American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corps

Charges possible in 1976 PCV slaying Congressman Norm Dicks has asked the U.S. attorney in Seattle to consider pursuing charges against Dennis Priven, the man accused of killing Peace Corps Volunteer Deborah Gardner on the South Pacific island of Tonga 28 years ago. Background on this story here and here.

American Taboo Read the story of Volunteer Deborah Gardner's murder in Tonga in 1976 and how her killer has been free for the past 28 years with the help of the Peace Corps. Read an excerpt from Philip Weiss' book documenting the murder and coverup. Then read an essay by RPCV Bob Shaconis who says that Peace Corps' treatment as a "sacred cow" has exempted it from public scrutiny and that the agency has labored to preserve its shining reputation, sometimes at the expense of the very principles it is supposed to embody.

Philip Weiss unspools this tale, which he spent 25 years researching, in American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corps



Philip Weiss unspools this tale, which he spent 25 years researching, in American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corps

It is quite likely the only time in the Peace Corps' 43-year history and 175,000 volunteers that one of its active-duty members was charged with killing a fellow member of the service organization. Nevertheless, the events that led to the death of 23-year-old Deborah Gardner, a science teacher from Tacoma, Wash., who was found stabbed 22 times on the night of Oct. 14, 1976, on the South Pacific Island of Tonga, were barely covered in the American press. According to journalist Philip Weiss, her killer--a scorned suitor--went unpunished and is living in New York. Weiss unspools this tale, which he spent 25 years researching, in American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corps (HarperCollins, $26).