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.

CBS News "48 Hours Mystery" tells story of Deborah Gardner murder told by best-selling author Phil Weiss in his new book, "American Taboo."



CBS News "48 Hours Mystery" tells story of Deborah Gardner murder told by best-selling author Phil Weiss in his new book, "American Taboo."

CBS News "48 Hours Mystery" tells story of Deborah Gardner murder told by best-selling author Phil Weiss in his new book, "American Taboo."




In 1976, Deborah Gardner, a beautiful young American Peace Corps volunteer from Tacoma, Wash., was stabbed to death in her hut in the isolated South Pacific island nation of Tonga, located 6,000 miles from the California coast. (Photo: Frank Bevacqua)




Gardner, a science major at Washington State University, loved her Peace Corps job, teaching science at Tonga High School. (Photo: Frank Bevacqua)




Gardner wanted to get closer to the culture, so she chose to live in a Tongan neighborhood outside of town, in a simple one-room house. (Photo: Frank Bevacqua)




"She [Deborah] enjoyed more of the village life," says author Phil Weiss. "She had a good relationship with the Tongan families across the way. She liked decorating her house with Tapa cloth and woven mats from the market." (Photo: Frank Bevacqua)




Fellow Peace Corps worker Emile Hons first met Gardner in Dec. 1975 at a welcoming ceremony for new volunteers. Hons took Gardner's remains back to the United States days after her murder. (Photo: Frank Bevacqua)




Dennis Priven was a 24-year-old Peace Corps volunteer from Brooklyn, N.Y. "Dennis was very shy, very intelligent," says Weiss. "But a lot of people found Dennis to be weird, introverted, bizarre." (Photo: Frank Bevacqua)




"He [Dennis] was really intense. He was a combination of a kind of New York aggressive and quite shy," says Barbara Wilson, who went through training with Priven. "He sometimes offended people, not from any desire to offend people, but because he really didn't care what they thought." (Photo: Frank Bevacqua)




Priven, also a Peace Corps teacher, had one trademark quirk: a 6-inch diving knife, usually strapped to his belt. (Photo: Frank Bevacqua)




The night of the murder, Priven followed Gardner to Ngele'ia, her village outside of town. He was armed with a metal pipe, a syringe, two bottles of cyanide, and his 6-inch diving knife. (Photo: Tongan Ministry of Police)




Gardner fought for her life. Priven stabbed her 22 times and began to drag her body to the door. Her screams alarmed the neighbors from the bush. When neighbors came to help, Priven dropped Gardner face down in her doorway and bicycled off. (Photo: Tongan Ministry of Police)




The doctors did their best to save Gardner, who died after the attack. "She was perforated all through her body," says Weiss. "She was a mess." (Photo: Tongan Ministry of Police)




Priven turned himself in on Oct. 15, 1976, and was charged with murder. A jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity. The Peace Corps sent Priven home and insisted on a psychiatric evaluation. He was found to be no longer a threat, and was free to go and returned to Brooklyn. Today, Gardner's family and friends wonder if he was really mentally ill or used the insanity defense to get away with murder. (Photo: Tongan Ministry of Police)

When this story was posted in October 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:

Kerry reaches out to Returned Volunteers The Kerry campaign wants the RPCV vote. Read our interview with Dave Magnani, Massachusetts State Senator and Founder of "RPCVs for Kerry," and his answers to our questions about Kerry's plan to triple the size of the Peace Corps, should the next PC Director be an RPCV, and Safety and Security issues. Then read the "RPCVs for Kerry" statement of support and statements by Dr. Robert Pastor, Ambassador Parker Borg, and Paul Oostburg Sanz made at the "RPCVs for Kerry" Press Conference. RPCV Carl Pope says the key to winning this election is not swaying undecided voters, but persuading those already willing to vote for your candidate to actually go to the polls. Take our poll and tell us what you are doing to support your candidate. Finally read our wrap-up of the eight RPCVs in Senate and House races around the country and where the candidates are in their races.

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Director Gaddi Vasquez: The PCOL Interview PCOL sits down for an extended interview with Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez. Read the entire interview from start to finish and we promise you will learn something about the Peace Corps you didn't know before. Plus the debate continues over Safety and Security.

Schwarzenegger praises PC at Convention Governor Schwarzenegger praised the Peace Corps at the Republican National Convention: "We're the America that sends out Peace Corps volunteers to teach village children." Schwarzenegger has previously acknowledged his debt to his father-in-law, Peace Corps Founding Director Sargent Shriver, for teaching him "the joy of public service" and Arnold is encouraging volunteerism by creating California Service Corps and tapping his wife, Maria Shriver, to lead it. Leave your comments and who can come up with the best Current Events Funny?

