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Criminal complaint describes what happened at Moorhead fraternity
Robert Franklin,_Star Tribune
Last update: November 11, 2005 at 8:39 AM
As many as 200 people trekked through the fraternity house basement in Moorhead, Minn., as a deejay blasted music. Nearly everybody had a beer in hand, and some drank whiskey. Half or more of the partygoers were underage.
When the party was over, according to a criminal complaint, there were several hundred empty beer cans. And one student was dead.
The complaint, reflecting students' stories about the party at the Phi Sigma Kappa house on Sept. 22, was filed Monday as seven members of the fraternity were charged with a felony in connection with the death of Patrick Kycia, 19, of Stillwater, a sophomore at Minnesota State University, Moorhead. Two other members were charged with gross misdemeanors involving previous parties.
Kycia had a blood-alcohol content of 0.17, authorities said Monday.
The size of the party wasn't necessarily unusual, said Moorhead police Sgt. Shannon Monroe.
Kycia was drinking heavily at the party, a roommate said. He disappeared in the early morning.
Kycia was found five days later, dead from drowning in the Red River, about 2 miles away.
In the ensuing investigation, Moorhead police searched the fraternity's garbage, conducted lineups and did "upwards of 100" interviews, Monroe said.
The fraternity and defense lawyers could not be reached for comment Monday.
The fraternity's national office in Indianapolis previously denied that members gave Kycia alcohol. But the complaint quoted partygoers as saying Kycia drank beer, took long "pulls" from a whiskey bottle and became "extremely intoxicated" by 1 a.m., sitting on a stairway, resting his head against a wall and becoming nonresponsive. He apparently staggered from the house between 1 and 2 a.m., witnesses said.
Beer was selling for $1 a can, and Kycia, who was not a member of the fraternity, apparently had no trouble getting served that night. Others had no trouble, either. Some 18-year-old women said they got free beer. One 19-year-old said that for $20, he got all the beer he could drink and a bottle of whiskey. Police said they found 12 empty 30-can beer packages in the fraternity's garbage, along with six empty liquor bottles.
Six fraternity members appeared Monday in Clay County District Court in Moorhead on charges of felony sale of liquor to a minor resulting in death and two gross misdemeanors, selling alcohol without a license and procuring alcohol for a person under 21.
Released pending further court action were Marcus Carney, 21; Joseph Henschel, 22; Nicholas Gulmon, 25; Christopher Sayre, 20; James Sander, 23, and Jason Morris, 26. A seventh member is to face the same charges today.
Two others, Evan Narog, 22, and Raymond Ogren, 25, are to appear Oct. 25 on the two gross misdemeanor charges in connection with previous parties.
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15 police calls
Parties were responsible for most of the 15 previous police calls to the house, according to the complaint.
The Sept. 22 party, another in August and the discovery of psychedelic mushrooms during the recent police investigation may give the city reason to suspend the house's rental license for six months or longer, City Manager Bruce Messelt said.
The university "is intently investigating any grounds to withdraw recognition" of the fraternity and, while student discipline is confidential, its administrators "certainly watch police reports with great interest," MSU, Moorhead spokesman Doug Hamilton said.
Kycia's was the second alcohol-related death connected to the fraternity in the past 18 months, authorities said.
Fraternity member Jason Reinhardt, celebrating his 21st birthday on March 21, 2004, tried to consume 21 drinks in one hour at Coach's bar. He died later that day at the fraternity house from an overdose of alcohol.
County Attorney Lisa Borgen, who appeared in court Monday, said, "We as a society need to take this more seriously."
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