Reward climbs to $5000 in U Col. date-rape case

[hoosier]

Reward climbs in date-rape case



The Associated Press
BOULDER — The reward in a suspected date-rape drug case stood at $5,000 after two fraternity groups, the University of Colorado and Crime Stoppers all pledged contributions.

Investigators have said two women may have ingested the drug on the night they attended fraternity parties last month.

They were among seven women taken to a hospital on Sept. 24.

Investigators first thought they were suffering from alcohol poisoning after attending parties at two fraternity houses, but they later said at least two of the women had ingested gamma hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, a rapidly acting central nervous system depressant.

None of the women reported being sexually assaulted.

The national office of Sigma Pi, one of the two fraternities where the parties took place, contributed $2,000 on Friday toward the reward.

The university’s Interfraternity Council and its alumni group have pledged a total of $1,000, and CU and Crime Stoppers each have offered $1,000.

It was unclear if police had determined where the women ingested GHB.

Marc D. Stine, a fraternity advocate at CU, said it could have happened elsewhere, before the fraternity parties started.

“If it’s fraternity-related, I can guarantee we will take strong action,” he said. “If it turns out this happened somewhere else, then we want to know that, too, so we can say these young men had nothing to do with it.”

Mark Briscoe, executive director of the national Sigma Pi fraternity, said last week it appeared the Boulder chapter had followed the faternity rules at the party, but the GHB tests have prompted more questions.

“We were winding down the investigation, but we’re going to leave it open because this brings a whole new thing into the investigation,” he said.

CU’s fraternities have been in turmoil since 18-year-old freshman pledge, Lynn Gordon “Gordie” Bailey Jr., died on Sept. 17, 2004, after a night of heavy drinking during a fraternity event.