[SPEAKER_01]: Celebrated author, Felicia Gold, resident of Bedford, and member of the Kai Theta Omega chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority incorporated is thrilled to announce the release of her debut cozy mystery novel, Text, Tea, and Tragedy. [SPEAKER_01]: The first in the captivating Bella Hawkins Mystery series. [SPEAKER_01]: Set in the quaint and charming town of Bedford, Texas, this cozy mystery promises readers a blend of suspense, heart, and hope.
[SPEAKER_01]: The novel is now available on Amazon and Kindle, and will soon be in some bookstores and retailers. [SPEAKER_01]: In Texas, tea and tragedy, Bella Hawkins and Autistic English Professor with a unique ability to perceive details others miss, relocates to Bedford after a turbulent breakup. [SPEAKER_01]: As she settles into her new life, she quickly finds herself entangled in the town's deep-rooted mysteries.
[SPEAKER_01]: With her intuitive nature and sharp intellect, Bella must navigate the complexities of new friendships, old wounds, and the dark secrets that threaten the peace of this seemingly idyllic community. [SPEAKER_01]: The novel's gripping plot unfolds as bodies start piling up, and Bella's determination to solve the mystery leads her to an unconventional friendship with Kamar, a misunderstood local artist.
[SPEAKER_01]: As Bella gets closer to uncovering the truth, she realizes that saving Kamar may come at a high price, unearthing the town's hidden secrets and facing the danger that lurks within. [SPEAKER_01]: Felicia masterfully weaves a story that explores the themes of resilience, courage, and the enduring human spirit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Through Bella Hawkins, readers will experience the journey of a woman driven by hope, fighting to protect those she cares about, while learning to heal her own heart. [SPEAKER_01]: Felicia Gold is an acclaimed author known for her insightful and engaging storytelling. [SPEAKER_01]: Her works often delve into the complexities of human relationships and the power of hope.
[SPEAKER_01]: With text, tea and tragedy, she introduces a protagonist that readers will root for, admire, and relate to on many levels. [SPEAKER_01]: Hello, campus cronies. [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back to campus crime chronicles. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm your host, Dr. Nicole Turner, Higher Education Professional and True Crime Addict.
[SPEAKER_01]: In every episode of this podcast, I take a deep dive into some sort of true crime that occurred on a school campus or a crime that's associated with a college or university in some way.
[SPEAKER_01]: For each episode I rate the seriousness of the crime from one to five on my serious crime scale with one being completely not serious Possibly even a little humorous from time to time to five being very serious [SPEAKER_01]: Okay y'all, before we dive in, I want to take a moment to acknowledge that this is my one hundredth episode. [SPEAKER_01]: Can you believe it?
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all have been hanging on with me for a hundred episodes of Campus Crime Chronicles, and I couldn't be more thrilled to have such dedicated listeners as all of you. [SPEAKER_01]: So first, thank you. [SPEAKER_01]: From the bottom of my heart, I sincerely thank you for your unwavering support of my little podcast that could.
[SPEAKER_01]: I also want to share with you that this episode, this story you're about to hear, was one of the core inspirations that led me to start the podcast in the first place. [SPEAKER_01]: From day one, I knew I wanted to cover this story and bring attention to this critical topic. [SPEAKER_01]: But I also knew it would be a challenging one. [SPEAKER_01]: Complex. [SPEAKER_01]: emotional and controversial.
[SPEAKER_01]: It would require double maybe triple the research and an incredible amount of time to piece everything together carefully from start to finish. [SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to be sure I handled it with the care and accuracy it needs and deserves. [SPEAKER_01]: I kept thinking, when the time is right, I'll tell Tim Piazza's heartbreaking story, and I'll make sure to do it justice. [SPEAKER_01]: And then I realized that the one hundredth episode was the perfect time.
[SPEAKER_01]: So with that, this episode is rated a five. [SPEAKER_01]: In the spring of twenty seventeen, Timothy Piazza was like many college sophomores, eager to find his place, to build lasting friendships, and to be a part of something bigger than himself. [SPEAKER_01]: At just nineteen years old, he had a site set on Beta Theta Pi, one of the most respected fraternities at Pennsylvania State University.
