Eight fraternity brothers have been charged in connection with the death of a Bowling Green State University student Stone Foltz (pictured) who downed 40 shots during a hazing ritual
Eight fraternity brothers have been charged in connection with the death of a Bowling Green State University student who downed 40 shots during a hazing ritual in March.
The Wood County Prosecutor’s Office in Ohio announced the indictments on Thursday, nearly two months after 20-year-old Stone Foltz died after he was allegedly forced into a drinking ritual while pledging Pi Kappa Alpha’s Delta Beta chapter.
The eight students charged are: Jacob Krinn, 20; Daylen Dunson, 20; Troy Henricksen, 23; Canyon Caldwell, 21; Niall Sweeney, 21; Jarrett Prizel, 19; Aaron Lehane, 21; and Benjamin Boyers, 21.
Six are facing felony charges including involuntary manslaughter and the other two are charged with hazing and failure to comply with underage alcohol laws.
Foltz, a sophomore studying business at the Ohio university, found unconscious by a roommate on March 4 after members of the fraternity allegedly dropped him off at his apartment. He was put on life support and died three days later.
His death was ruled an accident caused by ‘fatal ethanol intoxication during hazing incident’, according to an autopsy by the Lucas County coroner.
BGSU officials said that Foltz and other pledges at the Pi Kappa Alpha chapter had been blindfolded and forced to down an entire bottle of alcohol each in the basement of the fraternity house hours before he was found unconscious.
Six of the students are facing charges for involuntary manslaughter – including 21-year-old Niall Sweeney (left) and 19-year-old Jarrett Prizel (right)
Pictured: 20-year-old Jacob Krinn (left) and 21-year-old Canyon Caldwell (right)
Pictured: 23-year-old Daylen Dunson (left) and 23-year-old Troy Henricksen (right)
BGSU officials said that Foltz and other pledges at the Pi Kappa Alpha chapter (pictured) had been blindfolded and forced to down an entire bottle of alcohol each in the basement of the fraternity house hours before he was found unconscious
The charges for each defendant are listed below:
- Krinn, of Delaware, Ohio – First-degree felony involuntary manslaughter, third-degree felony involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, felonious assault, hazing, failure to comply with underage alcohol laws, and obstructing official business.
- Dunson, of Cleveland, Ohio: Third-degree felony involuntary manslaughter, tampering with evidence, hazing, failure to comply with underage alcohol laws and obstructing official business.
- Henricksen, of Grove City, Ohio: Third-degree felony involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, tampering with evidence, hazing, failure to comply with underage alcohol laws.
- Caldwell, of Dublin, Ohio – Third-degree felony involuntary manslaughter, tampering with evidence, hazing, failure to comply with underage alcohol laws and obstructing official business.
- Sweeney, of Erie, Pennsylvania – Third-degree felony involuntary manslaughter, hazing, failure to comply with underage alcohol laws and obstructing official business.
- Prizel, of Orlean, New York – Third-degree felony involuntary manslaughter, hazing and failure to comply with underage alcohol laws.
- Lehane, of Loveland, Ohio – Tampering with evidence, hazing, failure to comply with underage alcohol laws and obstructing official business.
- Boyers, of Sylvania, Ohio – Hazing and failure to comply with underage alcohol laws.
An attorney for Foltz’s family, Rex Elliot called the indictments an ‘important first step’ in abolishing dangerous hazing at universities around the country.
‘There have to be serious consequences for this behavior, otherwise it won’t stop,’ Elliot told the Fremont News Messenger. ‘Our mission is to make sure no other young life is lost.’
He said all universities and colleges need to adopt zero-tolerance policies for hazing that permanently ban organizations that fail to comply.
‘We think that is the only way this type of senseless injury and death will stop,’ he said. ‘We are not going to stop on this effort until there is dramatic reform and we stop these injuries and deaths.’
BGSU initially suspended the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and charged it with six code of conduct violations before officially expelling the chapter from campus on April 9.
Officials said they were still considering suspensions or expulsions for students deemed to have been involved in the hazing ritual that led to Foltz’s death.
Last month Foltz’s heartbroken parents Shari and Cory (pictured with him) spoke out to insist their son was ‘murdered’ and call for the students responsible to face felony charges
Last month Foltz’s heartbroken parents spoke out to insist their son was ‘murdered’ and call for the students responsible to face felony charges.
‘To me he was forced into something, the outcome is he was murdered,’ Foltz’s mother told Good Morning America on March 24.
‘There needs to be harsher punishments. You get a slap on the hand for basically doing these things and killing someone. If it’s a felony, don’t you think they’re going to think twice before doing something like this?’
Speaking of her son’s death, she declared: ‘I can’t describe the pain – there’s a piece of my heart that’s gone. It’s just unimaginable, I can’t even explain to you.’
Shari said she was able to forgive the students responsible but demanded justice.
‘I forgive them,’ she said. ‘But I won’t forget.
‘I want them to step up. I want them to take ownership, I want them to explain what went on – I think that’s gonna help put a stop to this.’
Shari and Cory Foltz are seen speaking to Good Morning America on March 24
Stone Foltz was a sophomore business major at Bowling Green State University
Shari explained that she’d had some concerns when Foltz decided he wanted to pledge Greek life.
‘We had many conversations as to, “Make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons, make sure you’re checking these fraternities out”,’ Shari said.
Sadly those fears appear to have been well founded after Shari and her husband Corey received a call at midnight on March 4, telling them their son was unconscious.
‘He was found not breathing, they had to revive him and [was] on a ventilator keeping him alive,’ said father Cory who immediately drove the two hours to the school from their home.
‘So we spent two hours, driving to his school, holding my wife’s hand, praying in my mind that Stone was going to be okay. No parent should have to sit in their car wondering if their son is going to be okay.’
Two weeks before his death, Foltz declined to return home for a weekend because the fraternity was forcing him to stay at the school until 2am one night, the parents claimed.
On March 4, he relayed to his mother that there was a drinking ritual he felt he was being forced to take part in.
Shari texted her son about it and promised to call and check in an hour after the ritual began, but she ‘never made that call.’
An anonymous student came forward after Foltz death and described the initiation pledge that new fraternity members were allegedly forced to undergo.
‘We have to drink a handle of any alcohol that our big gives us. We have to finish the whole thing in the time we’re there before we leave,’ the student told WTOL.
‘I’ve never seen my roommate more drunk in his entire life. He immediately went to the bathroom and was throwing up in the toilet for just 15 minutes to an hour and making himself vomit.’
The proud parents want to make sure the fraternity is hold accountable for Stone’s death
