True Crime with Kimbyr - Deaf Student's Dreams Shattered: The Tragic Case of Eric Plunkett: Part 3

Episode Date: December 30, 2024

What happened to Eric Plunkett at Gallaudet University sent shockwaves through the deaf community and beyond. In this gripping continuation, True Crime with Kimbyr investigates the chilling events surrounding Eric’s untimely death and the haunting questions that remain. Was this a case of senseless violence, or does a deeper, more sinister narrative lurk beneath the surface? Through interviews, insights, and heartfelt analysis, Kimbyrleigha honors Eric’s legacy while seeking justice for his life cut short. Tune in for an unforgettable story of hope, heartbreak, and the relentless pursuit of truth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They closed all the entrances to the school except for the main gate, which they were monitoring 24-7. They performed identity checks on all visitors 24 hours in advance. They had added security cameras everywhere. There was even an increased number of law enforcement officers on campus, so how does this happen? And the key cards that are used to get in the dorms, they had already been pre-programmed

so that students can't use them to get into any other residence hall except for theirs. But before I tell you everything that happened, Let me tell you about the quiet, studious young man named Benjamin Scott Varner. Ben was born on June 8, 1981, to his parents Willie and Diane Varner and his older sister, Jennifer. They lived in Tacoma, Washington for the duration of Diane's pregnancy and the first year of Benjamin's life. From birth, Ben, like his friend Eric, was profoundly deaf. But unlike Eric, he still was able to hear very loud sounds. His mother, Diane, was an absolute super mom.

She dedicated herself to being the most caring, present mother that she could, and to encourage Ben to be independent and determined. When he was eight months old, she took him to get fitted for hearing aids. Anne's mission was to help Ben lead a fulfilling life and be able to communicate his needs the best he could. She wanted him to grow up and be able to do simple things like order at a restaurant or a convenience store and accomplish anything he set his mind to. Willie Ben's dad, he was an Army nurse, and in 1982, he asked for a transfer to Fort Stam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.

And this was so that his son Ben could go to a school for deaf children. When Ben was only one year old, they moved, hoping to give him the best education possible. Ben eventually moved his way into hearing classes and enrolled in the Sunshine Cottage School for the Deaf, where he took part in speech and audio training as well as ASL classes. At 13 months old, Ben was a little terror. He always tried to crawl everywhere. His mom said he crawled next to the stove while she was cleaning in the kitchen, and he pointed at the stove and he said, hot.

That was his first word. And she had so much joy, she was so proud of him. He had heard her the day before pointing to the stove and saying, hot, so he wouldn't touch it. All of her attempts to communicate and connect with her son using hearing aids and infant learning classes were working. He was one of those kids that teachers actually wrote

those little notes about saying he was such a pleasure to have in class. In the Texas school system, Ben actually had the option of sign language interpreter in the classroom. Ben was ambitious. Every day he would put in his hearing aids and he would strain to hear every conversation, to listen to everything his teacher said. And when he came home, he would be exhausted.

Ben loved the hearing world, but it came with a price. And sometimes he pushed himself too hard. As he grew up, he went to Garner Middle School in McArthur High School where he took Spanish, geography, religion, history, accounting, and science classes. Everything Ben did he did for knowledge. He could give you facts off the top of his head. He knew all the rules for baseball, even though, he wasn't actually interested in playing.

He could tell you the difference between all the planets if you asked, and if you really wanted to connect with him, all you had to do was ask about his passion for traveling and learning about other cultures. Willie and Diane were in awe of their son's brilliance and his thirst for knowledge. He was super independent just like Eric was, and he would often take steps to further his education

without even asking them, and he would regularly go to events at the Islamic Center of San Antonio. One day, Willie gets this call from an Israeli consulate. The man on the phone told him that Ben had applied for an Israeli visa while he was still in high school, and this not only surprised Willie but amused him, and he was more than willing to sign the paperwork. Toward the end of high school, Ben started to come out of his shell.

He was now an uncle to his sister Jennifer's son. He had a group of students that he regularly tutored, and a small group of close friends. His senior year, he took a school trip to Australia, and it was all that he could talk about for months. Ben graduated in May of 2000 with almost a 4.0 and a generous scholarship to attend Gallaudet University. Ben loved Washington, D.C.