[SPEAKER_01]: To Tim, pledging meant brotherhood, an unbreakable lifelong bond with men who would have his back. [SPEAKER_01]: But what he couldn't see was the danger lurking beneath the surface. [SPEAKER_01]: Behind the promises of tradition and unity was a brutal culture of hazing. [SPEAKER_01]: One that didn't just test loyalty, it pushed young men to the edge of what their bodies and spirits couldn't doer. [SPEAKER_01]: For some, like Tim, the price would prove far too high.
[SPEAKER_01]: This episode is titled Death by hazing, so without further ado, let's get started. [UNKNOWN]: Thank you. [SPEAKER_01]: On February second, twenty seventeen, Tim Viasa, a sophomore engineering student at Penn State, woke up ready to pledge the rest of his life as a member of the Alpha Uppsalaan chapter of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.
[SPEAKER_01]: That evening was bid acceptance night, where a fraternity or sorority formally invites a student to become a member of the organization [SPEAKER_01]: and then upon accepting the invitation or the bid, the prospective member becomes a junior member of the organization called a pledge.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then after serving a period of time as a pledge, usually for the remainder of the semester, the member then becomes a full member of the fraternity or sorority called a brother or a sister. [SPEAKER_01]: For the past two weeks, Tim and thirteen other young men had been rushing the fraternity.
[SPEAKER_01]: Essentially, when students are looking to join Greek life, they go through a two-week-long rush period, where they visit all of the fraternity houses the first week to learn about all the different aspects of the multiple Greek organizations on campus. [SPEAKER_01]: Then, to rush during the second week, it requires an invitation or a bid back to a house by the fraternity, usually through a text from a flat brother.
[SPEAKER_01]: Tim had gotten that text earlier in the evening on February second from Daniel Casey, their pledge master, or the brother tasked with guiding the new members through the pledging process. [SPEAKER_01]: The text directed all fourteen pledges to, quote, be outside the kitchen doors behind the house at nine o'clock. [SPEAKER_01]: Dress code is shirt, tie, and jacket, and quote.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, that evening, dressed to the nines, the fourteen beta pledges anxiously gathered and waited in the bitter winter cold in the back parking lot of the beta house, which is located at two twenty north burrow street in state college, Pennsylvania. [SPEAKER_01]: At eight fifty six p.m., the pledges were led into the Great Hall where it was dark and all the lights were turned off.
[SPEAKER_01]: Daniel Casey, the pledge master, along with chapter president Brendan Young and another brother Ryan Burke stood in the front of the room as the pledge is filed in. [SPEAKER_01]: About ten minutes later, Ryan Burke led the pledges out of the Great Hall and lined them up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Brothers then instructed the pledges to finish an entire handle of vodka, or one point seven-five leaders, as they passed the bottle up and down the line until the last drop of liquor had been consumed. [SPEAKER_01]: This line up, though, was merely a prelude to the real event that was about to begin, which, of course, involved more drinking.
[SPEAKER_01]: Following the lineup, the pledges were then led up the stairs to prepare them to run the gauntlet, which, according to an article in the Daily Collegian, Penn State student newspaper, is an alcohol-fueled obstacle course used in beta's hazing rituals. [SPEAKER_01]: According to a twenty-seven teen grand jury report, the drinking course involved multiple different stations where brothers force the pledges to stop and consume different types of alcohol and various ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: As the line of pledges waited behind a closed door, they were called one at a time to run the obstacle course. [SPEAKER_01]: At nine twenty one p.m., it was Tim Piazza's turn and he entered the gauntlet. [SPEAKER_01]: As he did, Daniel Casey handed him another handle of vodka from which Tim drank heavily before sprinting to the second stop of the course down the hall.
[SPEAKER_01]: At the second station, Beta Brother Nicholas Kubara handed Tim a can of beer to shotgun, a several other brothers stood around, cheering, jeering, and actively encouraging him to choke faster. [SPEAKER_01]: After shotguning the beer, Tim then dashed to the top of the stairs leading down to the basement.
[SPEAKER_01]: Before proceeding down, Tim and the other pledges had to each aggressively slap a bag of red wine held by a frapper there, before then gulping at least a mouth full of wine and running down the stairs to the final obstacle. [SPEAKER_01]: Finally, in the basement, a brother made a beer pong station where Tim and the other pledges attempted to throw a ping pong ball into a solo cup full of beer.
