SIU Student From Morton Grove Beaten And Robbed Before Death: Indictment

MORTON GROVE, IL — Prosecutors said the accused murderer of a Southern Illinois University sophomore from Morton Grove admitted to punching him repeatedly and leaving him "dead weight," according to a grand jury indictment.

Gaege Bethune, 22, of Eldorado, was charged Thursday with two counts of first- degree murder in connection with the death of Pravin Varughese, a 19-year-old Niles West graduate who was found dead in a wooded area in Carbondale in February of 2014.

Prosecutors said Varughese's death "was a natural and foreseeable consequence" of being beaten by Bethune. The indictment said Varughese suffered injuries to the nose and face "consistent with blunt force trauma." In its second count, it accuses Bethune of robbing Varughese. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Morton Grove — or your community. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

A 2015 grand jury in Jackson County had declined to bring charges in the case. But after the initial autopsy determined Varughese's death to be accidental and officials suggested he had become lost in the woods while intoxicated and froze to death, his family commissioned their own investigation.

A second autopsy found blunt force trauma as a contributing factor in his death. As a result of the persistence of Varughese's parents, eventually a special prosecutor was assigned to the case.

Bethune was released last week on bond. His family has hired former Jackson County State's Attorney Michael Wepsiec to represent him and intends to fight the charges in court, his father told the Chicago Tribune last week. Wepsiec told the paper that the public would see a different side of his client "once we try this case in the court of law, not the court of public opinion or the court of Facebook."

Initially, Bethune lied and told police that he had been attacked by a black man who ran off into the woods. He said he had been drinking and was afraid of getting a DUI.

"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 later changed his story after Varughese's body was found and suggested he acted in self defense.

Bethune is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Jackson County Court, the Southern Illinoisan reports. Each count carries a sentence of 20 to 60 years in prison.

» Read more: Grand Jury Indicts Man In Death Of Morton Grove College Student

Top image: Pravin Varughese family photo, Gaege Bethune booking photograph | via Patch archives, Jackson County Jail