It was a place where he could feel independent, meet up with international students and groups, and get involved in communities he wanted to be a part of. In the summer before college, he studied maps of the city and devoured books on Gallaudet history. Of course, he was nervous about leaving his family behind. He was particularly close to his mom.

He didn't know how he was going to survive without being able to see her and talk to her every day. But he was also excited to start this new chapter in his life. Ben moved into the first floor of Cogswell Hall in August 2000, just like Eric Blonkett. Diane helped him move in. She remembered sitting together in their hotel room on the Gallaudet campus, reassuring him from the bed opposite of his that it was going to be all right. Trust me, you can do this, she said, and she was hugging him as tears were falling down his cheeks as she left. She could hear him crying when she was walking away down the hallway. She closed the door,

and then she cried to herself. And all of this makes me feel so awful for what they're about to find out. Ben did battle some homesickness, but eventually he slipped into the flow of his classes and bonding with Eric over the mutual love for travel. Ben's professors found him to be kind, inquisitive, and generous. He enrolled as an accounting major. He wrote emails to his parents every single day. In one of those messages to his mom, Ben said that he liked Gallaudet because it was super diverse and there was even a student from Guam on his floor. Then he emailed his mom again after Eric was murdered. He was terrified that he was going to be next,

and he wanted to go home. He made it to the holidays, though, and he spent that winter break trying to figure out whether he wanted to even go back or not. Spring semester started, and despite Ben's anxiety, he thought the past might be in the past, but it wasn't. When Willie and Diane received a call

that their son was dead, they were ripped apart with grief. They booked a flight the very next day, and Kathleen and Chris, and Chris, Eric's parents, booked a flight as well because they wanted to be there for the Varners because they just lived through this entire gut-wrenching experience. They knew that his parents would have to go identify their son's body, answer questions from the police. It was a lot to take in. Eric's family also knew that Thomas Minch had been in town for his trial, and the coincidence was way too much. It had to be him and the police needed to

finally prove it. Enough is enough. Their kids are dying. A brand new detective was assigned to the case. Her name is Pamela Reed. and she's a homicide detective with a track record of solving cases. With a fresh crime scene now, her team knew exactly what they had to do. Investigators began interviewing students that they thought could be involved or have vital information. One thing seemed likely. The culprit had to have a Cogswell Hall key card. Investigators were on the scene right away. When I said it was worse than Eric's murder, Ben was stabbed to death

multiple times, and it was obvious it was a vicious attack. He was barely recognizable. He had been stabbed 17 times in the back, the head, the neck, the chest, and even the eyes. Ben had cuts on his hands. He was trying to defend himself or pull the knife from his attacker's hand. He also sustained blunt force trauma. Just like in Eric's case, there were no signs of force entry, no murder weapon located in the room, but all the blood had to be processed and the room needed to be dusted for prints. Now meanwhile, the police began all the their questioning. When Lauren was questioned, she explained that Ben, who had been moved to his new single room on the fourth floor after winter break, had been so scared for his life. He came to

Lauren and he's like, I would feel safer if I was in a completely different building. He wanted out of Cogswell. Lauren did what she thought was right in that moment. She offered him support and reassurance of his safety. She told him he would be fine and that police were going to find the person who killed Eric. But then Ben came to Lauren again, and he asked, please move me to a different residence hall. And again, she reassured him that nothing would happen to him. Until this day, Lauren is left feeling like she could have done more. If she would have just connected him with someone in charge of transferring rooms, then maybe he would still be alive. But what seemed to stand out was how overly concerned Ben was. And they wondered, was there a reason? Was this a natural fear of being

in a dorm where his friend was murdered? Or was there more to it? Detective Reed went on to interview some of Ben's closest friends from the Well Well West Group. First person she talked to was Joseph Mesa and he said that he heard that Ben was gay, and that's when Detective Reed started feeling sick to her stomach. She wondered if Gallaudet really was suffering from a series of hate crimes. Had Clemati been wrong? Had Detective Sumoity been wrong? And had Eric and Ben's death been fueled by homophobic rage?

