Authors: KENNETH VANCE
“So here it goes. Shortly after we won the National Championship in 85 we, I mean the team, including myself started to feel like we were royalty. We were on the top of the world. Anyway, after we won we had this
huge
party at the Vance farm on the outskirts Champaign. Everyone who was anyone was there, students, fans and some faculty. We had several cases of booze. We had pickup trucks full of ice and kegs of beer. It was a bash to end all bashes. Some of the college bands where there playing music. It was suppose to be a celebration for a great season. It was the University’s first national championship in any sport. We athletes felt very proud to be a part of that. It started in the late afternoon about three. And didn’t get over to about four in the morning,” He takes a deep breath and takes another drink. “After about midnight all of the regular partiers left and went home. After that it was just mostly the extreme partiers. I mean real partier animals. There was about a dozen or so of us left, maybe eighteen or so after midnight.”
Todd and Brad listen still waiting for the truth. They don’t want to rush him so they remain completely silent. They want his version. Not some rushed explanation. So they patiently just listen.
“Now Caruthers was an animal in every sense of the word, he was the meanest, toughest, craziest son of a bitch I’ve ever known or will ever know. The whole school knew about him and his reputation. He was the kind of guy that would go out looking for fights. He was tough. Well that night Hill and Loomis left for a while and they came back with some acid. Drugs were a no-no to the jocks like us. Booze wasn’t that bad; but drugs were a serious thing with the coaches. Now besides Caruthers and Hill none of us ever did any kinds of drugs. I’m not positive about Loomis but it was well known that Hill and Caruthers didn’t mind experimenting. These guys were wild ones. I mean all of us smoked a little grass once in a while but nothing like acid ever entered our mind,” Todd and Brad sit there smiling hoping by their relaxed expressions and easy going body language he’ll open up and
tell all
.
“Anyway, Caruthers told us all to do some acid to unwind and celebrate with them. Now Stein and me kept telling him no but he insisted. So to make a long story short he made us feel like it was in our best interest to take some,”
Todd interrupts and asks. “How exactly did he do that?”
Steve Howard snickers slightly looking away. “It was simple. He told us if we didn’t he’d kill us.”
Brad says as he leans up to the counter trying to seem understanding. “And...You believed him?”
Steve chuckles with a slight grin. “Oh yeah, he meant it. And he would have. You have got to understand. This guy would like to go to other college parties and pick out the biggest guy there and beat the shit out of him. It made him feel tough. If he ever said he was going to kill you, you didn’t want to test him. So we all took a hit. Scott (Caruthers) and Hill loved drugs, it’s kinda strange that a few all Americans would be like that, but they were. They were radical as all get out. It really tore Stein and me up. I mean we were in real bad shape,” Steve starts to lean forward and rearrange items on the table like the salt and pepper and the napkin holder as he calmly explains.
“Then after we all kind of just sat around like a bunch of vegetables for a while and we started to snap out of it. Caruthers started to go around and bully on some of the guys. He was flirting with the girls. He told us guys that he was going to,” He looks away feeling embarrassed. “…Excuse the term.
Fuck
one of these girls before the night was over. We all believed him because he was the big man on campus. He never had trouble getting girls. He was a good-looking guy. The biggest star on the football team; well you get my point. Anyway he scared off most of the remaining couples. The only ones left were Beth Townsend and Troy Denton, the couple that was reported missing...us five players and one other couple, no one knew them but at that party there was probably two or three hundred people through out the day and night. I’m not sure of their names,” Steve clears his throat and looks away. “Anyway Caruthers kept trying to start a fight with that guy. He kept resisting but he finally stood up and told Caruthers to knock it off. Well that was a bad thing to do because Steve busted a beer bottle over his head and kicked his ass all over the woods. He and his girlfriend just took off running. After that and they never came back.”
Brad listens to this horrible rendition of what happened that night and he’s beginning to see where this is leading. “Why didn’t Beth and Troy leave?” Brad leans back and asks as he folds his arms with a smile still trying to keep him feeling at ease.
