Fraternity disputes lawsuit blaming it for five Missouri students’ deaths in a year
A fraternity named in a lawsuit over five deaths at Truman State University disputed the allegations Friday and said it’s prepared to challenge the suit.
“The National Fraternity strongly disagrees with the allegations in the lawsuit to the extent those allegations are directed against it and will vigorously defend the lawsuit,” Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity said in a statement.
The fraternity is named in the wrongful death lawsuit filed this week in the Circuit Court of Adair County, Missouri, by the parents of two Truman State fraternity brothers who took their own lives at the fraternity house during the 2016-17 school year.
Alexander David Mullins of Kansas City and Joshua Michael Thomas of St. Louis died by hanging in the house at 918 S. Osteopathy St. in Kirksville.
The lawsuit names the university, the fraternity and frat brother Brandon Grossheim, who is accused of encouraging Mullins, Thomas, two other unnamed men and a woman to take their own lives. Mullins and one of the other students died in August 2016. Another died in January 2017. Thomas died that April. Information on the woman’s death was not available.
Mullins and Thomas struggled with depression, according to the suit. It claims the university and others were aware that both students “were vulnerable” but allowed “a suspicious fraternity brother to be alone and have unfettered access” to them.
A statement released by the university on Thursday said the school “strongly” disagrees with the allegations and added that “as the litigation proceeds, it will become clear that the university is not responsible for the deaths of these students. We will not comment further on this pending litigation.”
The fraternity did also express sympathy for the families and friends “of our lost Brothers of the Xi Chapter of Alpha Kappa Lambda” and acknowledged that “the death of these young men during the 2016–2017 school year greatly impacted the Xi Chapter and the surrounding community.”
Nicole Gorovsky, the parents’ attorney, fired back, saying that “calling the lawsuit bogus is irresponsible and insensitive.” She accused personnel with the fraternity’s national headquarters of not being familiar enough with the case and not in touch with the local chapter.
“I recommend they talk more thoroughly with the local chapter and the people involved because this was a very suspicious situation,” Gorovsky said.
Gorovsky alleges that Grossheim’s “psychological manipulation” was involved with all five deaths.
Gorovsky said that all five of the deceased had been friends with Grossheim, who is from Alton, Illinois.
The fraternity said Grossheim is no longer a member but would not say why. Grossheim was a student at Truman State in 2016, but the university said he withdrew that December. The Star was unable to reach Grossheim for comment.
No charges have been filed in this case, but the police ran a computer voice stress analysis — a type of polygraph test — on Grossheim, and “it showed some deceptions,” Gorovsky said.
University officials have called the deaths “a bit unusual.”
Gorovsky said Grossheim was named in the lawsuit because a police investigation revealed that he had access to all five students, including keys to their rooms or apartments, and was the last person to talk to each of them before their deaths.
On top of that, she said, the investigation revealed that Grossheim had told people “that he considered himself a superhero with the nickname ‘peacemaker,’” and that he told police “he counseled people and gave advice and step-by-step directions to people on how to ‘deal with depression and do their own free will.’”
The suit says that among the directions that Grossheim gave friends was “advice on how to commit suicide.”
The lawsuit also says that other fraternity members had problems with Grossheim who, it claims, had “a known fascination with death,” wore the clothing of one of the suicide victims after his death and began dating the girlfriend of a victim shortly after his death.
