1987.06.14: June 14, 1987: Headlines: COS - Guatemala: Safety: Obituaries: Fallen: Dayton Daily News: Peace Corps Volunteer Joseph Teates' body was found hanging from the ceiling beams of his home in Guatemala several days after he died
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1987.06.14: June 14, 1987: Headlines: COS - Guatemala: Safety: Obituaries: Fallen: Dayton Daily News: Peace Corps Volunteer Joseph Teates' body was found hanging from the ceiling beams of his home in Guatemala several days after he died
Peace Corps Volunteer Joseph Teates' body was found hanging from the ceiling beams of his home in Guatemala several days after he died
A Peace Corps press release dated June 22, 1987, several days after Teates' body was found, calls the death "an accident." The following day, according to Peace Corps records, the agency's legal office recommended a re-examination of the death, partly because the agency suspected the family might conduct its own inquiry. "A family-sponsored private investigation might be disruptive," says a memo from the legal office to then-Peace Corps Director Loret Miller Ruppe. The inquiry by the legal office, the memo says, also would determine if the death was a suicide or the result of foul play, and if "other volunteers are in danger." The new inquiry, the memo says, would also help the Peace Corps "react accurately" to congressional and media inquiries. The memo says that information collected during the new inquiry "could probably be considered attorney work product and protected" from public disclosure through the federal Freedom of Information Act.
Peace Corps Volunteer Joseph Teates' body was found hanging from the ceiling beams of his home in Guatemala several days after he died
Mystery deaths
Official records fail to tell complete story
By Russell Carollo and Mei-Ling Hopgood
rcarollo@DaytonDailyNews.com and mhopgood@coxnews.com
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala | The body of 26-year-old Peace Corps volunteer Joseph Teates was found hanging from ropes attached to his neck and feet in June 1987.
His death was called an accident.
The body of 27-year-old volunteer Brian Krow was found in Ukraine under a footbridge with chest-high railings along both sides.
His death, too, was called an accident.
Wyatt Pillsbury died of an overdose of drugs and alcohol in Tanzania in 2001, but the Peace Corps' public Web site says he died of "asphyxiation due to the aspiration of undigested food which was lodged in his throat."
A 20-month Dayton Daily News examination found that the United States government failed to reveal the full truth about the deaths of at least 10 Peace Corps volunteers who died over a 30-year period.
"I personally never believed them when they said it was an accidental death," said Ronda Thorne, who learned through records obtained by the Daily News that her brother, 25-year-old Jerry Dean Bryan of Spokane, Wash., had a history of alcohol and drug abuse before he died of a barbiturate overdose in Brazil in 1978.
Records from the State Department detailing the events prior to Bryan’s death said, "Should not reveal full story."
Using never-before-released records from the Peace Corps’ Deaths in Service computer database, the Daily News re-examined deaths in the Peace Corps since 1962. The newspaper also obtained new information in foreign countries and through a federal lawsuit the newspaper filed against the Peace Corps, which originally refused to release the records.
In 10 cases, the examination found that the agency misled or failed to provide essential details to the families, to the public or to other volunteers about the circumstances of how volunteers died. In at least six other cases, the Daily News found that circumstances other than those suggested by the Peace Corps were possible and that the deaths remain mysteries.
Other deaths, too, warranted further examination. But Peace Corps deaths have occurred in more than 60 countries, most with primitive record-keeping systems, and many happened more than 20 years ago, making it impossible to verify the information provided by the Peace Corps in every case.
Several families said they learned critical details about the deaths of their loved ones after being contacted by the Dayton Daily News.
Other families suspected the agency wasn't telling them the truth, but they have little means to investigate cases in foreign countries.
"I always felt like I got the runaround from them, like they were protecting themselves," said Stacy Krow, who believes her brother, Brian, either committed suicide or was killed in Ukraine in 1999.
In a written response, the Peace Corps says it relies on the causes of death as officially determined by local authorities, who are responsible for making such determinations.
"The Peace Corps is not the official investigating authority in any death of a volunteer," the response says. "Local authorities in country are in charge and report any official causes, details or other facts they believe to be true."
[Excerpt]
‘IT WASN'T THE FREAKY ACCIDENT THEY DESCRIBED’
In several deaths called accidents by the Peace Corps, the Daily News found suicide was likely, and even murder couldn't be ruled out.
"I always felt that the Peace Corps had an agenda of not publicizing these things, generally because they needed volunteers," said Teates' father, Warren. "I always felt they don't want to admit that these things are dangerous and frighten off the prospects."
Joseph Teates' badly decomposed body was found hanging from the ceiling beams of his home in Guatemala several days after he died. Rope was attached to his neck and legs.
