EXCLUSIVE: Special Report — How Killer Hazing Rituals Have Killed 200 College Students in 2 Decades, as Victims' Parents Speak Out
Killer hazing rituals have caused 200 college student deaths in 2 decades, as victims' parents speak out.
March 24 2025, Published 7:30 a.m. ET
Dozens of college students have seen their young lives tragically snuffed out over the last two decades from insane fraternity hazing rituals, leading one grieving parent to rage: "It's got to stop. It's killing people."
Following 20-year-old Caleb Wilson's shocking death in late February at Louisiana's Southern University and A&M College, RadarOnline.com launched an investigation into the murky – and too often deadly – world of Greek campus life.
We uncovered an alarming epidemic that has claimed the lives of 200 university students in all, with an incredible 50 deaths between 2000 and 2021 alone.
Steven Gruver recalls the hazing ritual that killed his son Max at LSU's Phi Delta Theta.
"It gets to be so dangerous so quickly," said Steven Gruver, whose 18-year-old son, Max, died in 2017 during a hazing ritual at Louisiana State University's Phi Delta Theta fraternity.
"It's kind of like someone drinking and driving. They don't believe they're going to kill somebody when they get behind the wheel, but it happens all the time."
Tim Piazza, a 19-year-old engineering major at Penn State, was another young man whose promising life was senselessly cut short.
On February 4, 2017, Piazza and 14 other pledges participated in a drunken obstacle course called "The Gauntlet" at Beta Theta Pi fraternity.
After guzzling several times the legal limit of alcohol, Piazza fell down a flight of stairs.
Evelyn Piazza mourns her son Tim, who died in a Penn State fraternity hazing tragedy.
His would-be frat brothers carried him to a couch, doused him with cold water and slapped him with hopes that he would rouse himself.
Several times during the night, he got up – only to fall again.
Finally, 12 hours after his initial tumble down the stairs, a fraternity brother called 911, but by then it was too late.
Before he died, Piazza had been breathing heavily, had blood on his face and his skin had turned gray, according to a police investigation that charged 28 Beta Theta Pi members in his death.
His grieving mom, Evelyn Piazza, told RadarOnline.com: "Imagine losing one of your children because of meanness, cruelty and abuse and to know that people didn't value his life enough to call for help when he needed it.
"It's every day that you wake up and realize that a piece of you is missing."
Less than eight months after Tim's untimely death, Max Gruver died at Louisiana State University's Phi Delta Theta fraternity while participating in a hazing ritual cheekily referred to as "Bible Study."
Matthew Naquin was convicted of negligent homicide in Max Gruver's hazing death.
In reality, the heartless hazing called for pledges to chug 190 proof alcohol if they were unable to recite the Greek alphabet or answer questions about the fraternity. Max's body was discovered the following morning with a blood alcohol content six times the legal limit.
Two years later, a former member of the fraternity, Matthew Naquin, was convicted of negligent homicide and sentenced to five years in prison.
"If anybody would have just called 911 in that room that night, Max could have been saved," said Steven Gruver, who has visited his son's grave every Friday since his death. "I feel that folks just don't believe it's going to – upgraded the penalty for hazing-related deaths."
Grieving parents like Evelyn Piazza demand justice for victims of fatal hazing.
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Gruver added: "It's unbelievable that young adults are willing to risk felony charges to haze someone else, and that just hurts me to the core. The reason we strengthened these laws is to deter people from doing this."
Meanwhile, heartbroken mom Evelyn said it's incredulous to her that horrors like these are still happening.
She said: "You need to ask yourself – how does punching someone in the chest make someone a better fraternity brother? It's infuriating and incomprehensible (and) it's got to stop. It's killing people."
