Original subtitles

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- The world's only college that is bilingual

in American Sign Language and English

for deaf and hard-of-hearing students

is Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.

It's a place of solidarity and belonging.

A community like few others.

- At Gallaudet University, I am completely myself.

A hundred percent.

- But when 19-year-old freshman Eric Plunkett

is mysteriously found dead,

the campus community is thrust into terror.

[camera shutter snapping]

- I couldn't believe it.

It was a bloody scene.

- Is this serious?

Is this real?

Everybody was shocked.

- I remember seeing my mom absolutely crumble.

- Detectives uncover evidence

that leads them into the heart of the student body.

- The killer was familiar with his surroundings.

It was someone from within Gallaudet University campus.

- Within months,

as the shattered sanctuary begins to recover,

they are plunged back into darkness

when murder strikes the campus again.

[camera shutter snapping]

- Oh no.

It can't be.

- There's a killer on the loose.

There's a good chance it could happen again.

- No college course can prepare you for the dread

of looking at your classmates and wondering

if you are next.

[dramatic theme music]

[soft piano music]

- Gallaudet University is a really unique university

because everyone who goes there is deaf

and there's a lot of ASL access.

It's like a small island where deaf people

can be like a family.

Like a huge family there.

- Deaf people meet each other

and we have that shared experience.

Frustrations.

We live on earth that doesn't understand us.

But at Gallaudet University, I am completely myself.

A hundred percent.

Everyone signs on that campus

and we're a big family automatically.

Nobody closes and locks their door

because there's nothing to worry about.

[ominous music]

- [Lauren] In 2000, I was an RA in Cogswell Hall.

So I'm working in the RA office doing some errands

until

Joseph Mesa had stopped by.

Joseph was a freshman student

and I didn't know him very well.

His face really showed me that he was concerned.

And he's waving at me saying,

"Hey, I'm supposed to meet Eric Plunkett."

And I asked, "Why are you worried?"

And he says, "The room smells funny."

You know, he lived right across from Eric Plunkett.

And he wants me to check the room.

I knew I wasn't able to check his room by myself,

so I had to wait for another male RA to come and help me.

So I stopped by Thomas' room.

[door closing]

- [Thomas] I was in my room with my door open

on the first floor at Cogswell.

And it was late.

Deaf people flash lights to let you know what's going on.

Lauren popped up at the door, flashed the lights

and said, "Somebody's asking about Eric."

Eric lived at the very end of the hallway.

Very social person.

He loves people.

Very friendly, easygoing, loved to talk.

From Minnesota.

I got the key, walked down to Eric's room.

Eric was the only one that had a room by himself.

He was lucky.

And I pushed the button a few times.

Did it once, no answer.

Twice, no answer.

Third time, no answer.

So then I opened the door.

Wow, definitely did not expect what I saw.

[suspenseful theme music]

I just couldn't believe how much blood was out of him.

I went straight to his body in an instant

to check for a pulse and then ran out of the room.

[suspenseful theme music]

[sirens wailing]

- I'm in the office typing reports

and a call came in around 10:00 PM.

The body was found in a dorm at Gallaudet University.

Gallaudet is like a city within a city.

The last thing I thought was homicide

because there had never been a homicide

at Gallaudet University.

We responded to Cogswell Hall.

When we walked into the dorm,

the room was in disarray.

And it's blood all over the scene.

[camera shutters snapping]

- He had blood around him so it was hard to see

where the wounds were.

You have to wait for the medical examiner.

There's blood on the chair next to him.

Initially we believed that the chair

may have been used to strike Eric.

There was obviously some type of fight.

- [Det. Darryl] There was a struggle.

It was an up-close murder.

- [Sgt. James] The more that we looked at the crime scene,

there was no wallet found

and no credit cards or debit cards.

- [Det. Darryl] There was no signs of forced entry.

- [Sgt. James] But it seems like the person is trying

to cover their tracks because they closed the door.

And they lock it as well to keep Eric from being found

very quickly.

- [Alan] Police think some clues point to robbery

as the motive, while others clearly suggest the murder

was more personal.

Then they move outside Eric Plunkett's room

to look for anything that might have captured

digital traces of the killer.

- [Sgt.

or surveillance cameras inside the dorms themselves.

- [Det. Darryl] All the students use key cards to gain access

to the buildings, but we were told

that everyone didn't swipe.

Just out of courtesy,

- [Sgt. James] And there were no records that were kept

for people entering and exiting the campus itself.

