wednesday. has said Sheykhet died driver told police he picked by’s description dropping entirely clear.
Darby was charged Tues- of “blunt force and sharp up Darby about 4:20 a.m. a shiny object into a sewer “I just (expletive) freaked
day evening with criminal trauma” to the head, with- and saw him walk toward drain and something else out and I killed him,” Mur-
homicide, burglary and out elaborating. Sheykhet’s residence af- into a trash container, the ray told the newspaper in
other crimes against Alina A criminal complaint filed ter asking the driver to complaint said. q an interview from jail.q