LSU Student Dies: Forced 'Bible Study' Drinking Game Possible, Cops Say

BATON ROUGE, LA — An underage Louisiana State University fraternity pledge who died last month might have been forced to binge drink during a game or initiation ritual known as "Bible Study," according to recently released police reports. Pledges at the Phi Delta Theta house were grilled on questions about the fraternity the night before 18-year-old Maxwell Gruver, of Roswell, Georgia, died, LSU police said in affidavits filed in court Monday. Pledges had to drink if they answered incorrectly.

Gruver was "highly intoxicated" when fraternity members laid him on a couch and left the house early Sept. 14, a witness told police. Members found Gruver still on the couch with a weak pulse around 11 a.m. They couldn't tell if he was breathing, police said, and two people drove him to a hospital. The freshman died there that day.

A coroner said hospital tests found a "highly elevated" blood-alcohol level in Gruver's body. Police are investigating the death as a possible result of fraternity hazing. The fraternity's national office said it closed the chapter after Gruver's death. (For more information on Gruver's death and other Baton Rouge stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Witness statements "indicated that the pledges were forced to drink in excess. Several of the pledges stated that they received a group text message stating there would be 'Bible Study' at the house" at 10 p.m. on Sept. 13, a police affidavit said.

Police executed search warrants at the fraternity house and at Gruver's dorm room. Among the items seized from the fraternity house were a duffel bag filled with beer cans, bottles of liquor, a glass smoking pipe, a "pledge test," cleaning supplies and two strands of white knotted rope, according to a search warrant return.

Police also found devices that may have captured video footage inside the fraternity house "during the times of the events," a police affidavit says.

Investigators seized a cellphone belonging to the fraternity member who sent the group text message about the "Bible Study" session.

"Investigators also learned that there were several text messages sent about (Gruver's) condition," the affidavit said.

Police also obtained a warrant to examine Gruver's phone so they could see who he called or texted before his death.

In a letter dated Sept. 21, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards asked leaders of the state's higher-education system to review their campus policies on hazing, alcohol and drugs following Gruver's death.

"One loss of life to hazing or drug and alcohol abuse is too many, and I know that you share my very serious concerns," Edwards wrote, asking them to report their findings and recommendations to his office by Oct. 29.

East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore has said police interviewed many fraternity members but some had refused to give a statement and were hiring lawyers.

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press

Photo credit: Hilary Scheinuk/The Advocate via AP