[SPEAKER_01]: If the ball failed to land inside the cup, they had to once again chug the beer. [SPEAKER_01]: After each pledge was done running the gauntlet course, they were all handed yet another can of beer to shotgun before the real party began in the house that night.
[SPEAKER_01]: You see to celebrate bid acceptance night, the fraternity held a social, where beer and wine continued flowing freely throughout the duration of the event, which lasted into the wee hours of the next morning, February third. [SPEAKER_01]: But the party wasn't the only thing going on inside the beta theta pie house that night. [SPEAKER_01]: While many of the brothers mingled and drank until they couldn't see or walk straight, Tempiosa was quite literally fighting for his life.
[SPEAKER_01]: According to the reporting of Sarah Vassile for the Daily Collegion, the beta pledges emerged from the basement at around ten thirty that night, and all of them were visibly intoxicated, which was later documented from hours of surveillance footage inside the house. [SPEAKER_01]: According to court documentation, Tim's blood alcohol content spiked that night from a zero to a point three-six after running the gauntlet.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you can imagine just how inebriated Tim, as well as the other pledges, must have been. [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, minutes later, at Tim-Forty PM, Beta Theta Pie Brother Lars Kenyan helped Tim to account, who was now staggering and hunched over.
[SPEAKER_01]: A few minutes later, another brother whom I've already mentioned, Nick Kubara, encouraged Tim to stand up, and then Kubara helped Tim walk through the dining room and kitchen before ultimately returning to the living room, or I think the great hall is what it's called, and back onto the couch. [SPEAKER_01]: Once again, Tim was visibly intoxicated and could barely even stand up, let alone walk.
[SPEAKER_01]: but then around ten forty five p.m. [SPEAKER_01]: Tim did stand up again this time on his own and he staggered toward the front door of the beta house. [SPEAKER_01]: He tried to open it but he failed. [SPEAKER_01]: So then Tim headed toward the basement steps passing to other brothers on his way. [SPEAKER_01]: And shortly after, the specific time unknown, because apparently the cameras in the basement weren't working on this particular night.
[SPEAKER_01]: But y'all, Tim fell down the basement steps, like all the way down them head first, most likely at around ten forty six p.m. [SPEAKER_01]: Because at ten forty seven p.m. [SPEAKER_01]: Ryan Burke, Jonah Newman, and two other brothers, carried Tim back up the basement stairs, and they placed him back onto the couch in the great hall. [SPEAKER_01]: At this point, Tim was completely limp, and he had a visible bruise on his abdomen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Court documentation notes that the bruise was later determined as the external appearance of a profound laceration to a spleen. [SPEAKER_01]: Ultimately, from the fall, he had just taken down the stairs. [SPEAKER_01]: Moments later, one of the brothers attempted to rub Tim's sternum, but Tim was completely unresponsive.
[SPEAKER_01]: A couple minutes later, a ten forty-nine p.m., [SPEAKER_01]: The same brother who robed a sternum then proceeded to dump some sort of liquid onto Tim's face. [SPEAKER_01]: But again, Tim did not respond. [SPEAKER_01]: Immediately after, Burke lifted Tim's arm up, but it fell right back down onto Tim's chest. [SPEAKER_01]: As in, literally, he was out cold and there was little response left in him.
[SPEAKER_01]: After a few more minutes, at ten fifty five p.m., beta brother Jonah Newman retreated to backpack, which he then attached to Tim. [SPEAKER_01]: I guess to kind of like anchor him down, I'm not sure. [SPEAKER_01]: But just five minutes after that, beta brother Ryan Foster sat at Tim's feet in order to prevent him from rolling over off the couch. [SPEAKER_01]: Then, at eleven twelve pm, Newman also sat down, but he sat on top of Tim's legs to prevent him from moving at all.
[SPEAKER_01]: A couple minutes later, a newly initiated Beta Theta Pie Brother, Cordell Davis, entered the living room and approached Tim. [SPEAKER_01]: As he leaned over Tim, Davis turned to the other brothers in the room and in a very animated fashion, pointed to his own head and then to Tim's head. [SPEAKER_01]: Basically Davis was telling his fellow fraternity brothers that Tim needed medical care and they needed to get him to the hospital ASAP.