- [Alan] While police continue processing the crime scene,

around 11:00 PM, news unfurls across the tight-knit campus

that one of their own has been murdered.

- [Thomas] Everybody went their own way to go spread the

word fast.

within five minutes.

- It was kind of a mob, a crowd of people there

standing outside the dorm, signing furiously.

No one knew what was going on.

[dramatic theme music]

- [Alan] Hours later, in the middle of the night,

over a thousand miles away in Burnsville, Minnesota,

Eric Plunkett's family awakes to horrible news.

- We were all upstairs, fast asleep.

And all of a sudden,

there was a loud knock at the door at 2:00 in the morning.

Open the door and there's two officers with a pastor.

And they ask the question,

"Is this the home of Eric Franklin Plunkett?"

And it's in that moment, it's like, this isn't good.

- They said there's been an incident at Eric's dorm.

And that Eric had died.

[somber string music]

- I do remember

going downstairs and seeing the police officers.

And then seeing my mom absolutely crumble to the floor.

- [Alan] As D.C. Metro detectives seek the identity

of Eric's killer, they ask his family for any information

about him and his personal life.

- [Erin] Eric was born with challenges.

He had cerebral palsy,

which made him unsteady on his feet.

He also had profound hearing loss and was completely deaf.

But you would never know it.

He was so confident all the time.

It was just his personality.

He had a ton of friends.

He was inquisitive.

You know, he liked to take things apart

just to see how they were made

and put them back together again.

- [Kathleen] He decided he wanted to go to Gallaudet.

He got an acceptance letter and he was so excited.

Running around, he was like, "I've been accepted."

And, you know, he was really celebrating.

- [Chris] We moved him into the first floor

of Cogswell Hall there on campus.

but we knew it was time to go.

And what did Eric tell you?

- "Don't worry about me, mom."

- "I'll be okay."

[somber music]

- [Erin] Before he passed away,

Eric had just come out as gay

at school.

It didn't surprise any of us.

He was having a lot of fun.

We've heard that he made so many

great relationships on campus.

We didn't know who could possibly have killed him.

- [Alan] D.C. detectives are puzzled as to why someone

would want to murder a friendly

and popular person like Eric.

Hours later, at daybreak,

with little to go on from his family,

investigators set about the enormous task

of interviewing Gallaudet's student body.

- [Sgt. James] We do want to interview everyone,

so we need to get interpreters who are able to sign for us.

- [Det. Darryl] So in an interview,

you're trained to look at different cues.

Sometime when a person gets nervous,

you can see their heart beating fast.

But when the interpreter is signing it,

the person that you're speaking to isn't looking at you.

They're facing the interpreter the whole time.

- We're talking to people, asking when the last time

anybody had any communication with Eric.

- [Lauren] They took myself and Thomas Koch for questioning.

It is possible for the police to misunderstand

the interpreters and our signing.

It definitely added additional frustration and challenges.

- [Thomas] But they were very gentle.

They were really good to us.

- [Lauren] We were both thinking, who would want to

murder an innocent person?

And we didn't notice any strangers.

If an outside person wanted to walk in,

we would probably stop and easily identify them.

who's the one who alerted the RAs in the first place.

He was a friend of Eric's.

And basically there was no information given

that was helpful by Joseph Mesa.

Although the person who was interpreting for me

felt that he was holding something back.

But they couldn't put their finger on it,

and there's nobody else who saw anything

that was of any use to us at that point in time.

- [Alan] Investigators gain some direction

when they receive a surprising tip

from the head of the campus LGBT group.

He was elected as the secretary.

- [Sgt. James] So the president of the Lambda Society comes to

police and is concerned because there have been slurs

that were found on campus.

- [Alan] The anti-gay slurs were posted on message boards

in dormitory hallways.

- [Teresa] There was this fear that someone was targeting

gay and lesbian students and threatening to hurt them.

- [Alan] D.C. Metro detectives take interest in the lead

and head for their campus counterparts

to see if any other students lodged complaints

about the slurs.

- [Sgt. James] So we go to the campus police

and they advise there was only one complaint made

about the anti-gay slurs and that was by Eric Plunkett.

That makes it significant.

- [Erin] And they were thinking that it may be a hate crime.

- [Alan] Coming up...

- [Det. Darryl] The shoe print is definitely a solid clue,

just like Cinderella, who had the magic slipper.

- [Lauren] I asked him, "Are you okay?"

He says, "No, there's another one."

- [Thomas] The second murder, now people were angry.

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- [Alan] As detectives search for clues in the murder

of Eric Plunkett,

they receive a curious tip.

