Man arraigned on murder charges in student’s 2014 death, initially ruled exposure
CHICAGO – A man accused in the 2014 death of a Southern Illinois University student has entered a not guilty plea on the charges.
Gaege Bethune of Eldorado was arraigned Tuesday in Jackson County Court on first-degree murder charges in the death of 19-year-old Pravin Varughese.
The special prosecutor alleges Bethune committed robbery and battery of Varughese, whose body was found in a wooded area in Carbondale, five days after he was reported missing.
Bethune, 22, was arrested last week, three years after the victim's mother challenged original findings that her son died accidentally from exposure to the cold. Although authorities concluded at the time there was no evidence of foul play, Lovely Varughese said a private autopsy quickly identified multiple, clear injuries to her son's head and face.
Lovely Varughese told The Associated Press in a phone interview that she felt mixed emotions when a prosecutor called with news that a grand jury had returned an indictment.
"My God, my son finally got justice and heaven is happy today," she told CBS Chicago.
Bethune turned himself in Thursday. Court records didn't include the name of a defense attorney.
Bethune was questioned in 2014 after saying he offered the SIU student a lift around the time he disappeared and the two fought, a state's attorney's report released in 2015 said. It said the evidence supported that Varughese had been drinking and died of hypothermia after getting out of Bethune's car and that he may have been intoxicated.
CBS Chicago reported Varughese tweeted at 11:17 p.m. the night of his disappearance, "Bloody knuckles… guess I was in a fight #backdown."
The indictment was returned Thursday and remained sealed Friday, but the charges were listed online. A brief statement from a special prosecutor also provided no details, including about any new evidence that might support the contention that Bethune, and not the mid-February cold, had been responsible for Varughese's death.
Bethune had reportedly bonded out of jail after posting 10 percent of his $1 million bail.
Varughese's mother, a nurse from Morton Grove, challenged the state's attorney's findings from the start, citing the private autopsy findings. There were no traces of significant alcohol in his blood, she said.
"I know his strong will," she said. "If he could have crawled out of there, he would have. ... I have no doubt he was not in a position to use his phone or call for help."
The Illinois Office of the State's Attorney Appellate Prosecutor's office took over the investigation after State's Attorney Michael Carr recused himself in 2015.
Varughese said she won't worry over whether Bethune is eventually convicted, saying she only ever wanted someone to answer for her son's death in court.
"If the jury decides to let him go, that's fine," she said. "Whatever comes next doesn't really matter."
