His Fraternity Put a Backpack on Him Instead of Calling for Help | Gary DeVercelly Jr.

Gary DeVercelly Jr. was 18 years old with his entire future mapped out. He was smart, driven, an athlete, and the kind of kid his parents trusted to make good decisions. When fraternities at Rider University began recruiting him, Gary saw something that could help his future: leadership, connections, and a network that might open doors after college. His parents asked him about hazing, Gary told them not to worry, that he researched it. Then came Big Little Night. Pledges were taken into a basement and given bottles of alcohol. They had one hour to finish them. Roughly 15 pledges participated. Two would end up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning. Gary would never come home. As his condition deteriorated, fraternity members put him on a stage with a backpack behind him to keep him positioned on his side. People noticed something was wrong. Eventually, his lips turned blue. He stopped breathing. By the time help came, his brain had been deprived of oxygen for too long. But Gary's death is only part of this story. In this episode of UNHEARD: True Crime in Their Own Words, Gary's parents, Julie and Gary DeVercelly, take us inside what happened before, during, and after the night their 18-year-old son was killed by hazing. They talk about the warning signs they didn't recognize until afterward, the way hazing slowly escalates, what happened inside the fraternity house, the media's attempt to portray their son as a reckless college kid, the university and fraternity response, and the legal battle that followed. They also explain what nearly two decades of fighting hazing has taught them about a system they believe continues to protect institutions while families continue to bury their children. Gary died in 2007. His parents are still fighting to make sure another family doesn't get the same phone call they did. https://www.clerycenter.org/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.