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New info.....

Associated Press
September 11, 2002

Police: No evidence of hazing in drowning of two college women

LOS ANGELES -- Police said there was no evidence that hazing caused the
drowning of two college women in Playa del Rey, despite the assertion
by one of the victim's family members that sorority initiation rituals
caused the deaths.

Kenitha Saafir, 24, of Compton, and Kristin High, 22, of Los Angeles,
were pulled to shore late Monday night by police officers but could not
be revived, authorities said.

High, a California State University, Los Angeles student and mother of
a 2-year-old boy, had been undergoing an initiation rite for the Alpha
Kappa Alpha sorority, her mother, Pat Fargas, told Los Angeles
television stations. "She's crying back from her death to say stop this
hazing," Fargas said.

"They had them all dressed in black, they blindfolded them, told them
to hold onto each other" and then were directed along the beach, said
High's fiancee, Holman Arthurs. "I guess what happened, had to be, was
that it was high tide, and the tide went over them."

But authorities said a preliminary investigation indicated no hazing
was involved.

"No one was tied up or blindfolded or forced into the water," said
police Officer Jason Lee. "There were several girls possibly swept into the
ocean due to high surf at the time. The rest were able to come back to
the beach. Unfortunately, the victims were not able to."

Officers were sent the beach about 11:30 p.m. Monday on reports of
women screaming. The officers were met by four people who said that two of
their friends "were swept into the ocean and had not come out," Officer
Eduardo Funes said in a statement.

The officers dove into the ocean, located the women and pulled them
out. Attempts by police and paramedics to revive them failed.

Autopsies may be conducted Wednesday to determine the exact cause of
death. Their deaths are under investigation by authorities.

The sorority had no information on the incident, Executive Director
Betty James said from its Chicago headquarters.

Alpha Kappa Alpha has an anti-hazing policy adopted two years ago by
the National Pan-Hellenic Council Inc., according to its Web site.

A tearful Fargas, alleging the women had been undergoing initiation
rituals for weeks, said she wants to file charges against the sorority.

"I tried to talk to all of them this weekend and said stop it, and I'm
gonna call and report this, and now it's too late," she said.