Steve sighs and says. “It wasn’t from a lack of trying. Troy was
almost
unconscious. I have to guess he had a lot to drink. After Beth saw Caruthers hitting people and fighting she kept trying to get him up. But he was too out of it. I kept hoping that she would leave, even by herself. I mean, I kept watching Scott terrorizing everyone and I kept thinking to myself that I hope they get out of here. Then finally it happened. Everyone was gone except her and her unconscious boyfriend. She could have left him there but she stayed by his side, she didn’t want anything to happen to him. Scott and Tom [Hill] walked over and started to pick at the young girl. Talking lewd and snapping her bra strap, we knew what was coming next. I told Stein ‘he’s going to rape that girl’. I said ‘what are we going to do?’ Well Stein was the youngest in the group. He was the most scared of Scott. So I walked over and said to Scott, ‘hey man, why don’t you leave her alone.’ He smiled back and said. ‘Fuck you.’ And he hit me right in the nose hard with his fist; the punch actually broke my nose. My face was covered in blood. I stood back up and told Loomis we need to get him out of here. Loomis just said. ‘If we do he’s going to kill us.’ So basically it was a bunch of guys too scared to stop the inevitable. So by this time after I took off my shirt to hold over my nose Stein started to shake when Scott and Tom began taking off her shirt. She tried to resist but they just tore it off. Then they drug her over to where the fire was and started to tear off her pants. By this time I didn’t care I went over and grabbed Scott and pulled him back. When I did this Tom reached into his back pocket and pulled out his little gun. He used to show everyone he had it. I think it made him feel tough. I’m not to up on guns and such, but I think he used to say it was a thirty-eight special...” Todd and Brad glance at each other briefly while they continue to hang on his every word. “...He put it in my face and said. ‘You better back up.’ Scott just smiled and Tom walked over and held the gun against my head. They were acting crazy. I had never seen either one so belligerent or violent before.” Steve starts to become fidgety as he sighs. It’s obvious that this is getting a little tough to continue.
“I don’t know if it was all the drugs, or maybe the booze and the drugs. I really don’t know but these guys were crazy that night, especially Scott. Stein and Loomis walked toward me and then Tom held the gun up and said ‘which one of you fuckers wants shot first.’ At the same time Scott has the girl on her stomach with her clothes off. She’s crying for help and every time we move toward the girl to help her Tom starts to wave the gun toward us, she’s fighting and kicking but he was just too powerful. We were talking to each other, we were just plain petrified. Scott has moved the girl to over a fallen tree with her knees on the ground and her chest and stomach on the tree and he’s raping her. Tom is in front of her holding the gun to her head telling her to shut up, he keeps taking the gun and putting it in her mouth and every once in a while he hits her with the gun. Me and Loomis and Stein are so scared we don’t know what to do. So Scott tells Tom to shut her up. He tells him ‘put your...put your, your...you know...in her mouth. That ought to shut her up.’ This poor girl is crying and Scott’s raping her from behind and Tom’s forcing her to perform oral sex on him with a gun to her head.”
Todd and Brad start to feel sick as they listen to this nightmare. Both men are clutching their fist and feel like they are going to snap.
“Then as she cries and they laugh and give each other high fives. We still try to figure out a way to help her.” Steve Howard closes his eyes and covers his face with both hands as he continues.
“Scott is punching her and Tom is hitting her and she can’t help but cry. They rape her and watch us. Every time we move closer the gun came off of her head and it’s aimed toward us. We were yelling at the two telling them to stop but they just laughed.” Steve takes a long deep breath then closes his eyes and places his hands over his face. “…Then as if it was possible, it got worse. Her boyfriend Troy starts to wake up. He leans up and then starts to stand up. He sees what’s going on so he yells and staggers toward the fire. He can barely stand up. But he tries. When he gets close to the fire Tom shoots him in the chest without a care in the world, just bam. He didn’t even stop raping her to shoot. Those scumbags couldn’t stop laughing. And Scott found it humorous because after her boyfriend fell to the ground right by the spot they were raping her Scott grabbed her by the hair and forced her to look at her boyfriend while he squirmed on the ground bleeding. This caused her to just freak out. I think that bothered her more than what was happening to her,” Steve closes his eyes momentarily and sighs. “He doesn’t die right off. He’s gasping and trying to crawl toward Beth,” Steve Howard continues to recant his story as a few tears roll down his cheek.
