It has been four years since Southern Illinois University student Pravin Varughese was mysteriously found dead in the woods following a college party in 2014.
Now, details of the shocking series of events that have unfolded since the day his body was found will be heard in court as the trial for the man accused in his murder begins.
The 19-year-old disappeared after attending a February party with friends, his body eventually discovered in nearby woods by Carbondale police.
The results of the initial autopsy report from Dr. Michael Jacobi, a forensic pathologist, first ruled the death an accident. Jackson County State’s Attorney Michael Carr’s criminal investigative report concluded Pravin was likely intoxicated and died from hypothermia.
The teen’s mother, Lovely Varughese, of Morton Grove, never believed that.
“I never doubted my son’s death. I knew from day one that he was injured and someone caused those injuries to him,” she said, adding that as a registered nurse she immediately suspected foul play when she saw the bruises on her son’s body.
The family hired Dr. Ben Margolis, a Harvard educated doctor to perform a second autopsy. He concluded Pravin suffered blunt force trauma before his death.
“The underlying cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head,” Dr. Ben Margolis of the Autopsy Center of Chicago said. “There are four injuries to the head and there’s a defensive wound.”
Carr ultimately recused himself from the case and turned it over to Patrick Delfino, a special prosecutor in the Illinois State Appellate Court in March 2015. Two years later, a grand jury was convened and 23-year-old Gaege Bethune, of Eldorado, was charged with two counts first-degree murder.
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Bethune told investigators that he gave Pravin a ride in his truck then beat him during a confrontation on the side of the road. Bethune, who is represented by defense attorney Michael Wepseic, has pleaded not guilty.
Jury selection for the murder trial began Monday in Jackson County Circuit Court. Illinois state’s attorney appellate prosecutor David Robinson will represent the state.
“My son’s name was dragged through unimaginable places,” Lovely Varughese said. “As a mother, I had a duty to save his name and to tell the world who he really is.”
For the Varughese family, who has been fighting for answers ever since, they’re hoping a trial will bring them the justice they say hasn’t been served.
“It took everything in me to get to this point,” Lovely Varughese said. “I never knew I had this much strength in me to fight for justice.”