Days ago, someone scrawled anti-gay slurs

on campus noteboards.

And just before his death,

Plunkett lodged a complaint about the slurs.

Did the vandal behind this hateful act also kill Eric?

- [Sgt. James] That would raise suspicion with you.

You're thinking, "Could have been a hate crime."

This potentially gives us a motive

as to why Eric may have been killed.

- [Alan] As police ponder the possibility of a hate crime,

they also receive the autopsy report.

- [Sgt. James] At the autopsy, we learned that Eric

had been strangled.

He was, you know, beaten.

He was kicked.

There was some evidence that indicated

he was hit with a chair.

There was overkill involved.

I mean, there was blood everywhere.

An overkill is usually someone who knows the person.

- [Alan] With no reports of any strangers

and no forced entry to Eric's room,

most clues point to a killer who knew Eric intimately.

Though the missing wallet is an outlier.

Investigators take stock and marry this evidence

with the homophobic slurs found earlier.

It leads them to form a finer theory.

The murderer could have been

a former lover's violent revenge.

- [Sgt. James] Maybe the killer is someone

who he's intimately involved with.

Maybe they were intimately involved in some way

and things went south.

We then start trying to dig

into who he may have been dating.

[soft piano music]

- [Alan] As police consider their revenge theory

and Gallaudet's campus remains on edge,

[telephone ringing]

one of Eric's fellow students comes forward

with an intriguing tip.

- [Sgt. James] A student comes to police with information

that they believe is very important to our case.

The student tells us that Eric Plunkett

and a fellow student by the name of Thomas Minch

may be involved in some type of relationship.

Whether it be a close or an intimate relationship,

we don't know at this point in time.

Thomas Minch is a freshman just like Eric.

He's 18 years old.

- He was a skinny young man from the Northeast somewhere.

He wasn't involved in sports.

He wasn't involved in clubs.

He just kind of wandered around, liked to meet new people,

new friends.

- [Alan] But it's not just the observation

of a close relationship that brings this student forward.

It's that they witness something troubling

on September the 27th,

the day before Eric's body was found.

- [Sgt. James] So the student sees Thomas Minch shove Eric

Plunkett, which causes Eric to fall to the ground.

So we're wondering if there's more than just the shove

that happened.

We had to find Thomas Minch and interview him.

- [Alan] Detectives make Minch their top priority.

They find him in the campus cafeteria

and bring him back to their station for an interview.

- We start questioning him about his relationship

with Eric Plunkett.

- [Sgt. James] He seemed somewhat nervous.

One of the other lead detectives on the case was asking

how well he knows him,

whether they have an intimate relationship of any kind.

And he said they were strictly friends.

But he does not tell detectives anything

about any type of assault on Eric Plunkett.

They wonder why he's being invasive.

There's a lot of suspicion.

And then everything is changing.

Thomas did admit to going to Eric's room.

That's the crime scene.

And Eric apparently made a pass at him.

And this upset Thomas and he admitted to pushing him

at that point in time.

A detective at this point believes

that more than just the shove took place.

And maybe it did escalate into murder.

The interview was stopped

and no further questions were asked.

And Thomas was placed under arrest.

- [Det. Darryl] This was a priority case.

The detective felt good about the arrest that he had made.

But then everything started to change

and things started to unravel.

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- [Alan] Washington, D.C. police have just arrested student

Thomas Minch for the murder of Eric Plunkett.

The department exults in solving this heinous crime.

Will they be able to win a conviction?

high-fiving and commending the detective

in reference to the Eric Plunkett case.

It was good results, but we still weren't there yet.

[soft piano music]

- [Kathleen] The detective told us they had arrested a student,

Thomas Minch.

We were happy to know that there had been an arrest.

- [Erin] I couldn't believe that anybody would do this,

let alone another deaf student.

Because they know what it's like to be bullied or picked on.

It's just unbelievable.

[suspenseful theme music]

- [Alan] One day later, Gallaudet students pack

a D.C. courtroom for Minch's arraignment.

- The case was presented to the U .S. Attorney's Office.

And the U.S. Attorney's Office

declined to prosecute the case.

because there was no probable cause.

Probable cause means that more likely than not

the person committed a crime.

There isn't sufficient evidence.

The arrest of Thomas Minch is way too premature.

So Minch was released.

It was embarrassing for the Metropolitan Police Department.

- [Kathleen] We got a call from the U.S. Attorney's Office,

and the prosecutor said

that they were releasing Thomas Minch

because they didn't have enough evidence,

but he's still a suspect.

