20/20 - Death in the Dorms Season 2: Episode 4: Max Gruver

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

Louisiana State University freshman Max Gruver dies in a hazing ritual in 2017, rocking Greek life on campus and beyond. Originally Aired: 02/22/24 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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responsibly. BetMGM.com for Ts and Cs. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Bet MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Hi there 2020 listeners, this is Deborah Roberts. This week we're bringing you episode four of Death in the Dorms season two. Today you'll hear the story of Max Groover, a first year student at Louisiana State University

and a fraternity pledge event that spiraled violently out of control. Kids aren't supposed to die in college. Kids aren't supposed to die at all. I don't even think we were a month into school yet before the news came, breaking news. Police at Louisiana State University investigating the death of 18-year-old freshman, Max Gruver. And it was like all hell broke loose.

No one knew what to do. It was Max's time. Max was gonna go spread his wings. College was really gonna be his time. I keep dripping Candle in the sun I forgot nowhere to run and hide If I make it through the night Then nobody survives Then take me to the rooftop now

And see if I can float In the small amount of time that Max was on this planet, he made us better people. Steve and I met here in Atlanta, Georgia. We got married pretty quickly. We were engaged within the first year. And we ended up in Roswell, Georgia, which is just north of Atlanta. And that's where we got our first house. That's where we started our family. Max was our first.

We were very excited, and he came to us on January 27, 1999. From the beginning, you knew he was something special. When he was just a little baby. I walked into the room, and Max is sitting in his crib, and he had one of his Mickey Mouses walked into the room and Max is sitting in his crib and he had one of his Mickey Mouse's sitting here and another Mickey Mouse sitting here and this is before he could even really talk right but he's got a book out in front he's pretending to read to his two Mickeys. Growing up he was such an avid reader and he loved sports.

The minute you know he could start throwing a ball he'd pick it up and throw a ball. He loved when his brother would play, and we'd go to his games. Max and Alex, they're almost exactly two years apart. Those two were fast friends, very close brothers, you know, from the beginning. I would call him my best friend growing up. One reason I always looked up to Max is because he was so carefree.

He would do something and say, hey, I don't care if you don't like it or if you do like it, I like it. So I'm going to do it. After Alex, four years later, we had Lily Kate. I think not only did we butt heads because we were oldest and youngest, but I think we were also just very similar. My mom always tells me that I remind her a lot of Max. I think his personality runs a lot in my personality as I grew up, so that's pretty cool.

runs a lot in my personality as I grew up. So that's pretty cool. Max coached me in basketball in fifth and sixth grade. Her team wasn't gonna be able to play because no one would step up and coach the team. Well, Max is like, well, I'll do it. He literally loved every second of it. And the girls, all the girls on the team, they all loved him. One time I fouled out completely like I couldn't play anymore and I thought it was a really bad thing.

I ran off and I was crying and he just picked me up and I hugged him and it was very nice to have him there for sure. If you're having a problem with anything in your life, he was gonna be there right by your side to help you get through it. He was gonna be there to make you laugh and just be a kind person to you the whole time. As college years approached, Max definitely wanted to be a sports writer. That's something he enjoyed doing on a lower scale in high school. He started working for a company called Def Pen Radio. Max wrote over 360 articles on basketball.

That was his dream. He wanted to continue that. Max started applying to colleges and, know we were talking about schools and he definitely wanted to go to you know a big school like an ACC or an SEC school because of the sports. LSU was the first school he heard back from with an acceptance and him and Steve went to go see the school and let me tell, they did everything right there at LSU. We had such a great time together. And, you know, after that, he came home that Saturday and walked in my house with his LSU, you know,

Tiger Bound sign in his hand that they took on the plane. And I was like, Oh my gosh, he's, he's not, he's going to go there. That's, I can tell that's where he wants to go. LSU means a lot to the community out here. Louisiana State University, we bleed our purple and gold. Tigers defense is still standing. Billy Cannon takes it on the 11th and runs the gauntlet of Mississippi Tacklers. You hear Go Tigers all throughout the streets. Go Tigers all throughout the streets. Being a student at LSU is unlike any other. Over the summer before Max went to school, he started talking a little bit about fraternities.

