Ramesh Soparawala
India Post News Service
CHICAGO: It took four years of continued and dour efforts by the Varughese family to prove that their only son Pravin Varughese 19 was killed rather than meeting a natural hypothermia death going astray in a wooded area near Buffalo Wild Wings in Carbondale, after a house party.
Illinois police discovered Pravin’s body, a missing Southern Illinois, whose family lives in the Chicago suburb of Morton Grove. He was last seen with his cousin and roommate at a house party in Carbondale on February 12 2014. He left through a back door just before midnight.
Police said Varughese accepted a ride home from an acquaintance he had met during the party. An altercation reportedly broke out in the car which prompted Varghese to get out and flee into the woods.
It was believed that Pravin, who was only wearing a T-shirt and jeans at the time, got lost in the difficult terrain of the woods. Low temperatures could have contributed to his death. For years, Pravin’s mother – Lovely Varughese – maintained that her son was killed despite an autopsy by the Jackson County Coroner’s Office that found he died of hypothermia, with no evidence of foul play.
The post-mortem work, including some conducted by the family’s funeral home for Varughese, revealed that the boy suffered at least three blunt force traumatic injuries prior to death. Besides, he had several wounds on his right forearm, meaning that they were defensive in nature – this meshes with the tweets that said he was in a fight that night.
The individual who offered Varughese the ride, Gaege Bethune, 22, waited until Monday night to come forward to the police. Bethune told investigators he had given Varughese a ride home from a party when a fight broke out between them. He said that during the argument, Varghese exited the vehicle and fled into the wooded area.
A special prosecutor was appointed to take over the investigation of Varughese’s death in July 2016, after Jackson County State’s Attorney Michael Carr declined to press charges and then recused himself.
Back in February, the police said that they spoke to the driver of the car Bethune – who came out and spoke to the police of his own volition and was not coerced into doing so – in order to get as much information as they could. The driver had told a state trooper who pulled him over that night after Varughese had left him that the hitchhiker he picked up talked about needing money and gas before assaulting the driver and taking off into the woods.
Police never considered the driver a suspect, and never arrested him or forcefully brought him in for questioning. The police also very quickly ruled out foul play in Varughese’s death, saying that the cause of death was hypothermia and a tragic mix of poor decisions. Varughese family, however, pitched for a thorough investigation saying that police pursue all leads as far as humanly possible.
Essentially, state police and law enforcement believe that Varughese’s death was his own fault.
For all intents and purposes, local police closed that chapter, leaving Varughese’s family with more questions than answers, and prolonging their tragedy till the day the Jury finally convicted the alleged killer, Bethune.
Pravin Varughese’s post-mortem toxicology reports did not, in fact, reveal that he was drunk or on drugs at the time of his death, according to information provided by his mother
A Jackson County Grand Jury has convicted Bethune on one of two murder charges he faced. They ruled there was enough evidence to prove murder predicated on battery, but not murder predicated on robbery.
No sentencing date has been set yet, although Prosecutor David Robinson expects that to happen with the next 60 to 90 days. A conference will be held soon to determine the official date.
Bethune faces 20 to 60 years in prison. According to the Jackson County Jail sources, Bethune is in custody and is being held on $1 million bond.
“I feel like our son’s voice is heard finally,” she said “And we can close one chapter. It’s been a long fight and we wanted someone to look into it honestly and investigate. We believe that’s happened and we’re so thankful — so, so thankful.”
Members of the Malayalee community stood like one supporting Varughese family from day one and they felt relieved that finally justice was done to the family. They flocked to Mathew and Lovely home the day after the verdict was announced and they again extended all their moral support to the family who had a big roller coaster ride over the past four years
Varughese was a criminal justice major who had dreams of one day becoming a police officer.
In the days after his disappearance, his friends and family took to social media to try to locate the beloved teenager. Members of the community raised a $15,000 reward for information about him and handed out flyers with his picture all over the place.
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