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Vanessa Richardson
Hi Crime House community. It's Vanessa Richardson. Exciting news. Conspiracy theories, cults and crimes is leveling up. Starting the week of January 12th, you'll be getting two episodes every week. Wednesdays we unravel the conspiracy or the cult, and on Fridays we look at a corresponding crime. Every week has a theme. Tech, bioterror, power, paranoia, you name it. Follow conspiracy theories, cults and crimes now on your podcast app because you're about to dive deeper, get weirder and go darker than ever before.
Katie Ring
This is Crime House. A freshman at Penn State went to a fraternity event thinking that he'd be welcomed into their brotherhood. Instead, he never made it home and 18 people watched him die. Welcome to crime house 24 7. I'm your host Katie Ring. We're following the cases making headlines now where justice is still unfolding. Follow us wherever you are listening and if you want ad free episodes, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. This episode discusses active criminal cases and breaking news. The information we share is based on what's publicly available at the time of recording and may change as new evidence comes to light. We aim to inform, not to decide guilt or innocence. So everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Vanessa Richardson
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Katie Ring
Hi, I'm your host Katie Ring and welcome back to Night Watch. Before we get into tonight's episode. I just want to remind you that if you want to support the show and stay up to date on all the new true crime stories, make sure to subscribe and follow. Timothy Piazza grew up in Redington Township, New Jersey. He was the youngest child of Evelyn and James Piazza, and he had an older brother named Mike. In high school, Tim was a super active person. He played football and ran track, but he was so much more than an athlete. He volunteered in his community, educating younger students about peer pressure, bullying, and making positive choices. Tim had big plans, and by the time he reached Penn State's campus, he was ready to try it all there. Tim studied engineering and dreamed of using that education to help others. Specifically, he wanted to work on making prosthetics, which was an idea that came from his interests in 3D printing. Tim wanted to make a tangible difference in people's lives. His friends and family described him as genuine and loyal, with a quiet presence and a ready smile. He could be shy or awkward at first, but he was also funny and kind. Tim had a girlfriend and a tight circle of friends who knew him as someone who cared deeply about the people in his life. So when he decided to go through the recruitment process for Greek Life at Penn state in early 2017, it wasn't because he was chasing a frat boy stereotype. He wanted to join a group of peers who could make a big school feel smaller and more personal. When he told his parents that he had his heart set on Beta Theta PI, one of the many fraternities that dotted the neighborhoods just off of Penn State's campus, they agreed. Why? Because when they searched it up online, the frat said it was a no alcohol, no hazing organization. James and Evelyn thought their son made the right choice, but now this decision haunts them. In January of 2017, during his second semester of college, Tim pledged Beta Theta PI. If you don't know what pledging is, it means that he's made it to the second round of frat applications and now he's trying to showcase his devotion. It's a way to sort of weed out people who might realize that the frat life isn't the path for them. To outsiders, Beta Theta PI was a large, ordinary fraternity house. To students, it was a gateway into a social world that promised parties, camaraderie, ritual, and connection. On the night of February 2, 2017, that promise became a tragedy. That night, Beta Theta PI was hosting its bid acceptance event, which is a ritual designed to finalize pledges like Tim into their ranks. According to investigators, the event involved a series of forced drinking tasks meant to accelerate intoxication. Shortly after 9pm Tim got to the Beta Theta PI house to start his midnight. Tim walked through the house that evening with other pledges, moving through its rooms, interacting with members, and participating in the activities. He was supposed to have a regular college evening. But as the night progressed, things went seriously wrong. Surveillance footage later reviewed by the police showed Tim moving throughout rooms in the house and consuming large quantities of alcohol because he had to participate in the frat's gauntlet obstacle course. Mind you, the gauntlet was an activity where pledges were instructed to drink not only repeatedly, but also quickly. And that's what Tim did. At 9:21pm a frat brother named Daniel Casey, who was the frat's vice president and pledge master, handed Tim a bottle of vodka, which he took a heavy swig from. Immediately after, another brother gave him a beer, which Tim shotgunned. This kind of pattern continued throughout the night, and by 9:50pm Tim was visibly intoxicated. His movement slowed, he struggled to maintain balance, and experts later estimated that he had at least two 18 drinks in less than two hours. So Tim was severely drunk. And remember, Tim wasn't 21 yet, so technically, he should have never been served alcohol to begin with. At around 10:40pm the night shifted. Surveillance video captured Tim falling down a flight of stairs leading to the house's basement. He struck his head multiple