So many people come to LSU specifically just to join Greek life. When I originally came to LSU, I believe there were around 17 or 16 fraternities. These are long, historic, established fraternities that have been there for a while on LSU's campus. Max went through rush right after he got dropped off at school. They have like a week of rush for school starts. Max and I first met during the formal recruitment process for LSU, what we like to call Rush. We kind of found that we clicked very quickly.

We were both looking at some of the same fraternities. We both were going through this process really to find our group of friends that we were going to, you know, stick with for the rest of our college time. Phi Delta Theta was at the top of his list and he really, really liked Phi Delta Theta because it was a smaller fraternity on campus and I think Max liked that. And he really liked the guys in his pledge class. I went online and did some research on Phi Delta Theta, and I landed on a page that, this is for parents, parents, you're going to love your son's decision to join Phi Delta Theta.

We have zero tolerance for Hazing. And I saw that and I was like, wow, Max has really made some great decisions with his fraternity. Max kept talking a lot about leadership. I remember him telling us he had been up for like Pledge Class President at the time, and he just really thought he could do a lot of things within the fraternity, and I was excited for him. He was happy.

I felt that every single day, that Max, he's doing his thing. On September 14th, I was at work. I worked at a doctor's office and all of a sudden my phone rang. And we were getting up to go to lunch. It was noon. And I looked at the phone and it said Baton Rouge across it. And it was a man on the phone and he was a nurse from the hospital. And he said, you know, is this Mrs. Groover? Are you Max Groover's mom? And I, you know, said yes.

And he's like, your son was just brought in. He was found unconscious. Some of his friends found him, and they brought him into the hospital. ["Breathe On Me"] I got a phone call from Raeanne. She just kept saying something's wrong with Max. Something's wrong with Max.

I remember telling everybody at work, hey, I gotta go. I gotta go. And I just remember, you know, looking to the sky and praying to God that Max is okay. When I get home, I'll learn everything's fine. Max is okay. You know, please, God, Max is okay. I was probably at my house, like, trying to figure know, please God, Max is okay. I was probably at my house, like, trying to figure out,

like, what do I, I'm gonna have to go to Louisiana, what do I take? And then they called again, and the nurse, he said, Mrs. Groover, we did, we did everything we could do. We worked on Max for 45 minutes, but he didn't make it. I just yelled, I screamed. It was awful. Just awful. Lily and Alex were still at school, and we had to get them home.

They learned just like I did when they walked in the front door. In the foyer, it's a terrible, terrible day. They came up to me and hugged me and told me right then and there. And we just sat there and we cried together. Like, that's, I mean, I didn't know what to do. Nobody knows what to do in that situation, so. So... I went to his room with my mom and I put on one of his big, large white T-shirts that looked like a dress on me.

That's all I really remember from that day. Upon arrival at the hospital, Max Gruver's blood alcohol level was extremely high and was a deadly dose. The hospital immediately contacted the coroner for an investigation, because the circumstances surrounding this young man's death were suspicious. The coroner's office called the LSU police department and notified them. At the same time, Max Gruver's family is being notified, and no one's really sure of exactly what happened. We knew that Max had passed away and we needed to get to Baton Rouge as soon as possible.

At the same time, law enforcement is notified by the director of Greek life that Max had passed away. The Phi Delta Theta House, I mean, it's right there on campus. They shortly arrive two minutes after. Everyone loves a good family mystery, especially one with as many twists and turns as June's journey. You'll step into the role of June Parker and search for hidden clues to uncover scandalous family secrets at her sister's estate and the truth about her sister's mysterious death.

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Everyone was kind of shocked and shaken their head that a young person who's a freshman is dead. And he's dead potentially as a result of a night of very serious, dangerous drinking. The Pledge educator also sends a message out to the Pledges to also come to the house. We got a message saying everybody needed to come to the house right now. Everyone shows up to the house and the next thing we know the head of LSU's Greek life at the time comes through the door and just says, I don't know why you guys are talking, this is a murder investigation. And that was the first we knew that Max was dead.