The Peace Corps' explanation was that Teates, who was assigned to work with 4-H clubs, accidentally became entangled in the ropes while practicing a meditation or exercise technique. A written response from the agency says that finding was based on books found at his house and interviews with people who saw him before he died.
Though Teates practiced martial arts and had books on meditation, neither the family nor other volunteers recalled seeing him use ropes that way, and even Peace Corps investigators acknowledged it was "just our investigative theory," according to records released to the father.
"I was suspicious of their findings," said Guatemala volunteer Robert Itzin, who said he and other volunteers had been concerned about Teates' mental health since he arrived weeks before in San Pedro Carcha, a town of about 4,500 people at the end of a paved highway leading from the capital of Guatemala City.
"There was this concern about how he was accepted into the program in the first place," Itzin said.
Teates is one of several volunteers whose background raises questions about the Peace Corps' screening process.
He grew up on a farm with three brothers and a sister and had a bachelor's degree in biology from Virginia Tech, where he received an academic scholarship.
In 1982, his older brother committed suicide by shooting himself, according to family members. The suicide, Peace Corps records show, partially contributed to Teates’ depression.
Another brother died of a drug overdose in 1989, after Teates died, and the father suspects his death, too, was suicide.
Records from the Winchester City, Va., Circuit Court show an unspecified charge against Joseph Teates on July 5, 1984, and city police records show he was also arrested on Aug. 22 of that year on a charge of marijuana possession. Family members said he was arrested about that time for using a martial arts kick to break a glass door in a public building. He was placed in the mental health ward of a local hospital for several days, family members said.
Teates then began taking anti-depressants, according to family members.
Records from Monroe County, Fla., show Teates was arrested again on March 12, 1986, for resisting arrest "with violence." Peace Corps records show Teates threatened a police officer with a martial arts move, and he was facing charges when he applied for the Peace Corps.
Peace Corps records indicate that the agency was unaware of the full extent of Teates' criminal record, history of mental illness and drug use when he was accepted as a volunteer.
An investigation after his death also revealed that he used drugs regularly while a volunteer, according to State Department and Peace Corps records obtained from his father. The reports indicate that Teates would "smoke anything he could get his hands on" and that he used psychedelic mushrooms, which can produce severe hallucinations and an altered sense of consciousness. After his death, dozens of marijuana plants were found on his roof and what was believed to be mushrooms were removed from his house.
"I think I've always thought he was tripping on some kind of a drug, and in that tripping out of that drug, he decided to do something to himself," said Itzin, now working for a church-sponsored group in Nashville.
"It wasn't the freaky accident they described."
Violence against Americans has been commonplace in Guatemala, and the family suspects he was murdered. A volunteer was shot to death here less than three years earlier, and the week Teates died a Guatemalan girl was reported murdered in the same village.
Two autopsies determined that Teates was strangled, but neither established if it was suicide, murder or accident, according to records and the family.
Records sent to Teates' father and others obtained by the Daily News indicate that there were problems conducting a thorough autopsy in Guatemala because Teates' body was badly decomposed, organs and tissue samples were not handled properly and adequate medical equipment wasn't available. A coffee jar was used for one sample, and one container spilled, making it difficult to "determine which tissue was which," according to the records.
A Peace Corps press release dated June 22, 1987, several days after Teates' body was found, calls the death "an accident."
The following day, according to Peace Corps records, the agency's legal office recommended a re-examination of the death, partly because the agency suspected the family might conduct its own inquiry.
"A family-sponsored private investigation might be disruptive," says a memo from the legal office to then-Peace Corps Director Loret Miller Ruppe.
The inquiry by the legal office, the memo says, also would determine if the death was a suicide or the result of foul play, and if "other volunteers are in danger." The new inquiry, the memo says, would also help the Peace Corps "react accurately" to congressional and media inquiries.
The memo says that information collected during the new inquiry "could probably be considered attorney work product and protected" from public disclosure through the federal Freedom of Information Act.
Teates’ family doesn't recall if they were made aware of the results of the Peace Corps' follow-up investigation.
A written response from Peace Corps says the agency currently conducts criminal background checks on volunteers. The response did not address a question concerning the result of the subsequent investigation by the agency's legal office.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Peace Corps Annual Report: 1987; Peace Corps Guatemala; Directory of Guatemala RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Guatemala RPCVs; Safety and Security of Volunteers; Obituaries; Fallen; Peace Corps Library; Peace Corps Countries of Service; Peace Corps History; Peace Corps Message Board; Peace Corps Headlines
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Story Source: Dayton Daily News
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Guatemala; Safety; Obituaries; Fallen
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