And did that warrant being stabbed over 17 times? Get ready for this. The DC police sent several FBI agents to confront none other than their initial prime suspect, Mr. Thomas Minch, back in New Hampshire. When they interviewed him at his home, he acted like he couldn't believe there was another murder at Gallaudet. He told the agents he had a solid alibi. He wasn't at Gallaudet his entire trip. It was packed with other things, activities with him and his parents, which they had receipts for, like museum visits, restaurants. He couldn't have committed Penn's murder. He had willingly

provided everything to them already, his fingerprints, his DNA. He said, do what, do whatever it takes to clear my name. And his alibi proved to be true when they followed up on it. So it seemed like police were on the wrong trail. So at this point, Detective Reid decided to put aside some information from the previous investigations and start from scratch. She began with this new crime scene itself. From what they could see on the floor, the murderer had gone back and forth in and out of Ben's

room. The murder weapon wasn't there, and there was a trail of faint, bloody shoe prints and drops of blood going down the hallway. So they call in a shoe specialist and they spray this coloring compound on the most apparent shoe prints that are made in blood. And when they do so, they can see an actual like full shoe print. And they were able to determine that it was a size 11 Nike Air Max tennis shoe. And that would rule out certain students on campus, right? If they didn't wear that size, they didn't have those kind of shoes.

Detectives also surveyed the room. They collected forensic evidence from the blood patterns on the wall, for example. and they had this blood tested for DNA. They were hoping to find the perpetrator's DNA there. Then they searched surrounding trash cans and dumpsters, and that is when they found something. What they thought was the murder weapon, a bloody pairing knife that belonged to Ben.

His mother gave it to him. Why? Because he loved apples, and he would use this to cut them while he was studying, he would have snacks. They also found a blood-covered jacket in the dumpster. During this interview process, very few students wanted to come forward with information about who might have killed Ben. They wondered what would happen?

If they spoke out, would they be next? And at this point, the murders were all over the news. It had media attention from across the United States, especially since the FBI had now gotten involved. They were offering a $10,000 reward to solve this case. If anyone wanted to commit a crime, and there's a lot of sick people out there that do, they could easily have snuck into Gallaudet and blamed it on whoever committed the first crime. But whoever killed Ben might have also been Eric's killer. Students decided it was better to keep quiet or leave campus altogether. It's sad that people are so scared that they won't even give vital information. During interviews, Detective Reid discovered that the last time Ben saw anyone, it was February 1st.

And then starting on the second, Ben had not gone to any of his classes. He didn't meet up with his friends and he didn't even go to a doctor's appointment he had that day. He never called his mom and he didn't send any emails. So he must have been murdered the night of the first, which lined up perfectly with Thomas' trip to D.C. And then detectives found something else. Another lead. Ben's wallet was missing. His ATM card, his cash, his checkbook, they were all gone. And just like in Eric's case, someone had been using his money. On February 12th, the financial fraud team told Detective Reed that someone had actually cashed a check from Ben's account on February 2nd, a day

after they think he was killed. Experts confirmed that the signature was not in Ben's handwriting. And the word laptop was written in the notes section. The check was made out for $650, and it had been cashed at Riggs Bank. So Detective Reed hops in her police car, drives to the bank, and asks them to pull up the security footage.

And luckily, it still existed. And they see a man on the screen. But who is he? He looks a little older. He has some facial hair, but they can't really tell because it's not great footage. So she takes the footage back to the school, hoping that officials can make an identification,

While investigators interviewed students and waited on forensic results, Ben Varner's family and his friends prepared for his funeral in San Antonio. The Plunkett family came there to support them through the service. Everyone wanted this killer to be caught. It doesn't take long for someone to make an identification

of the man that cashed Ben's check. It was shockingly, another friend in Eric's Wild Wild West Group, Joseph Mesa Jr. The check was actually made out to him. The faculty confirms the detectives that Joseph is a Gallaudet student. The first thing Detective Ree wants to know

is who is Joseph Mesa Jr. When she looked into him, apparently she found that he was a local hero in Guam. He was a highly respected individual. He would tell the children in his town how great and big the world was and how it awaited them. His focus was on communicating

with hard of hearing kids and teens about the opportunities outside their home country, such as going to Gallaudet University. Then she looks back at her files and she finds out that Joseph was the first person person to report Eric missing. He also lived in Cogswell Hall up until recently, actually right across the hall from Eric, but she needs more evidence. She drove back to campus and had detectives Richmond and Murphy meet her in the office. She asked for Gallaudet to provide two interpreters

so they could interview Joseph. He arrived with his girlfriend, Melanie, and entered the room alone where they gave him waivers a sign. The detectives told Joseph that he had a right to a qualified interpreter, but he could also opt out and speak through to Gallaudet interpreters instead. He signed the waiver at 2.25 p.m., and they began a long conversation. It stemmed around how he was able to get his hands on one of Ben Varner's checks. Well, he had an explanation. It was pretty simple. He doesn't know what they're talking about.