And it hit me pretty hard. I didn't really know what to do. I definitely didn't want to stay in that house anymore. We were not technically detained, but in my opinion detained. We got brought to a separate facility that LSU had. They took our phones and everything. We weren't allowed to talk to each other and they took each of our statements. We've called all the Fratman attorney members in and we're going to talk with each of y'all about what knowledge y'all have of the men's that took place last night this morning regarding Max.

Law enforcement was smart enough to know we have to keep interviewing people because this isn't just a normal case. People don't get that blood alcohol content in their blood at a normal college party. Look, I don't know if anybody is a suspect. I don't know if everybody is a suspect. I don't know anything,

and that's the only reason we're doing this right now. If everybody is a suspect, I don't know. If everybody is a suspect, I don't know anything, and that's the only reason we're doing this right now. That was really the pinnacle of when all of us kind of realized, like, holy cow, the severity of this situation. Like, he's gone. I'm trying to get a picture for this young man's family who are flocking down from Georgia,

which I'm sure I can't even imagine what's going through their mind. to get a picture for this young man's family who are flying down from Georgia, which I'm sure I can't even imagine what's going through their mind. Enough information is given to give the police an idea that there was a hazing event, a pledge event, the night that Max passed away, that it did occur at the fraternity house. And reports are that as the night went on, as the ritual went on, Max started being particularly targeted.

And that things looked like he was particularly targeted for this night of excessive drinking and hazing. You know, excessive drinking and hazing. [♪ dramatic music playing over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects continue to play over radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound effects and radio transmission sound Bible study, guys mentioning it casually, actives to each other, and stuff like that. Our Bible was our pheichai manual, so that's your pledge manual. Essentially a book they give to every new member pledge that gives you history of the fraternity, even things like etiquette and where

you should put forks and knives when you're setting up a table. So everything that you need to know about the fraternity, even things like etiquette and where you should put forks and knives when you're setting up a table. So everything that you need to know about the fraternity is supposed to be in that book. It's supposed to be your best friend, read it throughout its entirety, probably 40 times that you know it all like the back of your hand. So we finally got the message like, hey, you you know be here tonight for Bible study Bring your manual and all that stuff. And so we were like, okay, like let's see what this is about We really had no kind of clue what we were gonna step into we just knew it was gonna be a Some sort of hazing type of thing.

You feel like what you're walking into, you're going to walk out of, and you're going to be safe and fine, but hindsight, that's just not the reality of it. We know that Max arrived at approximately 9.50 p.m. Him and I were Snapchatting, and he told me he had gone to dinner with some friends, and then he was going to run by the fraternity house. And I Snapchatted to him, I love you. And he snapped back, you know, I love you too. He was dropped off by two of his female friends that were not associated with the fraternity.

And according to them, Max had not been drinking prior to the Bible study and had not done any illegal substances prior to the Bible study. There were probably 10 to 15, maybe upwards of 20 pledges there, but no more than 20 pledges for the Bible study. They'd only been pledges for a couple of weeks at this point. Formal fraternity recruitment at LSU, which we all call RUSH, is very structured. Obviously everyone's putting their best face forward. But just receiving a bid or an invitation to join does not mean you're going to

end up being an active brother or get initiated. During the pledge period, for lack of a better term, pledges are having to prove themselves to the active members. Pledges are kind of expected to be on call 24-7, whether it's bringing a brother to a class or picking him up some lunch, going to clean his house or apartment. Really anything and everything under the sun, you're probably going to get asked to do. There's definitely some men who, you know, respect the lines that come with the pledges, but there's plenty, plenty that abuse those favors.

A lot of the typical abusers of those pledge favors tend to take, like, pride in the fact that they do that. And a lot of those guys tended to talk negatively towards you. They kind of made you feel like you were a separate group from this brotherhood you were trying to join and made you feel like you were lesser than and you had to really earn your spot here. And it really kind of messes up your experience

during that pledge process. A lot of the things that you get asked to do are hazing, but I was never scared to go grab someone's food or, you know, go clean their apartment or any of that stuff. But that looming invite of, you know, come here for this, come to the house now, everyone needs to be here, you always get a bit of anxiety when you're taking that ride over to the house or walking to the house Just not knowing what you're about to go through once you get inside the doors They gave off the air that

We like we wouldn't go through anything like this I was a student reporter at the time, and gosh, I don't even think we were a month into school yet before the breaking news came. And it was like all hell broke loose. No one knew what to do. So many things were coming in. I was amazed how many people knew about it. I mean, again, it's that social media. All of a sudden, like, I'm on the plane. And before we took off, I get a text from a friend of mine.

