Pravin Varughese
JACKSON CO., Ill.—Despite the fact that her attorney has received a brief suspension from practice over what appears to be a bogus complaint, the mother of deceased SIU-C student Pravin Varughese is planning to file a second wrongful death suit against another party in Jackson County.
Lovely Varughese, the Administrator of the Estate of Pravin Varughese, is to be making a monetary claim of $100,000 against Illinois State Police District 13 and ISP Trooper Chris Martin, the man who responded to the stopped vehicle of Gaege Bethune, who is also facing a wrongful death suit in Pravin’s death.
The nature of the claim is a tort for a wrongful death based on the acts or omissions to act alleged to have been committed by Trooper Martin, in the investigation of the incident that occurred on February 12, 2014 between Bethune and Pravin.
Pravin Varughese, regular readers will recall, was found in a frozen field earlier this year mid-February, behind Buffalo Wild Wings and Kohl’s in Carbondale.
Gaege Bethune
The allegations of wrongful death as they relate to Martin explain the rest of the claim: Bethune, some people identified by last name only as Stanley and Filkins, and a Dillon Gaskin arrived at a house party at 405 West College in Carbondale to drink at approximately 9:38 p.m. Pravin, along with people identified by last name only as Thomas, Haas, Oliveras and Ecton went to a house party at 606 West College at approximately 10 p.m.
Bethune “thought about going to the house party at 606 West College,” the paperwork shows; Varughese’s friends he went to the party with left to go to work at Styx, a bar in Carbondale, where Varughese was to join them at the bar after the party.
But by 11:30 p.m. Bethune was no longer seen at the house party at 405 West College and was observed sitting in his truck outside the house as the truck warmed up. By 11:35 p.m., Varughese had left the party at 606 West College.
The two encountered each other just after Varughese left the house party at 606 West College, when Bethune was in his pickup at 405 West College. They subsequently left together in Bethune’s pickup.
About 11:45, Bethune told Varughese he was going home. Varughese “could not or would not direct Bethune to Varughese’s residence;” instead Bethune drove toward Illinois Route 13 then eastward on 13 intending to drop Varughese off at a gas station or call the police to remove Varughese from his truck. At that point, Varughese became upset and struck Bethune in the face with his hand.
This prompted Bethune to stop his truck on the shoulder of 13 and turn on the emergency flashers, then exit the truck, going to the passenger side. There was an argument, the documents show, and Bethune and Varughese rolled down the embankment, each punching the other. It was then (after 12:30 a.m.) that Bethune noticed a police vehicle parked behind his truck. Bethune yelled “Cops!” and run up the embankment toward his pickup truck while Varughese ran into the wooded area at the bottom of the embankment.
A screencap from the state police video of the night of the search for Varughese; the blurred face is that of Gaege Bethune.
Bethune, documents show, spoke to Trooper Martin, telling him that he had picked up a black male on the highway to give him a ride and they got into an argument. Bethune told Martin that the individual had gotten out of the pickup truck and ran into the woods. Martin briefly looked down toward the wooded area; Bethune left the area followed for a shot time by Martin.
At no time, the paperwork states, following the incident with Bethune on 13 did Martin file a report regarding stopping his vehicle behind Bethune’s, their conversation, or the fact that there was a missing male somewhere in the woods, according to Bethune and reported to Martin. Since no report was filed by Martin, no investigation was undertaken either into Pravin’s disappearance into the woods by Martin.
At about 8 the following morning, friends/roommates of Varughese reported him missing to the Carbondale Police Department.
Bethune and Stanley were watching TV together at about 5 p.m. February 17 at Bethune’s grandfather’s house when a news broadcast aired concerning Varughese. Bethune told Stanley that Varughese was the man had gotten into a fight with after the house party on Feb. 12, 2014. Bethune left, as did Stanley. Stanley and Gaskin drove to the Carbondale police department and met with detectives, telling them about the incident with Bethune and Varughese and that a state trooper had been on the scene that night.
On Feb. 18, at approximately 9:45 a.m., CPD found Varughese’s body in the woods off Route 13. A week after he was found, a police report dated the following week showed an 8-minute interaction between Trooper Martin and Bethune. The 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. Martin’s activity showed that he resumed patrol nd didn’t notify CPD, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office or his immediate supervisor of the circumstance that evening.
An independent pathologist, acting on behalf of the Jackson County Coroner, conducted an autopsy of Varughese and determined the cause of death to be hypothermia. The Varughese family, however, commissioned a second autopsy conducted by independent forensic pathologist Ben Margolis. This autopsy found significant injuries to Varughese’s face, four different blows to the face and head, all of which could not have been caused by a single impact, such as falling on a rock or hitting a tree. According to Margolis, Varughese’s body also showed an injury to his forearm and his left hight as well as bruises below his knees. He determined that the cause of death was blunt force injury.
Further, forensic pathologist Margolis opined that Pravin Varughese lived up to 24 hours after the traumatic event.
The claim has not been presented to any state department or officer, nor has it been the subject of an administrative hearing. The paperwork has been laid out by attorney Charles Stegmeyer of Belleville, whose license to practice, we learned last week, is scheduled to be suspended for a short time beginning Dec. 4 based on a strange claim from another attorney over a matter of about $400 placed in a trust account for a client (retainer), which matter Stegmeyer, we understand, believed was already handled.
It’s believed that the other attorney making the ARDC complaint was prompted to do so by Jackson County officials, possibly the prosecutor, Mike Carr.
We’ll have more on that as it develops. When this is formally filed, we’ll update…be watching.