He says he never cashed a check, but they have CCTV footage, so they know he's lying. When they press him further, he says, okay, he's friends with Ben, and Ben gave him a check for computer parts. But then why wouldn't the signature match Ben? Something wasn't adding up. And the fact that he lied, that wasn't a good look. So the detectives tell him they want him to come back to headquarters and get fingerprints and give DNA. They also get a search warrant to process Joseph's room so they could find those sneakers. They thought maybe a shoe lover or even a broke college student wouldn't get rid of them, even if they had blood on the souls. But they had to let him go for now. On February 13th, Joseph was still lurking around campus.

He denied to the detectives that he had any role in the killing. But that search warrant finally went through. And they searched his dorm. And inside, they found bloody clothing, as well as a size 11 pair of Nike Air Max shoes. Yeah. And there was blood on the souls. At the same time, DNA results went through. The perpetrator's blood on the crime scene matched with Joseph Mesa's.

He killed Ben, and now he was going to get what was coming to him. Detective Reed headed back to the Department of Safety and Security, And when she got there, she found Joseph hand in hand with his girlfriend at the front desk. Melanie was crying and she was shaking her head. But Joseph, he was stoic. He signed to the secretary that he had a confession to make. Detective Reed asked Joseph what he wanted, and he asked to speak privately to both detectives with two interpreters. In the interview, Joseph said, quote, To be honest with you, I did it. End quote. He explained with a completely empty expression that was cold as ice that he had been in the process of moving to Krogh Hall. But he still had all of his

belongings at Cogswell. And while he was in the middle of moving from one dorm to the other, he signed in with the RA, got in a moving dolly, and gone to Cogswell Hall, where he eventually knocked on Ben's door. Ben thinking that they're friends let his killer inside. Then Joseph began to inquire about whether Ben had a checkbook. Ben said he did, but he wanted to know why Joseph wanted to know. That is when Joseph said he said he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said, spotted a four-inch pairing knife under Ben's microwave. And he grabbed it and used it to stab him in the right side of his neck and cheek.

Ben tried to flee from him in a state of shock, pain, and fear. But Joseph blocked his path. As the two men were wrestling on the floor, Joseph admitted that he put his arm around Ben's throat and stabbed him in the face and eyes, leaving the knife embedded inside one of them until later. He also said he cut his throat and came and kicked him several times in the head.

After murdering Ben, Joseph went to his dresser drawers and found his checkbook. And once he did, he was on his way, leaving behind Ben's lifeless body in a pool of blood. He didn't even attempt to clean anything up or worry about the trail of blood. When he was inside, he actually stole one of Ben's t-shirts to put on top of his own bloody clothing.

Then he pulled the knife from Ben's wound, and he went to the dumpster where he threw the jacket and the murder weapon inside. At that point, they took him to the police station to videotape the rest of this interview, and I have some of that footage. So I'm going to be showing it on the screen while I'm talking about it. His girlfriend was still by his side after all of this. And then he proceeded to give a three and a half hour confession without requesting a court-appointed interpreter. He used two from the school.

He explained his desire for Ben's money, how he thought that Ben would be an easy victim because he was such a quiet person. and he actually started the rumor about Ben being gay. But the thing is, it's like he wanted the police to know everything that drove him to kill Ben. He found joy in it. The investigators asked him why he continued to stab Ben so violently. And according to him, he knew Ben was going to report him to the RA, so he stabbed him in the neck again and again

because he felt he had no choice. Poor Ben was fighting for his life. He was struggling to breathe, and Joseph said that he felt more and more guilty because he saw him suffering. So he was relieved when he finally died. That's sick. That's actually sick.

Joseph Mesa Jr.'s confession was cold, very matter-of-fact, and emotionless. During the interview, the investigators showed Joseph the picture of the jacket and the knife from the dumpster, and he confirmed that the coat was his, and the knife belonged to Ben, and it was the murder weapon. When Joseph left Ben's room, that wasn't the last time. He went back three or four more times

to check and make sure he was dead, but it was more than that. It was about looking at what he had done, almost admiring it. He told detectives that at one point, he stared at Ben's body for more than 20 minutes. That is frightening. And he didn't actually take the checkbook until the last time he came to check on, or I should say, gaze upon Ben's lifeless body.