And she says, you know, please tell me it's not true. I just got a text from my daughter. And, you know, I just, you know, started crying harder. And I'm like, how did that, because how could that be real, right? How does this friend already know and her daughter goes to school at Georgia Southern? News teams from everywhere, CNN, ABC, NBC,

everyone coming on campus just to figure out what happened. All of a sudden, the university president, F. King Alexander, there's a big press conference. We in the LSU community are grieving today. The death of Maxwell Groover was tragic and untimely. There were allegations that they were related to hazing, but I want to emphasize that this is the evolving situation. We are investigating this matter with the utmost seriousness. Pacing is dangerous, irresponsible, and

unacceptable, and it will not be tolerated at LSU, period. As a result, all, I mean all Greek activities are suspended indefinitely pending the results of a thorough investigation. And everyone went crazy. This evening representatives of every fraternity and sorority on campus held a closed-door meeting about the incident. Any comments on the meeting, guys? I don't have anything to say. A whole group of folks from LSU asked if they could come see us. And they were very forthright with information and that it potentially was a hazing incident

and something happened at the Phi-Delta Theta house and there would be an ongoing investigation. That obviously makes you very angry, right? Because you know that something happened to your son that shouldn't have happened to your son. That Max died from hazing in the fraternity house. A fraternity that has zero tolerance for hazing. So you're getting all these details and you're like,

how could this possibly have happened? MUSIC That afternoon, we were able to go see Max, and we hadn't seen him yet. They had done an autopsy on him that morning, and in the afternoon they called and said, you know, we could come and see him. That may be the worst moment of all of this was seeing him. Was seeing him in the funeral home on a slab and

just, he was just in a white t-shirt and a thin blanket was over him. And, um... I mean, that's when it really became real. Like, that was actually him. Really, all you want to know is what happened? How could this happen to my son? What led up to it? Who's responsible? And Hillary and Morgan made sure that all those questions were answered.

We learned that that night, the actives were asking the pledges to get in a line downstairs. The actives we know are present at the Bible study are Matthew Naukhan, a sophomore. Ryan Ista was also a sophomore. He was Matthew Naukhan's roommate. And Sean Paul Gott, who was a junior and he had a room in the house. They take their cell phones, and the way that the Phi Delta Theta house is laid out,

the common area is downstairs, and the entire upstairs is just one long hallway with bedrooms on either side. And Matthew Knocken tells all the pledges to go upstairs. upstairs. They had all the upstairs lights off and they had a strobe light and loud music.

And that's when the real like yelling, yelling started and we're all told like, all right, turn around and put your nose against the wall. yelling, yelling started and we're all told like, all right, turn around and put your nose against the wall. The pledges are turning, being asked esoteric questions about the fraternity and other things. Founding fathers, notable alumni, founding history, founding dates. Any of the history that some of the actives knew

and wanted to ask you, if you get it right, it goes to the next person. If you get it wrong, you take a pull of alcohol. They were just drinking it straight on the bottle? Yes, sir. For as long as the member standing in front of him told him to drink. Take a 10-second pull.

Take a 5-second pull. One of them told me to take a 5-second, and I didn't want to. I was like, can I take a 3-second? He was like, no, take a 5 second pool. One of them told me to take a five second, and I didn't want to. I was like, can I take a three second? He was like, no, take a five second. And I did. And there was a mix of alcohol at the beginning, Captain Morgan, but it eventually became almost exclusively diesel.

190 proof alcohol. Regular liquor is 80 proof. This has twice the potency. Basically the strongest alcohol you can make. It smells like gasoline and tastes probably worse than I would expect gasoline to taste like. And I was not quite prepared for diesel or any of that kind of stuff to be used. They realized once they were asked to take the first drink of it, how potent it was. And we were able to find some bottles that had been left behind at the house.