times as he tumbled, and when he hit the bottom of the stairs, he lay motionless for roughly 20 seconds. The people who saw him fall were stunned. Then several fraternity members carried him up the stairs and put him on a couch. And from that moment on, everything in the timeline became especially critical, because between 10:47pm and midnight, surveillance cameras showed frat members checking in on Tim intermittently. They poured drinks on him while he lay there motionless, even putting a backpack on him and lying him on his side, thinking that it would help prevent Tim from rolling on his back and choking on his own vomit. At 11:14pm one of Tim's fellow pledges, Cordell Davis, came in to check on him. When Cordell got a look at Tim, he started yelling at the older frat guys. He told them they needed to get Tim to the hospital, but Daniel shoved him into the wall and told him that everything was under control. But it clearly wasn't, because 10 minutes later, Daniel slapped Tim in the face three times. And when Tim didn't respond, that's when the frat guys started texting one another. One of the frat brothers texted in the group chat. Also, Tim Piazza might actually be a problem. He fell 15ft down a flight of steps, hair first, going to need help, but still no one helped. And as the night went into the early morning hours of Friday, February 3, things were looking bleak. But luckily, at around 3:22 in the morning, Tim woke up. He tried to stand but fell, hitting his head on the floor. Thirty minutes later, he tried to get up again, but he fell a second time. Two hours later, at roughly 5am, Tim successfully got up to make his way towards the door, but he fell even harder this time, landing head first into an iron railing. Tim stayed on the cold floor with blood on his face, breathing heavily. He was still alive, but he was struggling. Yet still no one moved a muscle to call for help. Instead, they picked him up and put him back on the couch. Upstairs, they tried to shake him awake, but Tim didn't respond. He was still they could have called for help, but between 5am and 10am they filmed Tim and stepped over him, ignoring the fact that he was in serious trouble. Until finally someone took action. At about 7am, Tim woke up again and he tried to make his way to the basement. When the frat brothers found him slumped near the bar, they brought him back to the couch, tried to change him into new clothes and wiped his face, almost as if they were cleaning up their mess. Then three hours later, at 10:48am on February 3rd, someone finally called Emergency Medical Assistance. This was 12 hours after Tim's first fall. Paramedics arrived shortly thereafter and found Tim unresponsive. He was transported to Mount Nittany Medical center and later transferred to Penn State Hershey Medical center for advance care. Doctors there determined that Tim had suffered catastrophic injuries, including severe traumatic brain injury, internal bleeding and extensive swelling. His spleen was destroyed and they had to remove it. His blood alcohol concentration was measured at nearly four times the legal limit for driving. And despite intensive medical interventions, his injuries were irreversible. In the early morning hours of Saturday, February 4, 2017, Tim Piazza was pronounced dead. He was only 19 years old. News of Tim's death spread rapidly across campus. Classes continued, but the atmosphere shifted. Students gathered quietly. Parents called their children. Questions surfaced immediately about hazing, alcohol and why no one acted sooner. That weekend, Penn State suspended the Beta Theta PI chapter indefinitely as law enforcement opened a criminal investigation. Meanwhile, Tim's family held a funeral and wake for him. 3000 people came to his wake and 600 people attended his funeral. Clearly, Tim touched the lives of so many people, but his own was cut short way too soon. Penn State was also taking action to remember Tim. The day after his funeral on February 12, 2017, Penn State held a vigil for him and 400 students showed up to honor him. A basket of yellow roses and white lilies sat on the stage near his parents, who looked solemn and tearful, and light rain poured on the crowd as candles were lit in Tim's honor. Bennett Brooks, Tim's roommate, was also there. He said that he and Tim were supposed to shave their heads in honor of a no Hair, don't care event on February 13, which is a 46 hour dance marathon that supports those impacted by childhood cancer. And even though Tim was gone, Bennett still planned on shaving his head, not just for the kids, but for his friend Tim. At the vigil, Tim's brother said that Tim's organs were donated to save a man in his late 40s. So even in death, Tim made a difference and his family made sure of that. But here's what they were unsure of. Why didn't anyone help their son? Their son who was clearly in medical distress and too intoxicated to help himself? So many people had opportunities to intervene but just chose not to act. And those choices had consequences. On March 30, 2017, Beta Theta PI was banned from Penn State. And then even more consequences seeped into the criminal system. On May 8, 2017, Pennsylvania prosecutors announced criminal charges against 18 members of Beta Theta PI. The fraternity itself was charged as a criminal enterprise and individual defendants faced charges that included hazing, furnishing alcohol to minors and involuntary manslaughter. The scale of the prosecution was unprecedented, but for Tim's family, this was never about precedent. It was about a son who trusted the people around him and never came home.