And instead of getting rid of the T-shirt he took from Ben's closet, he kept it as a souvenir of sorts. It was just hanging with his other. clothes in his closet. After spilling every detail of Ben's gruesome murder, for two hours, investigators were toward the end of the confession when they asked him if there was anything else he wanted to say. And that's when Joseph said, quote, Eric Plunkett, I also did that one, end quote. During the second confession, Joseph admitted he needed money and he thought that Eric was alone because he lived in a single room. And he knew that Eric was weak because of his

cerebral palsy, so he targeted him. He went over how he was going to kill him for days and days. He said Eric was sitting in his computer with his door open at the time. Once inside, Joseph walked up behind Eric. He put his arm around his neck in a chokehold, and he held it there continuously until Eric stopped breathing. Then he told him that he laid him down to the floor and kicked him again and again. And then he decided to use the chair. He confessed to beating in Eric's face. He and head with that chair. And then he proceeded to pick up one of the chairs in this interview room to show them exactly how it was held by him.

Don't think that was necessary. He left Eric lying dead and then he placed his credit cards in his pocket. But Joseph wasn't finished with his chilling confession just yet. As Eric was lying dead on the floor of his dorm room, Joseph sat at his computer chair and used Eric's credit card to buy a bike for himself and one for his girlfriend. Then, he claimed that he falsely placed Thomas Minch in their crosshairs and tried to divert the investigation away from him. Later, when he needed more money after winter break, he turned to Ben Varner. He figured if he caught away with it once, why wouldn't he do it again?

And that's cold. On February 14, 2001, Joseph was in prison immediately after this confession, and he was held without bond. The head of the DC police, Charles Ramsey, said that robbery was the motive behind both murders. They concluded that his cold expression during his entire confession indicated there wasn't rage behind these killings. He was just a sick individual. He did it because he thought he could get away with it. That night, Kathleen, Chris, Willie, Diane, and Craig, and Lois received calls from the police reporting Joseph's arrest. Kathleen remembers feeling hollow and horrified because she had met Joseph in person at the Candlelight Vigil. He'd hugged her. He'd given her condolences and told her,

how much of an honor it had been to be Eric's math tutor. He had also gone out of his way to send back some of Eric's things to his mother, movies, and clothes he had apparently borrowed during their alleged friendship. He even included a note saying that he was friends with Eric and had borrowed them and wanted to give them back. It takes a horrible, remorseless person to face a grieving mother after premeditating her child's murder and say, I'll start her son. sorry you are that he was dead. I can't even imagine being in Kathleen's shoes and having to face that truth that her son's killer

had been there all along. Students and staff at Gallaudet University were stunned when they heard the news. The two murders weren't committed by some crazed serial killer or even a transient that was living on the crime-written streets of Washington, D.C. No, the killer was one of their own, a close friend, a deaf student,

someone they saw as a brother. Once Joseph was detained, police all these all also contacted Thomas Minch in New Hampshire, and they told him he was dismissed from any suspicion, and he was allowed to return to Gallaudet if he wanted to. Thomas broke down. He looked at his mom and he signed that it was done. He was cleared, but he never wanted to go back to Gallaudet ever again.

Thomas later said in an interview that he wanted Eric's family to know that he would never have heard Eric, that Eric and Ben were wonderful, sweet people, and he valued their friendships. Even though Thomas wasn't guilty, his life was changed forever. He said an interview later that he couldn't understand what he did to deserve to be falsely accused of two brutal murders. He lost his ability to attend the university he dreamed of.

And in a lot of respects, Thomas was another victim of this crime. He said he felt like his hopes and his dreams had been shattered, that he lost everything. In the months after Joseph was put behind bars, more information came to light about his criminal history, plus much more. Joseph was born as a profoundly deaf person and a hearing family in Guam. Growing up, Joseph raised roosters so they could fight each other and was into football and wrestling, but he grew up frustrated, depressed, and isolated, partially due to being deaf and unable to communicate with others.

In high school, he left home for a secondary school for the death, and this was a school that was on the Gallaudet campus, and he loved it. He liked to brag about how rich he was, and he would give money away to people. In the high school seniors class yearbook, Islander Joe, as they called him, was nominated as most likely to be rich in the future, but actually, he was more likely to go to prison based on his long history of misconduct. In 1995, he was threatened with the expulsion if he kept stealing.