As witnesses were coming forward and talking to law enforcement, Matthew Naquan's name kept coming up over and over again. Were any of the actors more vocal and looking more out of the box, pushing the drinking than others? Um, absolutely. Who were the more aggressive ones? Matthew Naquan was definitely the leader. Most of the other actives just filtered in and out.

Knock-in was one of the only ones there, the entirety of it. It's a name that you probably heard over and over again, Matthew Knock-in. Matthew Knock-in, he was the most aggressive when it came to this stuff. Was he intense last night? Yes. He was screaming a lot. He was very upset whenever we didn't know the answers. He probably handed out the most alcohol to us.

If Nakayan ever gave it to me, it was for me pretty quick chug, whatever. But every time, the couple of times that I noticed Max taking pulls, it was not a quick one and it was also not his choice to not make it a quick one. He was identified by witnesses as the person leading the Bible study or one of the leaders. And also as a person who was particularly targeting Max that night. for a Las Vegas style action of Bet MGM, the king of online casinos. Enjoy casino games at your fingertips with the same Vegas strip excitement MGM is famous for when you play classics like MGM Grand Millions or popular games like Blackjack, Baccarat and Roulette. With our ever-growing library of digital slot

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For the TV 14 LV. From what we understood, Matthew Nockin was the main one making Max drink that night. And that as the night progressed, Matthew Nockin honed in on Max. And he was asked to take more pulls and longer pulls by far than any other pledge.

According to the pledges, Max was so intoxicated that he had a trash bag placed around his neck because they were worried he would vomit. After he had the trash bag placed around his neck is when Matthew Naukian was honing in on him and making him drink the diesel, even though he knew he was intoxicated. Okay, so when it ended, what happened? They just turned the lights on. he was intoxicated. So when the engine would happen,

they just turned the lights on, we walked downstairs. Max sat back onto a couch and very hardly like hit his head on the windowsill behind him. And I was like, oh, so instantly the pledge brothers kind of go around him, you know, and, okay, like, are you good, are you good? No, I'm just drunk, I'm just drunk, okay, okay. We were gonna bring him home, but I mean,

you could barely walk, so we decided the best bet was to just let him sleep it off at the house. All we knew about Max was that he was gonna stay at the house so that an active could stay with him the rest of the night. Were you worried about him? I was worried about him. Oh, shit. The next morning, I texted some of my pledge brothers, I'm like, hey, let's go check on Max, let's go see how hungover he is, whatever. And we walk into the fraternity house

and Max is still on the couch. And I could instantly kind of tell something was wrong. He looked pale and he was cold to the touch. His lips had started to discolor. At that point, I said, like, I cannot feel a pulse. I cannot feel a pulse. I cannot feel a pulse. So me and my couple of Pledge brothers carried, in my opinion, Max's lifeless body to a car and put him in the back seat

so that he could get driven to the hospital. Um, and that was all we knew. all we knew. We were definitely getting more information and more information was coming out and it's just shocking, right? This is my son's last night on Earth and he's being forced to drink, you know drink copious amounts of alcohol. You know, for what reason? You know, to join an organization, to be a brother to somebody else.

You know, what exactly is anyone proving to someone else if they can drink copious amounts of 190 proof grain alcohol? And then I just, I know I kept thinking about what was Max's last night like. Like, was he in pain? Did he know anything was going on? Did he know he started getting sick? We know that Max died from the coroner around four or five a.m. They found that his cause of death

was alcohol intoxication with aspiration. He died because he had so much liquid in his lungs from vomiting and just inhaling it, and just the horror that goes through that level of intoxication and death happened to Max on that couch. It's painful they let him die on that couch and did nothing, never called 911, never did anything to try to save his life. That's how your child, you know, leaves you and leaves this earth.