[SPEAKER_01]: He went on to scream at his brothers telling them to get help now. [SPEAKER_01]: In response though, Newman shoved Davis into a wall [SPEAKER_01]: and told him that things were under control, to basically mind his own business. [SPEAKER_01]: But that didn't stop Davis from speaking up, and he proceeded to find Ed Gilmarton, the chapter's vice president, and tell him his concerns about Tim.
[SPEAKER_01]: According to the collegiate, however, vice president Gilmarton responded by telling Davis he was crazy, and claiming that the other brothers were majoring in kinesiology and biology, so they could handle it. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, okay. [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, about ten minutes later, at eleven twenty five p.m. [SPEAKER_01]: Pledgemaster, Daniel Casey, re-interved the room to check on Tim. [SPEAKER_01]: And by check on him, I mean, he proceeded to slap Tim Piazza in the face three times.
[SPEAKER_01]: But Tim didn't respond to that either. [SPEAKER_01]: After about thirty minutes at eleven fifty three p.m. [SPEAKER_01]: One of the brothers sent a message in their group knee text read which read quote. [SPEAKER_01]: Also, Tim Piazza might actually be a problem. [SPEAKER_01]: He fell fifteen feet down a flight of steps. [SPEAKER_01]: Hair first going to need help and quote.
[SPEAKER_01]: And yes, the text did say hair first, but I'm pretty sure he that was like an auto correct because I'm pretty sure he meant to say head first. [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, now I'm not sure what happened for the next hour or so, but the next timestamp reported by the collegian was at one a m into the next day February third, twenty seventeen. [SPEAKER_01]: At that point, Tim started vomiting and twitching as he lay on the couch.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Ryan Foster, Joseph Imbs, and a third beta brother decided to backpack Tim again in effort to keep him from rolling on to his back if he passed out. [SPEAKER_01]: forty-eight minutes later, it was approaching two a.m. [SPEAKER_01]: by this point, Tim rolled off the couch onto the floor to which three of the brothers responded by picking him up and slamming him back onto the couch.
[SPEAKER_01]: As soon as they got him on the couch, him struck Tim and his abdomen with very little reflexive response from Tim. [SPEAKER_01]: For the next hour or so, as the party raged on inside the house, Tim lay on the couch in and out of consciousness. [SPEAKER_01]: Finally, at three, twenty-two AM, Tim attempted to regain his feet and stand up on his own, but he fell backward and struck his head on the hardwood floor.
[SPEAKER_01]: A brother nearby approached him on the floor and shook him for movement, within that same brother acted unbothered and proceeded to leave the room. [SPEAKER_01]: After lying on the floor for nearly thirty minutes, Tim tried to stand up again, but he fell right back down, face first onto the floor. [SPEAKER_01]: over an hour later at four fifty nine a.m. [SPEAKER_01]: Tim stood up and staggered toward the lobby or four year of the home before falling into an iron railing.
[SPEAKER_01]: After this he got up again and attempted to go to the front door, but y'all he ended up falling head first into the front door of the house. [SPEAKER_01]: Nine minutes passed [SPEAKER_01]: and at five o'clock a.m., Tim rested on his knees with his head buried in his hands. [SPEAKER_01]: It was obvious that he was in major distress as he rolled to his side and clutched his abdomen.
[SPEAKER_01]: At five, fifteen a.m., a brother walked downstairs for a drink of water, but as he was making his way toward the kitchen, he simply ignored him and stepped over him as he laid there on the floor. [SPEAKER_01]: About ten minutes later, another beta brother also came downstairs for some water. [SPEAKER_01]: But when he noticed him, he did attempt to help Tim walk to the Great Hall.
[SPEAKER_01]: But as they were walking, Tim fell down three steps, and this brother too just left Tim there, and he also stepped over him as he proceeded back up the stairs. [SPEAKER_01]: Eventually, Tim made his way somehow to the Great Hall, where he once again ended up collapsing onto the floor. [SPEAKER_01]: out around six forty-four a.m. [SPEAKER_01]: a fellow pledge entered the great hall who noticed him on the floor just laying there.