Peace Corps: One of the Best Faces of America Teresa Heinz Kerry celebrates the Peace Corps Volunteer as one of the best faces America has ever projected in a speech to the Democratic Convention. The National Review disagreed and said that Heinz's celebration of the PCV was "truly offensive." What's your opinion and can you come up with a Political Funny?

Read the stories and leave your comments.

By Robert H. Forbes Jr. (remote.ch2m.com - 198.91.8.10) on Friday, October 29, 2004 - 7:05 pm: Edit Post

As of the end of Octer 2004, have been least 20 news postings on the Tonga site related to the story of Deborah Gardner prompted by Philip Weiss's book "American Taboo" since it was published last June, culminating in the CBS "48 Hours" episode that was dedicated to the story on Saturday October 23. It appears this story may now be on its way to fading from public memory. For most of us who were in Tonga at the time of the murder or in the years shortly afterward, the book's release and subsequent activity in the news media have been a catharsis that was much overdue. It's been a mixed blessing that took much too long to come out, yet, the story may not have been this complete without the passage of so many years or the evolution of the Internet. At least the memory of Deb Gardner has been preserved for many years to come and her killer has largely been condemned to infamy for his remaining days. Perhaps it will also get the attention of enough present and future government officials, as well as PCVs, to do whatever is in their power to prevent anything similar from happening in the Peace Corps' future. While justice may not have been served in the strictest sense, a lot of people are better off knowing the full story has been told, and I'm one of them. I hope this entry will prompt others to relate how the story or its related events have affected them as well.
'Ofa 'Atu,
Lopeti Forbes
PCV Tonga 17 and trainer, 1976-79

By RPCV (user-uinj42h.dialup.mindspring.com - 165.121.144.81) on Sunday, October 31, 2004 - 6:51 am: Edit Post

Robert Forbes,

I posted this the other day on another story related to this one. Concerned volunteers want Peace Corp's Doctor in this case investigated. He has wrongfully categorize so many former volunteers. In this case, he let a killer go free. He must be inverstigated, so these type of situations don't happen again.

Diagnosis for Hire with Peace Corps.
An Investigation on this Doctor needs to be done by the GAO and or the up coming Ombudsman.


Friends called me this week regarding the Deborah Gardner story which was nationally televised. Some of these friends are heavily involved in Domestic Violence in the United States. It struck a nerve in one of my friends on how Peace Corps staff behaved. She has heard about the many cases where Peace Corps gets it wrong on security issues.

Peace Corps has used this particular Doctor to get the diagnosis they sought. This Dr. who is very controversial in the psychiatry world and even called a quack by many psychiatrists in Washington DC area. This so called Doctor or Medicine man, as we know him has been Dr. Diagnosis to separate, wrongfully categorize volunteers, stigmatize volunteers and fire many others. In this particular case, he got Peace Corps the diagnosis they wanted again. The Peace Corps and the Congress should do an internal review of this particular Doctor and how many volunteers have been separated from service due to his diagnosis or any other abnormalities he has created. You could call him Dr. Mengala of the Peace Corps.

Look how he helped Peace Corps in this circumstance. He has always helped them get what they wanted vs volunteer rights.

Insanity is one thing. But, pre mediatation is another. I think we are all smart enough to know what this was. What kind of knife did he have?

No one has questioned Mary George or any other staffers regarding this case.

Its a shame.

This is an example of the perpetrators of crimes getting away with murder. People who terrorize and rape volunteers get away with it too because of lies that lurch in safety issues in the past. Many of these cases were covered up at Medical services. Mistakes from the past in these areas are hurting the families of former volunteers. Peace Corps needs to acknowledge these fundamental problems.

By DELOIS LINDSEY (cache-mtc-aa04.proxy.aol.com - 64.12.116.8) on Wednesday, October 05, 2005 - 11:00 pm: Edit Post

Dear Peace Corp.Two of our family members were murdered one body with three holes in his head and stuffed in a well the other body one hole in his head and half of his body was frozen.Both murders were on the same property.So will these people get away with these two murders?Our mother is now 78yrs old now who lived on that property she now want's both bodies brought up to find out the truth what really happened to her grandfather and stepfather. can we get someone to get back to us our matter.The book we wrote is A PROMISE TO MY MOTHER BY DELOIS LINDSEY AND SHEILA L.TRAYNUM about the two murders and more.We researched for ten years on this with the FBI as well. where do we go from here. The heirs of two murders.

By Anonymous (220.224.44.25) on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 6:50 am: Edit Post

Another example of American Hypocrisy!

By Anonymous (c-6de072d5.07-27-73746f37.cust.bredbandsbolaget.se - 213.114.224.109) on Friday, May 12, 2006 - 5:37 pm: Edit Post

Heartbreaking...