Chi Omega Tragedy

[AOII*Azra-elle]

My thoughts are with Chi Omega and the family of Samantha Spady. Such a tragedy....



Alcohol suspected in fraternity death
Woman identified as CSU sophomore from Nebraska
By STACY NICK
StacyNick@coloradoan.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Police believe the death of a 19-year-old woman whose body was found in a fraternity house near Colorado State University may have been alcohol-related and hope toxicology results due back later this week will shed light on the events leading up to the discovery of her body.
Police have identified the woman as Samantha Spady, a CSU sophomore from Beatrice, Neb., who was once a member of the Chi Omega sorority but resigned last year.

Spady was found dead Sunday evening inside the Sigma Pi fraternity house in an unoccupied second-story room, Fort Collins police spokeswoman Rita Davis said.

A fraternity member was showing the house to his mother when they discovered Spady's body, Sigma Pi member Darren Pettapiece said.

Spady, who was fully clothed, was lying down and showed no signs of trauma or sexual assault, Davis said. The room, outfitted with couches, is used as a gathering area for students, she added, declining to specify if Spady was lying on a couch or on the floor.

Toxicology tests will be conducted this week, said Dean Beers, Larimer County Coroner's Office deputy investigator. Results are expected within 10 days.

While it was estimated Spady died around 6 a.m., police declined to offer any information about where Spady was prior to her death or who she was with. On Saturday night, many CSU students were in Boulder or at sports bars and homes watching the CSU-University of Colorado football game.

This year, CSU's Greek community banned all parties involving alcohol at fraternity and sorority houses. Parties with alcohol are allowed only in third-party locations, such as bars or hotels, and guest lists must be submitted to the Greek Life office.

With their purple Sigma Pi flag at half-staff, fraternity members sat outside the house Monday afternoon, just west of the CSU campus, but declined to comment on Spady's death.

While police initially deemed the situation "suspicious," Davis said Monday there is no indication of foul play and there will be no criminal investigation.

Friends and family from Beatrice, Neb., arrived throughout the day but declined to comment. Calls to Spady's home in Beatrice were not returned. Flowers were delivered to Spady's former sorority house, Chi Omega, located just down the street from the Sigma Pi house.

Chi Omega members, wearing blue ribbons in remembrance, declined to comment, saying only that Spady had resigned from the organization last year but had maintained friendships with several of her Chi Omega sisters.

CSU Vice President for Student Affairs Linda Kuk said in a written statement that the university is assisting police and will take appropriate action pending results of the investigation. The university is providing counselors for university students and families affected by the tragedy.

Originally published Tuesday, September 7, 2004

[KellyB369]

This is such a sad situation. It sounds like this girl had a lot going for her and probably had a full life ahead of her. It's scary to think that this could have happened to a lot of us. Looking back there are a couple of nights when I probably was pretty close to alcohol poisoning. Hopefully students at that school and around the country will learn a lesson from this.

[sthpolrd]

I graduated from Highschool with sam.
It just seems really weird because it is unlike her to drink that much. I visited her in colorado last year and i know that she had a lot of friends in sigma pi, so it is kind of easy to understand how she wound up staying there if she was too drunk to get home. But being that intoxicated is really unlike her.

[pinkyphimu]

how sad for everyone involved! her family and friends will be in my thoughts.

[Tom Earp]

This is really to sad for words. Prayers to Her Family, Sisters and Friends.

[ZTA1806]

Unfortunately, I think we can all (or at least many of us) remember times in school (for those who are out) where we did things that the folks back home would find very out of character.

I feel for this girl's family, and the sorrow they will have to live with for the choices that were made.

I also am left wondering, from the article, what other issues of general responsibility (not directly for this incident, of course) the fraternity is not handling or needs help with. The two items mentioned for past sanctions and the civil suit leave the chapter, and the organization as a whole, in bad light. I'm certain there are good people there, and I feel for them too.

Maybe chapters might begin to use their education meetings (ZTA has them, so I am guessing others might too) not just tell members "don't drink irresponsibly", but teach them what alcohol poisoning is, what the symptoms are, and what to do about it. Too many die this way, and it is tragic and unnecessary.

[lonestaradpi]

Just to bring up another possibility... It may not be alcohol related. We had a sister die of a brain annurism (I have no idea of how to spell it) in her dorm room. But of course the next day, because she was a greek, everyone was trying to speculate where she had been drinking and partying the night before. She had simply gone to work and went home and died sometime that night.

This girl's situation may or may not be alcohol related, I really can't comment on this situation. But it is such a shame that it has gotten to always assuming that all the greeks are bad. I also love it that she was no longer a member of Chi Omega, but the article in the paper brings it up.

There was also an other incident at my school where a fraternity had a party. Some non greek had been at the party and got way out of hand and was asked to leave. Sometime later in the night, he came back to the house to seek revenge. He found on of the new members passed out in the house and beat him to death. This crime wasn't committed by a member of the fraternity, but they were the ones who were punished.

Okay, sorry. I'll go to bed now. Somethings just get me all worked up.

*lonestaradpi steps off of her soapbox

I will keep the girl's family and the entire campus in my prayers. A shame to lose a life at such a young age.

[mmcat]

sad...sad for all concerned.
thoughts and prayers to all.

[wrigley]

According to the stories posted in a related thread, her death was alcohol related. It's a tragedy all the around.

http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showth...threadid=56500

[AOII*Azra-elle]

Actually, according to FCPD and CSUPD they have not released the toxicology reports and therefore have not said exactly what her blood alcohol level is.


James Baetke
The Collegian
Police reported Tuesday that the female CSU student found dead at the Sigma Pi fraternity house Sunday evening was involved in a single-car accident the night before.