[SPEAKER_01]: But instead of helping him or aiding his fellow pledge member, this dude opened up his snapchat and started recording. [SPEAKER_01]: As in, he took a video of his supposed brother and posted it to his story. [SPEAKER_01]: If you can't tell, this infuriates me. [SPEAKER_01]: But I'm trying to tell the story objectively. [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, by seven eighteen a.m. [SPEAKER_01]: Tim attempted to stand up again as he staggered toward the basement steps.
[SPEAKER_01]: During this time, according to a jury report, quote, Tim's condition had markedly deteriorated. [SPEAKER_01]: His paler gray, his body rigid, and quote. [SPEAKER_01]: And when the jury watched the surveillance video, they said one could easily mistake him for deceased in appearance. [SPEAKER_01]: In fact, according to court documentation, beta president Brendan Young would later describe Tim and a text as appearing quote unquote, fucking dead. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I'm not sure what happened in the next couple of hours after this, because according to the collegian, the next documented timestamp isn't until nearly three hours later at ten a.m. [SPEAKER_01]: on February third. [SPEAKER_01]: At this time, two beta-theta pi brothers began searching for Tim around the house, and eventually they discovered him behind a bar in the basement.
[SPEAKER_01]: The two brothers shortly joined by a third, then carried Tim up the steps, and they placed Tim right back onto the couch in the great hall. [SPEAKER_01]: After they laid him back down, they started shaking Tim, but he was unconscious and unresponsive. [SPEAKER_01]: So they then covered him with a blanket, wiped off his face, and attempted to dress him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Over thirty minutes later, at ten forty eight a.m. [SPEAKER_01]: on February third, twenty seventeen, a beta theta pi brother finally dialed nine one one and requested medical assistance. [SPEAKER_01]: Paramedic showed up shortly after the nine-one-one call and rushed him to a nearby hospital. [SPEAKER_01]: But, unfortunately, Tim never regained consciousness, and he was pronounced dead at one twenty three a.m. [SPEAKER_01]: on February fourth, twenty seventeen.
[SPEAKER_01]: A grand jury report documents that he suffered from non-survivable brain injuries and on its own, a life-threatening, spleenic laceration, draining eighty percent of his blood into his abdomen. [SPEAKER_01]: The report specifically noted, quote, Granger's were horrified to observe the unsupervised and irresponsible conduct of Tim's so-called brothers."
[SPEAKER_01]: In the aftermath of the tragedy of Tim Piazza, multiple beta-theta pie fraternity members were held accountable and slept with a slew of criminal charges. [SPEAKER_01]: The most serious being aggravated assaults and even involuntary manslaughter. [SPEAKER_01]: But before we dive into those details and discuss how the justice system played out and who exactly was held responsible, [SPEAKER_01]: I think we need to truly understand how we got here.
[SPEAKER_01]: How something like this could happen. [SPEAKER_01]: How the systemic culture of drinking and hazing could get so out of control that it literally caused death. [SPEAKER_01]: Well, to even attempt to understand, I think we need to go back at least ten years before it happened to two thousand and seven.
[SPEAKER_01]: According to a twenty seventeen grand jury report, the Penn State chapter of beta theta pi had always been touted by Penn State officials as a model fraternity that held the golden standard of sobriety among fraternities and sororities on campus. [SPEAKER_01]: But we now know specifically after Tim's death, that's just not true, at least it hadn't been true for a long time.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, let's go back to two thousand in seven, when a lot of the excess of binge drinking and cruel inhumane hazing first came to light. [SPEAKER_01]: Sometime during that year, two Penn State alumni and brothers of the Beta Theta Pie fraternity, Donald Abbey and Ken Raleigh [SPEAKER_01]: set out on a pricey endeavor to renovate specific aspects of the fraternity house at two twenty north burrow street.
[SPEAKER_01]: Raleigh attended Penn State from nineteen seventy four to nineteen seventy seven during which time he met and became friends with Abby who was already in a long and had attended Penn State from nineteen sixty six to nineteen seventy.