His sophomore roommate, Stephen, had watched him steal $45 in cash from someone's room just walking in. In April of 1999, when Joseph was in his first year at Gallaudet, He stole his roommate Devon's ATM card and took out $3,000. The university reported this to the police department and suspended Joseph from the school for one year. At one condition, though, that he reimbursed Devin for the $3,000. Joseph went back to Guam. In the summer of the year 2000, Joseph re-enrolled in Gallaudet and prepared to repeat his freshman year.

Staff members had actually recommended that Joseph be expelled permanently from the campus, or at least not be invited back into the dorms. But he had made amends and he promised he wouldn't do this to any more students. So they gave him another chance. Before he left, his father Joseph Sr. told him, stop stealing for good. Joseph promised that he was going to be a better person, but that promise was empty. After that, he murdered Eric, the friendly, outgoing student who lived directly across from him. He used his computer to log in and make multiple purchases and send bikes back home to his family. Then he bought supplies that you,

Union Station using up all of Eric's limited savings. And then he stole again from Ben. Joseph was never going to try to be better. He lasted maybe a month before he fell back into his old ways. But there was more. A psychological analysis was conducted during one of those sessions. Joseph admitted he used to kill innocent animals. He even demonstrated to the psychiatrist.

He showed how he would stuff kittens into a bag and stomp on their heads with his feet. And this doctor that evaluated him said that he had a twinkle in his eye when he was explaining this. And he didn't think Joseph killed these two men for money. He thought that that was just something extra, that Joseph did it because there was pleasure that he got out of it. In his opinion, Joseph was on his way to becoming a serial killer. And there were signs. He fit the profile. Now that Joseph was in prison, people started to think about why it took so long to figure this out.

The case was so public. but so convoluted. People started to question the DC Police Department's investigative process. When Detective Semioiddy first interviewed Joseph in September, nobody even ran a background check on his criminal history. They didn't ask him why he said he smelled something coming from Eric's room,

when the rest of the people in the residence hall didn't smell a thing. I'm sure at least one of you wondered why someone would say they smelled something when it hadn't even been a day. I ignorantly assumed that perhaps deaf individuals might have stronger senses. when one of them is suppressed?

I don't know. But that wasn't it. He just wanted a reason to be suspicious about Eric's locked door. Secondly, the police were so focused on Thomas being the culprit. They neglected to do a complete inventory

of Eric's belongings. They didn't realize what was missing or dig deeper into the debit card transactions. They postponed the background check on Eric's computer. In fact, the police only reported to Gallaudet University that Eric's cards had been stolen after Ben's murder. They didn't even know.

that Eric's wallet was missing at the time of his murder. That's why Gallaudet hadn't told them about Joseph's history, because nobody had informed them that theft was a part of the homicide at all. From the university's perspective, it appeared to be a hate crime. A retired detective of the DC Police Department, Jeffrey Green, gave his opinion on the initial investigation. He said that, quote, if reasonable and professional techniques had been used during Eric's investigation,

then Detective Smyoiti would have realized soon, that Joseph had been the one to steal Eric's money. If he had done more investigation into who bought those bikes on Eric's computer, such as maybe figuring out the mailing addresses where the bikes had been sent to, he might have tracked Joseph down. And that was the end of his statement. I guess this shows how easily our biases can get in the way of our rational thinking. Detective Smuyiwai was so focused on Thomas Minch.

He missed key details. The negligence in Eric's case not only caused the wrong person to be implicated, but also contributed to the circumstances surrounding Ben's murder. So Thomas ended up suing the police department for wrongful arrest, and he declined Gallaudet's invitation to come back. The university did offer a public apology, and the judge ruled that Thomas's lawsuit would be covered once Joseph was implicated. Later, the District of Columbia actually won the lawsuit.

It's true that Thomas had been affected emotionally, but he also withheld information. He was partially responsible for the circumstances of his incident. interview. My advice is if you were ever questioned about your involvement in a crime, please get a lawyer. Investigators are not on your side. Ben Varner's family also sued both Galedette and the District of Columbia for negligence in December of 2001, and they had a lot of reasons for this. If Joseph had been expelled from the school, Ben and Eric may never been in harm's way. If the school had tried harder with their security procedures after Eric's death, Ben might not have been murdered. And if Eric's case

had been fully investigated, Joseph might have been implicated before he had a chance to her. hurt anyone else. This lawsuit was also valid and clearly came from a place of grief and outrage. Ben's death could have been prevented and the judge agreed with them, but ultimately, the case was dismissed. There wasn't enough evidence that Gallaudet didn't do their best to make sure the school was secure. The judge also ruled that though the initial investigation was not thorough, police officers cannot be held accountable for harm that criminals do. There just wasn't enough evidence of negligence to fire anyone in the police department. The rest of 2001, was a hard year for the Gallaudet community.