And, I mean, it just was unbelievable.

- So what do you mean there's not enough evidence?

How do you release him?

- [Alan] With the case dismissed due to lack of evidence,

law enforcement pursues a decisive test

to rule on their theory that Minch is the perpetrator.

- Thomas Minch was still a person of interest

at that point in time.

We finally get the DNA results back for Thomas Minch.

There was no DNA of Thomas Minch found

on Eric Plunkett's body.

Thomas Minch is cleared as a suspect.

- [Alan] Though clear now to everyone

that the interrogation team jumped the gun on the arrest,

Minch retreats from campus to his native New Hampshire.

Back in Washington,

the rapid turn of events leaves detectives stunned.

- [Det.

Then it was back to work,

because we still had a killer on the loose.

[ominous music]

- [Thomas] There was a lot of commotion on campus.

We were all just thinking, if it's not him, then who?

Was it somebody outside?

And is the killer still at Gallaudet University?

Is he one of us?

- [Lauren] The students can't focus on learning the material.

I can't focus on teaching the material.

There's a lot of upheaval.

- [Thomas] We noticed that students' parents

were taking them out of school.

They said that D.C. couldn't do their job,

they couldn't find the killer,

and their kids were not safe there.

- [Alan] As fear hangs over the campus,

detectives receive an intriguing tip

from the victim's family.

- [Kathleen] We got his bank statement forward, and I opened

it up, and I saw debit charges.

It had to have been after Eric had been killed.

I knew that they were trying to figure out the timeline,

and we sent them a copy of the statement.

- [Sgt. James] At least one of the transactions was conducted

after his body was found.

There were two transactions at two different stores

at Union Station here in Washington, D.C.

And then Union Station security

keeps a record of the tapes from the surveillance cameras.

This could be very helpful in finding a suspect.

We went to security,

and they had just taped it over.

They record over them every 28 or 30 days.

It was showing us who the killer was, absolutely.

I was so [bleep] mad.

But the theft, it could be a motive

towards what transpired.

However, there was no further activity on Eric's account.

And then, time's going on.

- [Alan] Months pass, and investigators struggle

to make progress on the Plunkett case.

Then, at the start of the spring semester,

Gallaudet's student body awakens to another nightmare.

- On February 3rd, I was in Cogswell Hall.

And I was on call.

And unfortunately, the fire alarm goes off.

[alarm blaring]

So, I get out of bed.

And I go up to the fourth floor.

And I see another RA.

And he looked really, really pale.

So, I asked him, "Are you okay?"

He says, "No.

There's another one."

It was another murderer.

[suspenseful theme music]

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- [Alan] Just over four months

after the murder of Eric Plunkett,

shockingly, another body has turned up

in Gallaudet's Cogswell Hall.

Has Eric's killer struck again?

- [Det. Darryl] I'm at home, getting ready for work.

"Hey, it's been another murder at Gallaudet."

It's the same dorm where Eric Plunkett was found.

And I was like, "Oh, my goodness."

His name is Benjamin Varner.

When we arrive to the scene,

first thing I notice is feet coming from under a mattress.

[suspenseful theme music]

When the evidence technicians remove the mattress,

what I'm looking at is a male with stab wounds

all over his head,

[camera shutter snapping]

his neck,

his stomach area.

[camera shutter snapping]

There was blood on the wall.

Blood on the floor.

It was a gruesome scene.

[eerie music]

- [Alan] Detective Richmond takes in the details

of the scene and spies numerous similarities

to the Plunkett case.

[camera shutter snapping]

- [Det. Darryl] His wallet is missing.

We're talking about less than six months.

It definitely was a repeat killer.

If he's not caught,

there's a good chance it could happen again.

[camera shutter snapping]

- [Alan] As investigators continue cataloging the scene,

Gallaudet's community is once again thrown into turmoil.

- [Thomas] When I got there,

I could see police up there on the fourth floor

and was able to look up and see, and I asked, "Who?"

And then they spelled back, "Ben."

And I thought, oh, no.

No way.

- I felt numb and I felt horrible.

I feel horrible for Ben.

- [Teresa] He was a nice, kind person.

He was interested in making friends,

but he was sort of an introvert.

There is a despondency,

a sadness, a hopelessness,

a fear that we'll never know who the killer is.

- [Alan] Then police on the scene are approached

by a witness from the Plunkett case, Joseph Mesa.

He gives an account of one of the last things

Benjamin told him.