[SPEAKER_01]: According to court documentation, Abby, who went on to become a successful businessman and real estate entrepreneur, employed Raleigh in two thousand and seven to establish a five-o-one C-three non-profit foundation that would ultimately serve as an endowment to specifically maintain the physical structure of the house. [SPEAKER_01]: His duties, according to court documentation, included fundraising for the endowment and keeping watch over the house.
[SPEAKER_01]: While Raleigh began that year by establishing the foundation and raising money remotely from Albany, New York, he ended up moving the state college later in the year to directly oversee the Holmes renovations. [SPEAKER_01]: You see court documentation notes Abby was a significant donor to both the Penn State football team, which he was also a member of during his time in college. [SPEAKER_01]: as well as the Alpha Upsilong Chapter of the Beta Theta Pai fraternity.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, in in five, the then president of the fraternity approached Abby and asked him for a donation to make a few repairs to the nineteen-twenties era home. [SPEAKER_01]: As a prominent donor, Abbey had no qualms about making the donation. [SPEAKER_01]: However, what began as a fifty thousand dollar project to simply correct some water damage, soon turned into a multi-million dollar headache because he discovered the whole house needed to be renovated from top to bottom.
[SPEAKER_01]: FYI, the renovations would ultimately take five years to complete from two thousand and five to two thousand and ten. [SPEAKER_01]: So you can easily see why, just a couple years later, in two thousand and seven, Abby decided to hire Rolly to develop and manage an endowment that specifically focused on maintenance and repairs of the massive three-story home.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, during his time in state college, Raleigh recalled that about fifty beta brothers lived in the house as the renovations took place. [SPEAKER_01]: And during that time, he said the house functioned more as a nightclub than a fraternity. [SPEAKER_01]: Raleigh said he soon learned that the young man handled themselves quote unquote. [SPEAKER_01]: very poorly as he witnessed signs of excessive drinking and vandalism of the home at least four nights a week.
[SPEAKER_01]: He recalled that the house was constantly littered with hundreds of beer cans and alcohol containers which were strewn throughout the house inside and overflowing the properties trash barrels outside. [SPEAKER_01]: Rolly would later testify to a grand jury [SPEAKER_01]: Saying quote, they were implying trash out the windows. [SPEAKER_01]: They were throwing used condoms out on the front.
[SPEAKER_01]: One time, they threw a used condom out on the front entryway about twenty minutes before then University President Graham Spanier arrived with the president of Hershey Medical Center. [SPEAKER_01]: They routinely would take furniture, television sets, clothing, beer cans, trash, and throw it out the third floor window to enjoy the spectacle of it exploding down the pavement in the back of the house. [SPEAKER_01]: End quote.
[SPEAKER_01]: Raleigh also testified that the property destruction was always fueled by massive alcohol intoxication. [SPEAKER_01]: And by massive alcohol intoxication, well, let me just give you some examples. [SPEAKER_01]: Raleigh recalled one particular night before a football game in twenty-eight, when beta brothers stacked at least a hundred cases of beer into a pyramid in the backyard, towering several feet high.
[SPEAKER_01]: Another time, he witnessed the brothers running a beer funnel from the second floor stairwell, pouring beer into the mouths of the brothers standing in the lobby below. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, does anybody else think this is sounding more and more like a frat movie? [SPEAKER_01]: It kind of blows my mind to be honest, because y'all, it gets worse, trust me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, not only was Raleigh alarmed about the behavior and actions he witnessed from the brothers, but it all seemingly went on non-stop. [SPEAKER_01]: It was seriously excessive in his opinion. [SPEAKER_01]: He said, quote, well, it was clear to me that I didn't arrive there and they started drinking heavily. [SPEAKER_01]: They had been doing it for quite a while, I believe, and quote.
[SPEAKER_01]: And y'all the situation got so out of hand that Rally had to hire professional cleaners to come in and clean the house from top to bottom every football weekend. [SPEAKER_01]: Literally a cleaning crew would come every single Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning during football season. [SPEAKER_01]: Now remember, all of this was going on while major renovations were taking place.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like just to put it into perspective, each floor, one at a time, was undergoing renovations. [SPEAKER_01]: A crew of workers literally started at the top, restoring the roof, and then worked their way down. [SPEAKER_01]: When it was all said and done, and the renovations were finally complete in two thousand and ten, Abby had spent eight and a half million dollars of his own money to restore the house to its former architectural glory.