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Katie Ring
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Katie Ring
Instacart for a limited time. Fees and in store offer exclusions apply. When Timothy Piazza was pronounced dead on February 4, 2017, the night inside the Beta Theta PI house did not end. In many ways, it was just beginning. Within days of Tim's death, Penn State Police and the Center County District Attorney's Office began assembling what would become one of the most detailed hazing investigations in recent memory. This was not a case built on rumors or fragmented witness accounts. From the start, investigators had something unusually concrete. They had video and text messages. Surveillance cameras inside and outside the fraternity house had been recording continuously. Meanwhile, text messages exchanged during the hours Tim lay unconscious still existed. Texts like, he looked effing dead. I think we are effed. Like beyond effed. I don't want to go to jail. Hazing is a huge thing. Tim Piazza might actually be a problem. He fell 15ft down a flight of stairs, hair first, going to need help. And searches like, how will nine drinks in an hour affect a 200 pound guy? Yet help never came until it was too late. These texts allowed investigators to do something rare in cases like this reconstruct not just what happened, but how long it took, how many chances there were to intervene, and how everyone in that house was aware that something was wrong. Because not only did these messages circulate, but frat brothers tried to delete them, too. One brother, Daniel Casey, told another brother, Lars Kenyon, to delete the frats group me conversation. So quote, there's no evidence on Tim's phone. The men scrambled to erase their tracks, but it was too late. The damage was already done. So by the end of February 2017, the detective's reconstruction of events was largely complete. What emerged was not a mystery about Tim's cause of death. That part was clear. What remained was a more difficult question. How do you assign responsibility when harm unfolds slowly across hours and in full view of others? For prosecutors, answering that question meant testing the limits of the law. On May 8, 2017, they did just that. Just over three months after Tim's death, Center county district attorney Stacy Parks Miller stepped to a podium and announced Sweeping Criminal charges. 18 members of Beta Theta PI were charged in connection with Tim's death, and the fraternity chapter itself was charged as a criminal enterprise, a move rarely used in cases involving college organizations. The announcement sent a clear message. Prosecutors were not treating this as a tragic accident. They were treating it as a criminal failure. The charges varied by defendant. Some were charged with hazing. Others were furnishing alcohol to minors. Several faced reckless endangerment. And eight fraternity members were charged with involuntary manslaughter. The theory behind the prosecution was direct, even if the law itself was not. Tim, they argued, did not die simply because he drank too much or because he fell. He died because the people around him recognized he was in medical distress and repeatedly chose not to act. That delay, they said, was not incidental. It was a crime. So as the case moved into court that summer, the focus shifted from outrage to procedure. Throughout June and July of 2017, preliminary hearings unfolded in Centre County Court. On their part, the prosecutors summarized the surveillance footage and text messages. Judges listened as the timeline was walked through again and again. Meanwhile, defense attorneys did not contest what the camera showed. Instead, they challenged how responsibility should be defined. They argued that Pennsylvania's involuntary manslaughter statute requires a clear and direct link between an individual's actions and a death. In this case, they said, responsibility was spread across many people. Judgment on all parties involved was impaired by alcohol. They said that no single defendant could have caused Tim's fatal injuries. As the months passed, those arguments began to shape the case. And on February 2, 2018, exactly one year after the night of the fraternity event that took Tim's life, Center county judge Allen Sinclair issued a ruling that changed everything. He dismissed the involuntary manslaughter charges against several defendants, concluding that prosecutors had not met the legal threshold required to sustain those counts. The ruling did not challenge the facts of the case, but it did narrow how the law could interpret them. For Tim's family, the decision was devastating. Nothing about that night had changed. Their surveillance footage showed everything, even Tim's final moments. The messages acknowledging Tim's condition were still there, buried in phones. But the legal path towards accountability had narrowed sharply from there. The case did not resolve all at once. Instead, it unfolded in stages, through plea