Paul Spratt, 34, allegedly died in a hotel room fire in Zaire, where he had been smoking and drinking in bed, according to Peace Corps records



At the time, records show, Spratt was being terminated and was to be sent back to the United States to face charges of embezzling $27,000 in university funds. A State Department telegram marked "confidential" said, "Please advise whether Peace Corps Zaire has informed local authorities we had reason to believe Peace Corps volunteer Spratt may have been considering suicide." Spratt was alive but unconscious when the fire began, and blood tests were conducted to determine why he was unconscious, according to the records. The test results did not appear to be part of the records released by Peace Corps, though several of the records were unreadable. The death was called an accident. "Basically, all we heard was that he died in bed in the Peace Corps," said Spratt's sister-in-law, Helen Spratt of Blackstone, Mass., adding that the family was not told about the embezzling or the suspicion of suicide.

Paul Spratt, 34, allegedly died in a hotel room fire in Zaire, where he had been smoking and drinking in bed, according to Peace Corps records

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]

Paul Spratt, 34, allegedly died in a hotel room fire in Zaire, where he had been smoking and drinking in bed, according to Peace Corps records. At the time, records show, Spratt was being terminated and was to be sent back to the United States to face charges of embezzling $27,000 in university funds.

A State Department telegram marked "confidential" said, "Please advise whether Peace Corps Zaire has informed local authorities we had reason to believe Peace Corps volunteer Spratt may have been considering suicide."

Spratt was alive but unconscious when the fire began, and blood tests were conducted to determine why he was unconscious, according to the records. The test results did not appear to be part of the records released by Peace Corps, though several of the records were unreadable.

The death was called an accident.

"Basically, all we heard was that he died in bed in the Peace Corps," said Spratt's sister-in-law, Helen Spratt of Blackstone, Mass., adding that the family was not told about the embezzling or the suspicion of suicide.

The remains were never sent to the family, she said.

"We always kind of wondered if we were told straight goods or not, and I guess in the back of our minds maybe we thought smoking in bed was a little too convenient," she said.

Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Peace Corps Annual Report: 1972; Peace Corps Congo Kinshasa; Directory of Congo Kinshasa RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Congo Kinshasa 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

When this story was posted in June 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

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