Murder Trial Begins Over 2014 Death Of Morton Grove SIU Student

MURPHYSBORO, IL — The trial of a man accused of killing 19-year-old Southern Illinois University Student from Morton Grove began this week. Gaege Bethune, 23, was indicted last year on two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the February 2014 death of Pravin Varughese, a Niles West graduate who was found dead in some Carbondale woods five days after he went missing.

During Wednesday's opening statements, Special Prosecutor David Robinson told the jury Bethune robbed and beat Varughese, leading to his death. According to the Associated Press, defense attorney Michael Wepsiec said it was hypothermia that was responsible for Varughese's death and his client had nothing to do with causing it.

The prosecutor said the pair went out trying to find cocaine after a party. Bethune explained his truck was low on gas and only had $10, and Varughese put $25 into its cup holder. After stopping at a few houses without being able to buy the drugs, Robinson said the two intoxicated college students got into an argument, the Southern Illinoisan reported. Jurors have to decide if punches thrown in that struggle led to great bodily harm and the blunt force trauma that a second autopsy found contributed to Varughese's death.

The defense concedes that Bethune lied to police and fought with his passenger that night. But he only lied because he was scared, according to Wepsiec, and he only punched the teen after Varughese tried to punch first, according to the Southern. The defense attorney said there would be no evidence presented at trial that would indicate Bethune did anything to cause Varughese's death, which he described as accidental.

The jury was told Varughese made a phone call to a friend in Chicago and told her not to hang up. Bethune punched him several times and took the money before leaving Varughese, who was wearing just jeans and a t-shirt and already suffering the early signs of hypothermia, according to the prosecution. The Southern reported Robinson also told the jury squad car video will show Bethune lied to an arriving state trooper.

"Definitely wasn't my race, and I ain't used to being around that type of population," he told police in a videotaped interview.

Bethune's cousin testified he went to police to report his account of being robbed while giving someone a ride home and seeing news coverage of Varughese's disappearance, according to WSIL-TV.

A Jackson County grand jury declined to bring charges in the case in 2015 after authorities determined it had been an accident. Varughese's family would later pay for an independent investigation, which found blunt force trauma had been a contributing factor in the death. A special prosecutor was eventually assigned to the case and Bethune was indicted on murder charges last July.

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