I mean, it's horrific. That was probably the hardest thing is knowing that the last time you saw him, you could have, you felt like you could have done something. You noticed he was drunk and instead you went home and you weren't there for him when he really needed you. After that my grades slipped, I dropped to about a hundred pounds and my parents made the decision with one of the LSU psychiatrists to pull me from LSU. I got therapy three to four times a week for the entire rest of that semester with the goal to make it back to LSU in the spring. And then from there on it's just the constant knowing that Max is never gonna

be there. And that's a best friend that I'll never get to see again. As the interviews progressed, we learned a lot, not only through the police department, but also through the students or the student accountability office. Student advocacy and accountability is an offshoot of the LSU dean's office, and they look into violations of the student code of conduct and make investigations whenever there's a student death. So they are making an investigation parallel, separate, from LSU PD. separate from LSUPD. They were able to get more details about the events in the weeks leading up to Max's death. And what we were able to ascertain was from the day that Max was going to get a

bid at Phi Delta Theta, Matthew Nauchand did not want him in that fraternity. And he actively didn't want him in that fraternity up until his death. We learned through the investigation that Matthew just did not like my son. Because he was supposedly late to certain events and Matthew had it out for him. From what we learned,

Matthew Nacan did not like Max Gruver, did not think that he was an appropriate member for his fraternity. Made it really clear that he should not be a member. In fact, Gruver was given a bid. Matthew Nacan tore up that bid and said he's not to be part of this. The next day, Max was given another bid.

They wrote him another bid card and was extended the invitation to pledge the fraternity. More telltale was the fraternity had a meeting. And they were discussing Matthew Naukhan's behavior in the fraternity as a leader and particularly as it kind of related to the pledges. As a part of the pledging responsibilities, Phi Delta Theta had their pledges stake out a tailgating spot

the Friday night before the LSU football game. And Matthew Nockhan came to that location with an airsoft gun and shot pledges. I remember him shooting me in the back with an airsoft gun while we're trying to set up the tailgate for the brothers for the next day. And yet we're getting pelted by BBs. And I can tell you, it stung a good bit. I had a nice little mark on the back of my leg when I got shot, and it was not fun. The Monday night before the Bible study, the executive board had had a meeting about Matthew because of his dangerous and reckless activity with the pledges. After that board meeting, they had an active meeting with all of the active members of Phi Delta Theta. At that active meeting, they gave an overall reprimand

to all of the active members to be safe with the pledges, to not be sadistic with them. Also after the meeting, a vice president, the pledge educator, specifically singled out Matthew Noccan and told him he was worried about how he was interacting with pledges, and Matthew Noccan told him, I will do what I want.

And then two nights later, him and his buddies were in charge of this Bible study, and he killed my son. The funeral was at St. Peter Chanel, which is the church we go to. I was the first person in the viewing that wasn't family. And I just saw the top of his head out of the casket and collapsed. Alex's friends were behind me and caught me and had to walk me down to it. It was a pretty massive funeral.

It felt like I didn't really look because I was in the front and I didn't want to look at everybody. But from what I heard from all my friends there, like, dude, it was insanely packed. There were so many people, like it was almost out the church. And I was like, wow, like that's awesome. That just shows like the impact he had on the community and like people around him.

Like they all wanted to be there. It definitely took me a few months to really, I think, admit to myself that he was gone and I wouldn't be able to see him again. I was still stuck in that thought of, oh he'll be coming back from school in a little while. So it definitely took me a minute to like really get those tears out and understand that, yeah, he was not gonna be coming back. At that point, we believed that there's going to be criminal liability and criminal action taken by the police department.

The issue though for us is we're dealing with a hazing statue that has no teeth. At that point in time, in September of 2017, there was a hazing law in effect. Only one hazing law in effect in Louisiana that had been in effect since the early 1900s. That law was really not designed at the time to encompass great bodily harm or death. It was just hazing some activity that students do. The law itself is like a paragraph long.

The maximum punishment was a $100 fine and 30 days in jail. There was a real concern that there would not be real accountability for the people who did this to Max. Enjoy casino games at your fingertips with the same Vegas strip excitement MGM is famous for when you play classics like MGM Grand Millions or popular games like Blackjack, Baccarat, and Roulette. With our ever-growing library of digital slot games, a large selection of online table games, and signature Bet MGM service, there's no better way to bring the excitement and ambience of Las Vegas home to you than with Bet MGM Casino. Download the Bet MGM Casino app today. Bet MGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. BetMGM.com for Ts and Cs. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only.