[SPEAKER_01]: According to court documentation, the renovations in total consisted of, quote, replacing electric and plumbing fixtures, building a new kitchen, [SPEAKER_01]: installing air conditioning, lowering the granite basement floor to create a larger room, and furnishing the home with an eye toward the original nineteen twenty eight design of the home. [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, lots of money.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm sure you can imagine just how frustrated the cruise working on the home would get when beta brothers occupying the house would continually break items that the workers had just built or repaired. [SPEAKER_01]: For example, they shattered brand new beautiful stained glass windows after the crew had just installed them. [SPEAKER_01]: Are you mad yet? [SPEAKER_01]: Additionally, the beta brothers were just plain disgusting.
[SPEAKER_01]: As in, they had a pervasive, cleanliness concern both inside and outside the house. [SPEAKER_01]: According to a grand jury report, quote, workers had to navigate puddles of vomit, urine, and spilled beer, and quote. [SPEAKER_01]: Y'all, these workers, on the regular, would even find beer cans in the toilets and urinals, sometimes causing the toilets to overflow.
[SPEAKER_01]: In fact, on one particular occasion, the urinal and the second floor bathroom experience some water problems. [SPEAKER_01]: When workers attempted to use a plumbing snake to clear the obstruction in the drain, they discovered that secrete or sacrete had been poured into the urinal and flushed down the drain. [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, y'all, Zachary is concrete mix. [SPEAKER_01]: It's literally a powder that when mixed with water forms concrete. [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, what the fuck?
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh my gosh. [SPEAKER_01]: Then, on the outside, the lawn and area surrounding the house was constantly filled with beer cans, liquor bottles, water bottles, and bits of trash and waste. [SPEAKER_01]: Like pizza boxes and cutips and paper and food, which was all visible to the public.
[SPEAKER_01]: Apparently, the workers would often have to walk around the outside of the house, gathering all the large trash and debris before they could even begin their workday and safely start working. [SPEAKER_01]: Additionally, due to the actions and disrespect of the house by the fraternity brothers, the patio doors to the living room had to be completely replaced because members would kick in the doors if they forgot their keys.
[SPEAKER_01]: The grand jury report notes, quote, the workers ultimately gated around those doors and measures had to be taken to ensure only the house manager had a key to the gate. [SPEAKER_01]: Eventually, the workers had to install a swipe card system with a key fob lock on it, and quote. [SPEAKER_01]: So again, more money.
[SPEAKER_01]: Naturally, with Abby pouring so much of his own hard earned dollars into the project, he had a vision and expectation for the house and the beta theta pi brothers living inside it. [SPEAKER_01]: He testified that he stood out to change the culture from one of partying to one of principal. [SPEAKER_01]: But as the renovations went on and more and more problems arose that hindered the renovation efforts, Abby became more and more frustrated.
[SPEAKER_01]: Essentially, according to court documentation, quote, the Kotantideiner, studious culture of Mr. Abby's time at beta, have been replaced by a broken windows, alcohol-fueled destructive culture that looked down on honor students and looked up to students of vice and debauchery. [SPEAKER_01]: And quote, wow, those are some powerful words.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, perhaps the straw that broke the camel's back, if you will, was when Abby purchased some very expensive furniture and soon after, he discovered it had been destroyed. [SPEAKER_01]: Court documentation notes that the upholstery on the lavish couches he had just bought had been sliced with razor blades. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, again, what the fuck dudes? [SPEAKER_01]: Oh my gosh!
[SPEAKER_01]: So, eventually, after careful discussion and consideration, Abby and the employee he hired to oversee their renovations can, Raleigh, agreed that they needed to put a stop to all of the destructive, over-the-top you can't touch us type of behavior and mentality. [SPEAKER_01]: It was time to clean house.
[SPEAKER_01]: So after sharing their concerns with the chapters of alumni board, Abby and Raleigh evicted at least ten fraternity brothers from the house during the two thousand and eight through two thousand and nine school year. [SPEAKER_01]: However, that extreme action didn't work and the behavior only persisted.
