Police: CU Student Drank A Lot For Frat Initiation
Report: Frat Pledge Was 'In Very Bad Shape' Before Death
POSTED: 10:37 am MDT September 22,
2004
UPDATED: 5:41 pm MDT September 22,
2004
BOULDER, Colo. -- Boulder's police chief said members of the Chi Psi fraternity were being only "minimally cooperative" with investigators as authorities investigate the death of an 18-year-old pledge at the frat house last week.More than a dozen of the fraternity members have hired lawyers, Mark Beckner said.Beckner told reporters Wednesday that his detectives have been trying to piece together the final hours of Gordon Bailey Jr. but the investigation has found no evidence of foul play or trauma to him before he was found dead Sept 17.
Bailey and the other pledges received their fraternity pins Thursday evening and were driven to the mountains for their initiation."Tradition was to drink the alcohol before leaving ( the mountains for Boulder)," said Beckner.He said that Bailey and other members of the fraternity drank four bottles of whiskey, six large bottles of wine and three kegs of beer in the hours prior to his death. He said there was nothing to indicate that Bailey was forced to drink the alcohol."This is no evidence of any medical condition contributing to Mr. Bailey's death," Beckner told reporters. He said the investigators are awaiting the results of an autopsy conducted by the coroner sometime next week.Frat brothers said Bailey drank heavily the evening before he died."He was in very bad shape," a frat member told the Boulder Daily Camera, on the condition of anonymity. The unidentified frat member told the newspaper that they didn't know his life was in danger.While Bailey was passed out on the floor, frat members wrote insulting words on his face with pens, but smudged them out the next morning before police and paramedics arrived, the paper reported in its Wednesday editions.A source close to the investigation told the Daily Camera that half of the 40 Chi Psi fraternity members refused to talk to police when they began investigating Bailey's death.The Interfraternity Council, which governs CU's fraternities, announced it had suspended recognition of Chi Psi pending an investigation. Chi Psi already had its national charter suspended after Bailey's death, banning its 76 members from participating in any fraternity events.
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Previous Stories:
- September 21, 2004: 911 Call For Help: Student 'Drank Way Too Much'
- September 20, 2004: Friends Remember CU Freshman Found Dead In Frat House
- September 19, 2004: Social Activities At CU Greek Houses Suspended After Pledge Death
- September 18, 2004: CU Fraternity Pledge Found Dead Identified
- September 17, 2004: CU Student Found Dead Inside Frat House
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