"My heart is here," Pravin's mother at first anniversary of his death

CARBONDALE, Illinois: Pointing to the place where Praveen Varughese’s body was found a year before, his mother Lovely Varughese said, “My heart is over there. I was thinking about his last minutes. He had nobody around him, he had nobody to tell him they loved him and he was all alone. That is a killer for me,” she said after the memorial service at the spot in the woods where the second year student at Southern Illinois University died last year in mysterious circumstances.

More than 150 people attended the event. Three dozen people from Chicago traveled to Carbondale, while the local Indian and Pakistani community joined them.

In a goodwill gesture, Carbondale Interim Police Chief Jeff Grubbs, Carbondale Police Lt. Mark Goddard and Acting Mayor Don Monty led the people through the woods to the spot where Praveen’s body was found on February18, 2014. Considering that the area might be private property, Lovely had earlier informed the police about the memorial service.

The prayers were led by Rev. Biju P. Simon, Rev Sonu Varghese and Deacon Liju Paul. The family placed flowers and wept.

A few professors and a dean from the university too attended in addition to Praveen’s friends.

The family of Molly Young, 21, another SIU student, who died from a gunshot wound to the head in a Carbondale Police dispatcher’s home in March 2012 too attended in solidarity.

The events of the day began with a press conference led by attorney Charles Stegemeyer, who represents the families of both Praveen and Young, private investigators Archangels of Justice -- Salvatore E Rastrelli and Ira B Robins—, and Marion radio host Monica Zukas.

They asked State’s Attorney Michael Carr to release the report on the death Praveen. They also suggested that the governor should order a new investigation.

In a statement Carr said that he would not be available for comments about the case after the press conference. The statement said he has been working on the case tirelessly and conveyed his condolences to the family.

“It took one year for him to release a 7-sentence statement,” Lovely Varughse noted. She said Carr has told Stegemeyer that he would release the report soon.

Though there were many evidences that Pravin’s death was not due to hypothermia as claimed by the local police and the autopsy by the coroner, no case has been charged so far.

The Archangels of Justice, an organization formed by former police officers with decades of experience to fight untruthful behavior of the police-- Salvatore E Rastrelli and Ira B Robins—has conducted a thorough investigation on the death and pinpointed those responsible for that.

The report is 27 pages and the exhibits run more than 100 pages. “It has all the proof needed to proceed in a criminal case. It has photos of the body, marks of injuries and other details,” Robins said earlier.

Carbondale (about 500 miles away from Chicago) is the fourth unsafe city in the state and the authorities and police there are trying to cover up criminal activities not to further tarnish its name, according to Robins.

He said Pravin was beaten possibly by a baseball bat and left to die in the woods. “If he lost the way in the woods as claimed by the police, why did not he call for help as he had a cell phone with him,” Rastrelli asked earlier.

Rastrelli said the state trooper, who interviewed Gaege Bethune, 22, that night, who gave a ride to Pravin from a party off campus, did not do his job. Bethune was the last person to see Pravin alive.

Bethune told the trooper that, he offered a ‘black man’ a ride, but when he asked for gas money, the man punched him and ran into the woods.

The trooper saw a mark on Bethune's face and conducted a brief search with a flashlight, finding no sign of Pravin.

Bethune was shown in the video walking from the roadside.

The trooper did not look for Pravin in the woods or seek more police for a search. The family believes that Pravin was alive for several more hours and a search would have saved his life.

Pravin’s body was found five days later on February 18.

An autopsy commissioned by Pravim’s family found that Pravin had died of blunt force trauma. There were no traces of alcohol or drugs in his system.

Bethune told different things at different times, yet police would not even question him, according to the investigators.

They posted their frustration on the Archangels of Justice’s Facebook page: ‘As we continue to investigate the murder of Pravin Varughese, we keep coming to the same conclusions. There are at least 4 people that know exactly what happened to Pravin, that the police did not even bother to interview.

‘They have deleted their Facebook posts, so not to alert anyone else.. Sickening that these people and are keeping a murderer safe from the authorities.

‘One day Karma will strike.. Come forward you cowards and give the Varughese family some peace, and closure.’

 â€œPravin’s family consists of good people that any country would welcome as immigrants. They don’t deserve this,” Robins said earlier.

Lovely has filed a civil suit against Bethune, the City of Carbondale and former Police Chief Jodi O’Guinn demanding compensation in excess of $1 million from each.

“It is not about the money. We filed the suit to find out the truth about what happened to Pravin. They will have to answer in the court,” Lovely said.

They have added Jackson County Coroner Dr. Thomas Kupferer as another defendant in the case.  

Lovely said Kupferer was added because he didn’t do a thorough job during the autopsy.

Tomorrow, (Feb 15)  another memorial will be held in Chicago Marthoma Church, which begins with a prayer by Vicar Rev Daniel Thomas at 4 pm. The speakers include US Congresswoman Jan Schakowski, Congressman Danny Davis, former Illinois Lt Governor Sheila Simon, Morton Grove Mayor Dan Dimaria, State representative Lou Lang, among others. Family members will be sharing memories.

Pravin’s death was the first of three tragedies that fallen on the community within weeks last year. A few days later on February 24, Jasmine Joseph, 22, a nursing student, went missing from her home in Syosset, Long Island, New York. Her body was found from her car at a busy parking lot not far from her Syosset, on March 11.

On March 3, Reny Jose, 21, a mechanical engineering student at Rice University in Texas, disappeared from Panama City Beach, Florida since March 3, where he went to celebrate the spring break with friends. The investigation by the local police could not shed any light on the incident. His family in Albany, New York has demanded an FBI investigation. A meeting last week at his home attended by activists from the Justice for All group is now chalking out an action plan.