“When he gets close enough; he’s bleeding from the mouth and he’s crying Tom gets up, slaps her in the face after he takes his penis out of her mouth, moves away from her and walks over to Troy. He looks at Scott and says. ‘Watch this. Hey Beth watch closely. Check this out.’ He grabs a handful of his hair and pulls his head back so she can see his face then he holds the gun to the back of his head and shoots him point blank, I...seen the bullet come out of his...cheek, then he shoots him again in the back of the head. It seemed like her watching him get shot she must have passed out because she stops crying and lies there limp. Scott starts to cheer as he rapes her from behind. Then he starts to pull her hair until she’s crying again. He tells her. ‘You’re not going to pass out yet you...c...c...he called her the ‘C’ word. And he told her not till were done.’ These guys were out of their minds that night.” Steve grabs a paper towel and wipes away the tears and clears his throat.
“It was like they weren’t the same guys we won the Championship with and knew all of those years. Tom walks over and says. ‘My turn.’ Scott smiles and says. ‘Not till I...do her...in, in the...you know.’ Me and Loomis and Stein start toward the guys when Tom shoots the gun right at us over our head. We fall to the ground and curl up. I don’t know if he missed us on purpose or he just missed. But that was frightening, I had never had a gun aimed toward me and shot before, I felt paralyzed. I lied there looking for a rock or a stick, anything. I couldn’t stand this, and I wanted to help the girl. I was scared and I really wanted to help. But I guess I was just too much of a coward.” He wipes away some more tears as the officers listen to this horrific story feeling nauseated by the graphic details.
“She’s still crying and now she’s trying to get up and reach her boyfriend who’s just a few feet away but Scott won’t let her. She starts to fight and then Tom keeps an eye on us and hands Scott an empty fifth of bourbon. He laughs and says. ‘Why don’t you do her with this?’ She tries to stand up and Tom puts the gun in her mouth. That fucking lowlife was either beating her in the face with the gun or putting it in her mouth. She looks toward us with sheer terror in her eyes. I felt so helpless. I’ll never forget that look as long as I live.” Steve stops for a minute and composes himself as his breathing picks up. Todd and Brad feel sick as they listen hardly being able to keep still as if their tempers are about to explode and reach over and choke this guy for not doing anything.
“I guess if I were a real man I would have done something. Even if I would have been killed I should have helped that girl, but I was so scared.” Steve starts to cry.
“Just take your time.” Todd whispers and takes a deep breath. He knows he has to hear this but he doesn’t want to.
Steve sniffles and clears his throat as he wipes away the tears. “Then after she looked at us crying Scott finally stopped for a minute. Then Tom stood behind her and started to use the bottle on her...she fought and struggled but Scott sat down on her back so she couldn’t move...she was helpless,” He sniffles. “…she yelped and screamed and it was so horrible I couldn’t stand it…” Steve puts his hands over his face and swallows hard as he relives this nightmare. “…they put the bottle in her...and she tried so hard to get away but these, these guys were just way to strong.” He sniffles again as Todd closes his eyes and covers his face breathing hard. Brad sits there almost in tears as well.
“It’s like they were trying to torture this poor girl before they killed her and I didn‘t understand why, this poor girl never did anything to anyone, she was a nice girl.” Steve sniffles and wipes his eyes with his sleeve. “The more she cried the more they beat on her and tried different ways to make her feel pain. I couldn’t take this any more so I stood up and ran toward Scott and Tom Shoots me in the leg. I dropped instantly and Stein and Loomis ran over to me. The other two continue raping this girl without stopping...those
fucking
scumbags were trying to see how far they get the bottle inside of that poor girl.”