Students, faculty, and families were relieved and heartbroken. It was a scary thought that someone from their own community had done this. And it is scary that you could invite anyone into your room, even who you think is your best friend, and they can turn on you, and no one can hear you scream. For a long time afterward, the university was still cautious with who they let in and out of the university grounds. Student IDs were checked regularly,

and every car that visited had its license plate recorded. However, time went on. And Joseph stayed behind bars until his trial on May 3, 2002. All the family members flew to attend the trial, including the Mesa family, who still love their son, despite everything. The head prosecutor Jeb Boasberg accused Joseph of two counts of premeditated murder, motivated by money. He argued that Joseph would kill again and again to get what he wanted.

Joseph testified that he was not mentally well when he killed Ben and Eric. He said that he was haunted by hallucinations of two hands covered in black leather gloves that belonged to the professional wrestler, the undertaker. He said that when the hands did something in front of him, such as steal money or kill a person, he would follow that impulse and copy what they did. I swear, I have heard it all. But I mean, the defendant does have a right to present their version of events. Joseph had two interpreters that were signing everything in front of the jury.

At one point, he said that the hands were telling him to kill the prosecutor. But the prosecutor used this information to prove that Joseph had control over his actions. He's like, oh, you're thinking about attacking me, but you're able to control yourself? And that's when Joseph said, not yet. But I plan to kill you eventually. Well, that's a reason to keep him locked up right there. In his defense, his attorney said that he was suffering from intermittent, explosive, disorder and I don't know about you, but I've never heard of this before in my life, but I always

learned something new in these cases. And apparently, it's when you have an overwhelming rage and you get a feeling of relief when you act upon it. It sounds like something a toddler would suffer from. The thing is, during the time he was in prison, he sent a bunch of letters to his girlfriend, Melanie. And in those letters, he talked about how he was going to convince the jury that he was insane. He told her, if we made up stories, it would confuse everything and then I can plead temporary insanity. Does anyone think it's scary that his girlfriend was still in contact with him? What's really interesting about this is that not a lot of studies have been done on whether or not you can tell if a deaf person is suffering from insanity.

There's no way to test that they're in their right mind like you would of a person that is hearing and I got this from what I read online. There was a doctor that talked all about this. I'm going to end with this. Joseph's girlfriend was actually one of his witnesses, and she told the jury that they were actually married, and that since she was his wife, she couldn't really testify against him. She had a wedding ring, their marriage certificate, but guess what? She was registered as single on her driver's license, and they found out that she made the certificate on the computer after Joseph was arrested. That was just another con that they put together, so that they could lie and argue that they had marital privilege. But the motivation for the final verdict was when the prosecutor showed

that three and a half hour confession to the jury. He never mentioned any black hands in his mind guiding him to kill. No. Instead, he calmly and rationally told them every detail. So on May 22nd, the jury decided that Joseph was mentally stable and that he premeditated the murder, burglary and robbery of Eric and Ben. The jury later said that if he had spoken about this undertaker's hands in the videotape confession, they might have had a different verdict. Wow. But they could tell Joseph was definitely faking it. Joseph tried and failed to appeal his sentence. He tried to use a law called the Interpreters for Hearing Impaired and Non-English Speaking Persons Act of 1987. He wanted to say that the police violated his rights by assigning him Gallaudet interpreters. However,

we know he waived his rights. On July 10th, he was given six life sentences for the murders and another 90 years for the robberies without any parole. In the 20 years since this happened to Gallaudet, the fear of something so horrific happening to students, especially those who cannot hear their intruders and defend themselves, is still present. Cogswell Hall will never again be used as a residence hall. I wanted to honor Eric and Ben for the ambitious loving people that they were. I also I also think it's important to talk about how the deaf community was rocked by this case. I'm so sorry to Eric Gaben's families and their long fight for justice that they had to endure. And I thank all of you for being here to listen to their stories.

I will see you in my next video. Bye.