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Dad, I'm broke and I need a place to stay until I figure out what the rest of my life looks like. So a couple of days. When his daughter moves back in... The last time you walked out that door, you looked back at me and gave me a double bird. I was 18! The double bird was how I ended all our conversation.

The wheels come off. Can we try to talk to each other like rational adults? Have you watched the news lately? That's not a thing anymore. New Wednesdays, 8, 7 Central on ABC, and stream on Hulu. Where the law on hazing isn't strong in a state like it wasn't in Louisiana when this happened to Max, it creates many additional hurdles for the prosecution. And we had to look to see, are there other laws that have been violated that fit this situation?

We had very specific conversations with Hill and Morgan about how they're going to prosecute the bad actors in Max's case. They had to go through a lot more work to try to figure out how to hold these individuals responsible. Ultimately, the most responsible individual, Matthew Nocken. And the only law that applied was negligent homicide. about negligent homicide.

On October 11th, 2017, the LSUPD feels like they have enough information to make arrests of 10 young men. I remember being a reporter, and we found out early in the morning, 10 people face charges in connection to Gruber's death. All are charged with hazing, and Matthew Knockan faces an additional charge of negligent homicide. Saturday will mark exactly one month since Max Gruber has passed away. I am so appreciative of the DA team and Hiller Moore,

knowing that that Matthew needed to be charged with something. He was not just going to be charged with hazing because Max died. After the LSUPD arrests, our office took on the investigation and we decided it would be a good idea to confiscate the phones of those who were arrested, so that we could see if there was anything that we could present to the grand jury to let them know the level of culpability involved as it relates to these young men. And the only phone that we're not able to open after exhaustive efforts and after requesting a passcode is Matthew Naukian's phone. Ultimately, the judge ruled that he would have to give his passcode and he was given a grace period to appeal that decision. And during that grace period, the FBI was able to open Matthew Naukian's phone. And approximately 700 files were deleted.

We looked at the time of this deletion. Matthew Nockhain's attorney was contacted on November 8th at 3 o'clock about the warrant for his client's phone. He then called Matthew Nockhan and 40 minutes after the phone call with his attorney Matthew Nockhan is deleting 700 files. It's obvious that someone has something to hide. There was something on the phone that somebody didn't want us to see. We did make efforts to restore those files, but weren't unable to recover the deleted

files. When we did get into Matthew Nalkin's phone, we were able to look at his search histories, and there was a specific search history a little over two weeks before Max's death, for Everclear versus liquor to search what the relative potencies were. Everclear is 190 proof. Diesel is 190 proof. So Matthew Naukian was aware of the consequences and the risks of using this type of alcohol.

This is the first time he's in the position to be able to direct pledges, and diesel 190 alcohol is the alcohol that he chooses to use that night. That's how Max got to that level of alcohol poisoning within his system, and that's what killed him. When more information started to come out, I mean, reading it, it was disgusting. The story made me angry. I was confused why people would purposely do that to my brother. When I went to college, I had some friends that would say like, amazing, we don't do it that bad. And I'm like, well, the fact you're doing it at all is just messed up. You shouldn't do it at all. And think about one of those boys. I mean, 10 people got arrested.

If one of them would have stood up and said, we're not doing this, Max Gruver could possibly still be alive today. So after the arrests, all of these cases were taken to grand jury. And in March of 2018, the first indictment was for Matthew Nockhan, and he was indicted for negligent homicide. The second indictment was for Sean Paul Gott. He was indicted for misdemeanor hazing. And the third indictment was for Ryan Estow. He was indicted for misdemeanor hazing as well.

No other people were indicted. Ryan Estoe and Sean Paul Gott, once they pled, the ball was in their court to cooperate and then also to testify truthfully at the trial against Matthew Naukhan. When we went to trial about two years later, 2019, it was a very hard two weeks. Rayann and Steve were very nice to get me a plane ticket. I flew through a hurricane to get there.

The trial had already started by the time I got there. But it was a very surreal experience. Upwards of 40 witnesses were called, and of those witnesses, 19 witnesses were pledges that were there at the Bible study that night, and 10 actives. Having to relive that night over and over is extremely emotional. It's very difficult.