- [Det. Darryl] Joseph Mesa said he told him,

"Yeah, I'm gay and I have a boyfriend,

but don't tell anyone."

It seemed like Joseph wanted to help us,

but Joseph wasn't part of LGBTQ

and he didn't have anything additional to help us.

- [Alan] While Joseph's tip is noted,

detectives have a more pressing responsibility

to Benjamin's family.

- [Det. Darryl] We notified Benjamin Varner's family members

of his death.

They broke down crying.

- I didn't think that there would be another family.

Our hearts were going out to them

because we'd been through it.

- [Erin] I remember getting a phone call

[phone ringing]

saying it happened again

and nobody needed to explain to me

what "it happened again" meant.

How is it possible that this could happen again?

- [Thomas] At Gallaudet University,

the fear had passed after the first murder.

The second murder-now people were angry.

There was a lot of finger-pointing going on.

- [Alan] As Gallaudet's student body comes to grips

with a killer tearing through its campus,

detectives at Cogswell Hall feel the pressure

on them intensify as they move outside Ben's room.

- [Det. Darryl] We walk into the hallway

[clock ticking]

- [Sgt. James] They led down the stairs and out the side

entrance door.

- [Det. Darryl] There were cameras at the bottom of the

elevators, not at the bottom of the stairs.

The blood in the staircase,

it just told me that the perpetrator

was trying to evade being seen on camera.

It says that the killer was familiar

with his surroundings.

So it's a student.

- [Sgt. James] There was a small alleyway

and there was a dumpster back there.

- [Det. Darryl] And in that search, we found a

bloody jacket.

We also recovered a knife,

like a paring knife.

We think that it may be the knife that was used,

but there wasn't blood on it.

- [Sgt. James] And the paring knife, we were able to match up

to a box that was found inside of Ben Varner's room.

So we, at this point, believe we have the murder weapon.

- [Alan] Investigators take stock of their new abundance

of evidence and quickly begin making moves.

[camera shutter snapping]

- [Det. Darryl] We took photos of the jacket.

[camera shutter snapping]

The students that we were interviewing,

we were also showing them,

"Do you recognize this jacket?"

Also, the shoe print is definitely a solid clue.

It's like Cinderella, who had the magic slipper.

- [Sgt. James] There were photographs taken.

The FBI has on file a huge catalog

of different types of shoes.

- [Det. Darryl] We were searching for Nike Air shoes.

We assumed the motive may have been robbery,

but we didn't know what belonged there.

So we had to interview the family to find out.

And they confirmed that he should have had credit cards,

and he also had a checking account.

But the checkbook is missing,

and his wallet and his credit cards were missing.

It looks like the motive is robbery for both victims.

These murders didn't have anything to do with being gay.

In light of what happened in the Eric Plunkett case,

which we found out that there was credit card activity,

we asked Benjamin Varner's family to monitor his account

and see if any transactions had been done.

- [Alan] As the Varners keep watch on their son's accounts

and grapple with their loss,

Eric Plunkett's family reaches out to them.

- [Kathleen] We came out to D.C. and we spent some time

with the Varner family.

And we went to Ben's funeral.

We went down to San Antonio.

As a parent, I'm devastated.

[suspenseful theme music]

- [Alan] Then, a week and a half after Ben's murder,

the Varner family's vigilance about his finances pays off.

- [Det. Darryl] His parents let us know that a check

had been cleared for $650

within 48 hours of his death.

It was dated two days before he was discovered.

And now we have something.

This may be the break that we were waiting for.

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- [Alan] In the wake of two Gallaudet University murders,

police are desperate to catch the killer

before they kill again.

The family of the second victim, Ben Varner,

have just handed detectives a tip.

Someone cashed one of Ben's checks after he was killed.

Is the person behind the financial mystery

also the double murderer?

[dramatic theme music]

- [Det. Darryl] We get a subpoena.

We go to the bank.

And we get the name.

Joseph Mesa.

The name Joseph Mesa is familiar to us.

[dramatic string music]

- [Alan] Investigators question

if it could really be someone

who was hiding in plain sight all along.

- Joseph Mesa is a sweet guy from Guam.

He was a football player.

He was glued to his girlfriend all the time.

- [Lauren] Joseph Mesa was the first one

who was concerned about Eric Plunkett.

I hadn't really seen them hanging out.

- [Det. Darryl] After we get the name, we request the security

team to have him come for an interview on campus.

- There's one of two things involved in this check cashing.

It's either it's the person who committed the murder

or there's a legitimate reason why he had the check

in his hand.