[SPEAKER_01]: In fact, the active brothers and their families became hostile toward Abby and Raleigh and began complaining to not only pin-state administration, but to the national fraternity board as well. [SPEAKER_01]: Finally, Abby and Raleigh had enough, and they too went to the national fraternity governing board, which was so appalled by the number of alcohol-related incidents during this period.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the decision was made to shut down the alpha-upsel on chapter of Beta Theta Pi and revoke its charter at Penn State in January of two thousand and nine. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, and just to give you a couple examples of those alcohol-related incidents, well, one time, a guest at one of the many parties they threw, was beaten unconscious. [SPEAKER_01]: And another time, a different guest was attacked and assaulted with a beer bottle. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, real classy, bros.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, the betas didn't lose their charter for very long, because in an overwhelming response to the shutdown, betas national leaders approached Abby and pleaded with him to help reopen the house under the men of principal standard that Abby had in mind. [SPEAKER_01]: And to do so, they agreed to maintain the house as dry, or completely alcohol-free, as well as put an official stop to any and all hazing activities.
[SPEAKER_01]: Reluctantly, Abby agreed, but both he and Raleigh were fighting a losing battle. [SPEAKER_01]: According to court documentation, Abby said their efforts to make the house a dry house were met with extreme resistance at every turn. [SPEAKER_01]: By twenty eleven, beta alums were even threatening both Abby and Raleigh about the dry house policy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Among them was a powerful Penn State in beta alums and a Penn State trustee who aggressively attempted to persuade Abby to drop the dry house policy for good. [SPEAKER_01]: Court documentation notes quote, these individuals even threatened Mr. Abby that his standing among the other alums was dropping and questioned his legacy as he maintained the dry policy at the house and quote.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Raleigh will he receive such a harsh and threatening email attacking him about his endeavors to convert the chapter that he filed a lawsuit against the person who wrote it. [SPEAKER_01]: Gradually, personal business drew Abby's attention away from the fraternity and according to a grandeur report, quote, the beta house devolved to its former ways as a den of partying alcohol and destruction and quote.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now believe it or not, beta-theta pi wasn't the exception among the other fraternities on campus during this time. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh no, it was the norm, and there were multiple issues with multiple fraternities, which I will share with you in part two of this episode. [SPEAKER_01]: Also, I'm sure you're thinking, wait, where was Penn State administration during all of this?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, we just haven't got there yet because we will also dive into their role or lack their love in part two of this chronicle.
[SPEAKER_01]: And y'all hang with me because as I said at the very beginning of this episode, this story is close to my heart for just because it was one of the inspirations of the whole podcast [SPEAKER_01]: But it's also complex and controversial, and it truly needs to be told in its entirety, because Timothy Piaz's death was a terrible, tragic event that likely could have been prevented. [SPEAKER_01]: If only people in power and authority had just cared more.
[SPEAKER_01]: If they had cared more about the much larger issue right under their noses of an embedded culture of starcazing perpetuated by an excessive obsession with alcohol and drinking, and just overall a party culture. [SPEAKER_01]: So, as I tell this story, please bear with me and give me the time I need to accurately and fully lay the picture out for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I promise every single detail I share with you is critical to not only Tim's story, but others like him who have lost their lives too due to severe hazing. [SPEAKER_01]: which means y'all there might even be a part three. [SPEAKER_01]: I haven't decided yet. [SPEAKER_01]: It depends on how much information I decide to squeeze into part two, but just a fair warning that this one hundredth episode of Campus Crime Chronicles will have multiple parts regardless.
[SPEAKER_01]: So definitely tune in next Monday for part two. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay y'all, that brings us to the end of part one of Chronicle one hundred. [SPEAKER_01]: As always, be sure to check out my social media where I post photos associated with each case in episode. [SPEAKER_01]: You can find me at Campus Crime Chronicles on both Facebook and Instagram.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, to celebrate my one hundredth episode, I would love for y'all to go leave me a review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. [SPEAKER_01]: Those reviews like shake up the algorithm a bit and they truly help other listeners like you know this podcast is out there. [SPEAKER_01]: So share it with your friends. [SPEAKER_01]: Go leave me a review. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, well, that's all for today, so bye for now.