You can just picture Max throughout that night and in the morning and, you know, it just... It's visuals you don't want to have. The theme throughout defense counsel's questioning and cross-examining of witnesses kept using the term free will. Mr. Gruver was his own free will. His own free will is his own free will.

Morgan Johnson, who was the prosecutor who led this case, turned it around. And she said, let's talk about free will. And Mr. Knockwin had free will when he decided to grab that diesel bottle and hand it to Max and tell him to drink again and again and again So if we want to talk about free will let's talk about whose free will here resulted in mr. Groover's death a Fellow pledge who was next to line and max that night said I believe From the bottom of my heart that if Matthew Naukian wasn't in that house that night,

Max Griever would still be alive. No one asked him any more questions because he said what needed to be said. When they read the verdict, and I just remember everyone just being on the edge of their seats and we're waiting, and everyone is holding their breath, an hour with a guilty verdict. Both of us just broke down in tears and just cried because we got some closure from this, they did convict. He had to serve two and a half years in Department of Correction and then when he got out, he was subject to three years supervised probation and if he didn't comply with supervised probation, he would go back to prison for another two and a half years.

Based on what the judge heard at trial, he decided to sentence Ryan Estow and Sean Paul Gott. What the max was at that point in time, 30 days in parish prison and a $100 fine. Sean Paul Gott and Matthew Nockan were expelled by the school. There were some consequences for the organization as well. The fraternity was expelled from LSU's campus until 2033.

After the trial was over, we wanted to decompress and we couldn't think of any place better to go than to Chimes, certainly his favorite restaurant. And we walk in, we sit down just to get something to eat, water, whatever. And in the restaurant, I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing by Aerosmith came on, and that was Ray and Max's song. That's like the song she wanted to dance to with him at his wedding. She sang it to him like, oh, he was little and growing up, and that was kind of like his wink to us, knowing that it was going to be okay. The whole time, Max has been guiding us down this path to try to create change. guiding us down this path to try to create change. So we created the Max Gruver Foundation, which is about helping to create that change. You know, we've spoken to well over, I don't know, 150 or so organizations, you know,

probably over 150,000 students total at this point. We try to get as many folks from the university there as possible, certainly Greek life. But we welcome all the sports teams, all the clubs, when we go and speak. And we want to educate them on what haziness is. And just how bad it is and how it can escalate and turn into something horrible like what happened to our son. And a big thing we've been doing is that we've made a high school education program. Steve and I tell Max's story and then a local Phi Delta Theta chapter talk about the realities

of hazing. And it's really been effective. What really got us to form this relationship was, just speaking with Sean Wagner. Sean is the head of the Phi Eta Theta's. He knows that they failed miserably at LSU, and he's got passion. That relationship's been instrumental

in just amplifying our voice. ... Less than a year after Max's death, the governor of Louisiana signed the Max Gruver Act that made fundamental changes to the hazing law in Louisiana. Hazing is now a felony in Louisiana. It creates reporting requirements for schools and fraternities if there's hazing incidents. It makes it a crime not to seek medical assistance for someone in situations like Max. And we've gotten some change in the state of Georgia as well.

We have a Max Gruver Act that requires reporting with respect to hazing in every university. And one of the things that Gruvers are doing is try to advocate for and push through a federal law that would make hazing a federal crime with uniform standards across the country. You know, if we can change one kid's mind, then we've done what we want to do for Max. We miss you, big guy. And we hope we're making you proud. This is De Deborah Roberts. Join us next week to hear the story of a thrill-seeker from the College of Charleston who's search for adventure led him down a dangerous path. Death in the Dorms was produced by ABC News Studios with the Intellectual Property Corporation and Yes Like a River for Hulu Originals. You can find the entire series streaming on Hulu.

And be sure to tune in to ABC Friday nights at 9 for all new broadcast episodes of 2020. Thanks for listening. Get me Will Trent. ABC Tuesdays. I don't even know where he is. Will Trent is back. You thought she could hide forever? Time to come home. The series that's being called. One of the best network procedurals. We're gonna solve this case. Featuring new cast member, Gina Rodriguez.

I'm a prosecutor. We deal in truth and facts. Maybe everybody should try that, huh? Will Trent. The two part season premiere, Tuesdays on ABC and stream on Hulu.