Pravin Varughese, The case that stumped a country (Part-2-Maddi Petersen)

Archangels of Justice, who are they?

They are two former lawmen, which together have 81+ years of investigative service. They are covering the case of Pravin Varughese, as well as many others. They say that there is corruption in Carbondale, especially in the police department. They also agree that Carbondale Police Department is covering up for the wrongs that were done in the Varughese case. They, like Monica Zukas, had never even heard of the Varughese family earlier. They are complete strangers who want to help make a difference to get justice. They work making no profit, and everything they do is money-free. They will be attending a press conference in Carbondale on February 13.

There is a major line between murder and accident. Yet, in some cases, it’s tough to tell the difference, especially when there is no witnesses, no cameras, and evidence left behind except the body.

The question comes to play of whether or not Pravin’s death was a murder or an accident.  Pravin’s body was not found until five days after he had disappeared. ‘The temperature the night of his disappearance was 14 degrees.’ Pravin had lain in the woods for five days straight. Animals, Mother Nature, and the natural process of the body had destroyed much of the evidence that would be necessary in determining whether or not Pravin was murdered or died as a freaky accident.

The second autopsy showed that Pravin might not have died from hypothermia.  However, he might have died from Blunt Force Trauma to the head.

Blunt Force Trauma is as known as follows:

‘Blunt Force Trauma is a severe traumatic episode caused to the body or head with sudden introduction of a blunt instrument with a great force. This can be caused by an attacker striking out a victim with their hands, a large, heavy object, a heavy piece of wood, or other large items that would cause heavy impact and damage to the body or skull, if impacted against them quickly.

One sign of Blunt Force Trauma that was present on Pravin’s body is bruising. Bruising often indicates a broken blood vessel beneath the surface of the skin. Although some bruising may be present, this does not amount to any underlying damage…’

Pravin’s family filed a Civil Lawsuit in the Court of Claims of The State of Illinois. They accuse Carbondale Police Department of botching the investigation and they accuse Gaege of causing Pravin’s death (Stafford).

The beginning paragraph, describing what it is for states: ‘This is a tort claim for the wrongful death of Pravin Varughese brought by Lovely Varughese, as administrator of the Estate of Pravin Varughese, based on the acts or omissions to act committed by Trooper Martin of the Illinois State Police, District 13, in the investigation of an incident that occurred on February 12th, 2014 between Gaege Bethune, a resident of Jackson and state of Illinois and Pravin Varughese, a student at SIU Carbondale, Jackson County, Illinois leading up to the death by Blunt Force Trauma to the head of Pravin Varughese.’

In the legal document, there is a timeline of the events of Pravin’s death included.

In this timeline, it goes step-by-step through everything that happened the night of Pravin’s disappearance. It was not until almost 8 am the next morning that Pravin was reported missing. On February 17th, Bethune and a group of friends were watching a story on the news about the disappearance of Varughese and Bethune told his friends that that was the guy he had gotten into a fight with. Bethune then left the house and his friends immediately went to the police department. They told detectives everything, including that a state trooper had been on the scene. A police report wasn’t filed until after Pravin’s body was discovered. The dash cam video was also released, “The Troopers video showed Bethune walking up the embankment to his vehicle. The Trooper also scanned the area at the bottom of the embankment from the shoulder of the roadway with his flashlight (Lovely Varughese vs. Illinois St. Police).

Lovely and the Varughese family just want answers in the death of their boy. They do not understand how someone could do this to such a sweet, caring, loving boy. They just want Justice for him and for him to be able to rest in peace. They aren’t asking much, but Pravin was their world, brother, son, cousin, nephew, grandson, and friend. They just want to understand what truly happened the night of his disappearance and why things happened the way that they did. Nothing can change the fact that Pravin is gone, but they can still be his voice. One day, they will again be united as a family, with Pravin, and they will get to hold their baby boy in their arms again.

Lovely, Pravin’s mom has made several comments throughout the course of Pravin’s case. It seemed like a better decision after all, to group them all together. A warning however, some of these are heartbreaking cries from a mother who only wants answers….

‘My son is gone and there is nothing that anyone does that can bring him back but I hope there is something that this will accomplish.

I just hope that this case would shed some kind of light into the system in Carbondale so this does not happen to another family.

Results of my son’s second autopsy are now in the hands of a family attorney. I will continue to press authorities for answers.

I will fight to my last breath. Whatever we’ve been through shouldn’t happen to another family. Whatever they did in Carbondale, or didn’t do, that has to change.

This is somebody we were hoping would do his job because, in our case, nothing happened. Right now we feel like we are one step closer to our son.

There is something that happened that night. All we want to know is what really happened to our son… we are hoping the new leadership will look into the investigation a little bit more seriously.

We are still looking for the truth to come out in this case.

All that the family wants is answers. The life of their son was in the Police Department, Trooper Martin, and Gaege’s hands and they all failed him.

Pravin’s case is being reviewed by the Jackson County State’s Attorney. In a statement released by the family attorney, ‘The recent findings of the toxicology report have confirmed the family steadfast belief that Pravin was neither intoxicated nor under the influence of drugs.’

However, in a statement released by the State’s Attorney, ‘The family’s comment about Pravin being alcohol and drug free was not completely accurate,’ completely contradicting the family and their attorney.

Pravin was known throughout the community of Carbondale. He was a delivery boy for Jimmy Johns, so he met several people on a day-to-day basis and went to SIU, so he was known among students.

Pravin’s hometown is rallying around the family and they are devastated in Pravin’s death. One of Pravin’s close friends made the statement that ‘We knew right away obviously something else had happened. It didn’t even look like the same person. The officer’s called it a drug case the night of the party because there were drugs present at the party. I hope with people outside of Carbondale hearing the story, the truth will finally come out.

Pravin is gone, nothing can change that. Without him here, we may never know exactly what happened. There are many questions left unanswered and there are so many conflicts with people’s words. All that the family wants is for their son to be able to rest in peace.

Although Pravin is not physically here, his voice can still be heard around the world!

We love you Pravin, may you forever Rest in Peace.

Read part-1

http://dlatimes.com/article.php?id=40038