Rita Davis, Fort Collins Police Services spokesperson, said 19-year-old Samantha Spady was coming home after the CSU football game and lost control of her vehicle in Fort Collins.

“The day after her death we received a call about an abandoned vehicle. Samantha had driven that car that evening,” Davis said.



Davis said the timeline from when Spady was picked up from the scene of the accident and when she was found dead at Sigma Pi the next day is still under investigation.

The national organization for Sigma Pi suspended the CSU chapter until the investigation clears the house of any wrongdoing.

Darren Pettapiece, president of the Sigma Pi chapter at CSU, said reports that someone from the fraternity house picked her up from the scene are untrue.“The investigators are still detailing her last hours,” Davis said.

There were no signs of obvious trauma nor was foul play a factor in her death, Davis said.

Giving a tour to his mother, a Sigma Pi fraternity member who did not live in the house at 709 Wagner Drive stumbled upon Spady’s body Sunday night. A coroner investigator and police responded to the scene around 6:30 p.m.

The Larimer County Coroner’s Office said Spady’s cause of death has not yet been determined but said officials cannot rule out that the accident may have contributed to her death.

“I do know that through the investigation we will investigate the car accident,” said Debbie Reifdorff, a deputy coroner for the coroner’s office. “If the car accident was involved in the death it will be on the death certificate.”

“The cause of death is pending,” Reifdorff said. More information should be available by the end of the week.

Although preliminary results show that Spady’s death may be alcohol-related, it is still unclear until the final autopsy results are finalized, Reifdorff said.

<b>Although some reports have stated Spady’s blood-alcohol level as five times the legal limit, FCPS, the coroner’s office and the CSU Police Department have all denied officially releasing that information.

“We do not have (her blood-alcohol level),” Davis said. Reifdoff said her office never releases preliminary information like that.

“I do not know where that information came from,” she said.

Yvonne Paez, public information officer for CSUPD, said that to her knowledge, CSUPD does not have that information, and if it did it would not be released unless it was public information.</b>

Students and faculty across the campus and residents in her hometown of Beatrice, Neb., are in shock.

“The whole (fraternity) house is in shock. It is a somber place right now,” said Pettapiece, who will remember her beautiful smile and caring personality the most.

Jason Sutter, Beatrice High School’s principal, knew Spady since the eighth grade and watched her grow up in high school as a cheerleader, National Honor Society member and homecoming queen.

“Sam was a leader. She was one of our best students in her class. She very much enjoyed school and was well respected,” Sutter said.

Chet McGrury, owner of Silver Screen Video in Spady’s hometown of Beatrice, employed Spady for about two years.

“She was a real neat girl, a real popular, friendly kid,” McGrury said. “She had real potential. She was going places.”

[CatStarESP4]

Terrible tragedy!

My thoughts and prayers are with her family, friends, the Chi Omega Sorority and anyone else affected by this tragedy!

[ncsudgalum04]

there was a piece on samantha on good morning american today. it was on right as i was waking up so i tried to pay close attention even though i was still half way asleep. they were saying something about greek life and alcohol, but i can't remember exactly what they said. i don't think they mentioned though that she was formerly a member of chi omega. they did however show the sigma pi house. such an unfortunate event.

[Erik P Conard]

Why does Chi Omega have to bear responsibility/implied blame,
or what have you in this case? The victim had resigned from the
sorority. This in itself is not common. Why? Chi Omega is one of the finest sororities...at least on most campuses.
What on earth did Chi O have to do with it...the reporter, likely an
ignorant but hurried writer, really did the Chi O's no favors.
The mention, in some reports, that the girl really knew how to
party...even in high school...hints at someone who was perhaps
out of control. This has been seemingly well-hidden, too.
The Sig Pi buddies...well, they--too--may be innocent. She was
obviously known to them and they were not too concerned to find her passed out...for whatever reason. They're paying dearly
for their admitted stupidity...we should all learn from this, too.
This slant is but one which we all must endure, and but another
of the reasons to advocate responsible drinking.
It is tragic that the young girl lost her life, but it is also possible that Chi Omegas and Sigma Pis are not guilty of creating this.

[AXOKatie]

Actually, it seems that Chi O isn't getting a 'bum rap' from these articles, it just sounds like they're mentioning in passing that she was a member, like any other student activity...or, since they mention that she was found in a fraternity house, they cite the Greek connection in order to explain her presence. My heart goes out to Sigma Pi too whether or not alcohol or their involvement were factors - to have someone die on your property, let alone a friend of several brothers, is really traumatic. I just hope that improvements are made as the result of such a sad occurence.

[Erik P Conard]

The mention of Chi Omega and their involvement is very short-
sighted and small. Would they menion the methodist church or
Job's daughters or any other outfit she had once belonged to?
Did any of you read that the Beatrice girl was a party girl in her
high school days? Lots of unanswered questions...or at least to
the public. Chi Omega likely had no part in this...bum rap.
Why did she resign from Chi Omega? Was she asked to? Why?
The Sig Pis were friendly the her; she looks like a good looking
girl. If she was "passed out' and nobody bothered her, perhaps
she had been there in that condition before.
There are lots of unanswered questions and I do not see much in
the Denver papers or other media.
The Sig Pis, likely without a housemother, allowed women in the
private places of the house...dumb...cost 'em their charter, too.
I think Chi Omega has been slurred, but then, that is my opinion
only. Anybody agree? Bum rap--at least it so seems now. Oh, I
am not a Chi O, did not go to school at CSU, have no close kin
who are Sig Pi or Chi O's but I am an old greek and certainly do
extend my sympathy. This is simply tragic. Tragic.