- [Det. Darryl] He comes in for an interview.

And we start questioning him

about his relationship with Benjamin Varner.

He said he was a friend of Benjamin Varner's.

He and Benjamin lived in the same dorm.

He was a little computer savvy.

And he used to help Benjamin Varner with his computer.

Then we're questioning him about what is this check for?

And he said that he bought some parts

And Benjamin Varner paid him $650

for the part and his labor.

But it didn't seem reasonable

because the computer probably was worth about $600.

So to say that you pay $650 to get a computer repaired

didn't make any sense.

So the check had been cleared

two days after he was discovered.

So it raised a couple of red flags.

- [Alan] Detectives then collect a DNA swab from Mesa

and let him depart.

Then, that afternoon, a student walks into

the campus security office

where D.C. Metro police have taken up residence.

The young man wants to report a curious crime

committed in his dorm room.

- [Sgt. James] I'm sitting at my desk and a freshman walks in the

door and sits down and starts telling us about his roommate

had stolen his credit card right before Christmas

and bought a computer and various sundries.

I asked this freshman what his roommate's name was.

[suspenseful theme music]

And he told us Joseph Mesa.

So that kind of piqued my interest.

We had a picture of a jacket

that we found at the crime scene.

And I showed that to the roommate.

And the roommate said,

"Yeah, Joseph Mesa had a coat just like that."

And so then I went on to ask him, he said,

"What kind of shoes does he wear?"

And he went on to describe a pair of shoes

that were the type of shoes we were looking for.

It's extremely significant.

- [Alan] It's by far the strongest lead

of the investigation.

Detectives begin speaking with other students about Mesa

in hopes of gathering more evidence

before they bring him in again.

But then, they quickly receive a surprise

from their new top suspect.

[phone ringing]

And LaFranchise called and said, "Hey man, get down here.

That Mesa guy is back.

And he wants to speak to you."

And we came into the office.

And the interpreters come in.

And he waived and said he wanted to talk.

And then he starts telling us about Benjamin Varner.

- [Det. Darryl] We get the break that we were looking for.

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- [Alan] In the Gallaudet University double murders,

student Joseph Mesa has approached police

to tell them something.

Detectives have brought him into an interrogation room

at their precinct.

It seems he's ready to come clean.

- Joseph Mesa, he starts talking about Benjamin Varner.

- I couldn't believe it.

He starts giving his confession.

Almost like the hair on your neck standing up.

And I asked him, "What do you need money for?"

- [Det. Darryl] It just, it didn't make sense to me.

[soft eerie music]

- [Det. Darryl] Everything that he's saying in my mind,

I'm corroborating.

He gave everything, he told us everything.

- [Sgt. James] He fully admits to lying about Ben Varner.

He wasn't gay.

- [Det. Darryl] And he gives a reason why.

He confessed to us that he did it.

- [Alan] Police immediately arrest Mesa,

and he's soon charged with two counts

of first-degree murder.

- [Kathleen] The phone rings, and it's a detective.

And he says, "We've made an arrest.

We have a confession."

I couldn't believe it.

- [Thomas] They announced that it was Joseph Mesa.

And I said, "No [bleep] way."

The person who's glued to his girlfriend all day?

How?

- [Lauren] The one who reported to me about the first murder?

Wow.

I mean, it took me a while to process that.

I'm thinking, "Really?"

I mean, I was shocked.

- [Alan] In April of 2002,

the double murder trial of Joseph Mesa begins.

Almost a month later, the jury returns their verdict.

- Joseph Mesa is found guilty of the murder

of both Ben Varner and Eric Plunkett.

without parole.

- [Lauren] Knowing that he's going to be in jail

for the rest of his life,

I mean, he deserves it.

I really want people to remember

Eric Plunkett and Ben Varner.

Both of them were really wonderful people.

- [Thomas] It was heartbreaking.

Ben Varner, he was very gentle.

Wouldn't hurt a fly.

- [Kathleen] Eric was just a regular kid.

He was an amazing, normal kid.

And that's how he should be remembered.

- [Erin] One of the things that I wish I had

a better recollection of

was the life before he passed away.

That's what makes me the saddest, I think.

- [Alan] Joseph Mesa's murder spree

was a terrible betrayal of his community.

The close-knit student body was deeply shaken,

but ultimately made closer.

But the friends and fellow schoolmates

of Eric Plunkett and Benjamin Varner

will never take for granted that fellowship.

For they could never have guessed

that the greatest threat would be one of their own.