agreements and delayed sentencing decisions that stretched years beyond the night Tim died. And that's when a major development rolled around. Individual frat members began entering guilty pleas to lesser charges. Beginning on July 30, 2018. Some admitted to hesing. Others admitted to furnishing alcohol to minors. Additional pleas followed throughout August and September, and since there's so many guys involved in this case, I'm not going to go into all of them, but I will say that their consequences remained severely limited throughout late 2018 and early 2019. Their sentencing hearings resulted primarily in probation, community service, fines, and mandatory alcohol education. No one was sentenced to jail time, but two defendants remained. Brendan Young and Daniel Casey were the final frat members still facing charges related to Tim Piazza's death. Prosecutors identified them as central figures in the hours after Tim's injuries. Remember, Daniel Casey was the vice president and pledge master who orchestrated the gauntlet in the first place. Meanwhile, Brendan Young was the frat's president. According to court records, they were both present inside the Beta Theta PI house during the critical moments when Tim was visibly in distress and medical help could have been called. Their cases moved more slowly through the system, delayed by legal challenges and appeals, but justice was still eventually served. In 2024, more than seven years after Tim died, Young and Casey were sentenced after they both pleaded guilty to 14 hazing counts and one count of reckless endangerment. They received a sentence of two to four months in county jail plus three years of probation and community service. They became the only individuals to serve jail time connected to Tim's death, and their sentences marked a rare outcome. Although they were short, the jail terms represented the court's acknowledgment that probation alone didn't fully reflect the seriousness of what had happened. By then, the criminal case had stretched across nearly a decade, and what remained was an uneasy truth. The legal system had recognized wrongdoing, but it had struggled to fully address harm caused not by a single violent act, but by hesitation, fear and silence shared across a room. And now Tim's death wasn't just about the past. It was about the future.
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Katie Ring
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Katie Ring
After Brendan Young and Daniel Casey were sentenced in the death of their soon to be frat brother Tim Piazza, attention shifted from punishing people for Tim's death to preventing similar deaths in the future. Tim's parents didn't want their son's death to quietly fade into the background, so they embarked on an anti hazing campaign ensuring Tim's name would always be remembered. In 2017, Tim's parents reached a civil settlement with Beta Theta PI. For them, it was no longer just about individual choices made on one night. It was about systems that allowed those choices to feel acceptable. And they made sure that Penn State felt their pressure too. In the months following Tim's death, the university announced changes to its oversight of Greek life. Alcohol policies were tightened. Monitoring increased. Anti hazing education expanded. University leaders stated publicly that hazing violated Penn State's values and demanded cultural change. But for Tim's family, the timing of those reforms raised difficult questions. They came only after a student had died. By the fall of 2018, Timothy Piazza's name had become part of Penn State's institutional memory. Orientation sessions referenced his case. Anti hazing campaigns cited his story. New students learned about him before they learned where their classes were. And Penn State was not alone. Across the country, hazing desks continued to follow a familiar pattern. Alcohol physical collapse Delayed medical assistance Fear of consequences outweighing instinct. National tracking data shows that more than 100 students have died in hazing related incidents over the past several decades. Alcohol remains the most common factor. Delayed calls for help remain one of the most consistent threads. Tim's case followed that pattern with devastating clarity. For Tim's parents, advocacy became a way to make sure that clarity did not fade. They began speaking directly to students and administrators, emphasizing a simple silence can be deadly. They spoke in specifics about hours, about minutes, about the space between 10pm and 10:48am because that space is where they lost their son. In the years since February 2017, Timothy Piazza has become more than a name attached to a hazing prosecution or a policy change. He has become a reference point in a national reckoning over how hazing persists, how institutions respond, and what happens when fear outweighs responsibility. That advocacy helps drive legislative change. In Pennsylvania. In October of 2018, lawmakers passed the Timothy J. Piazza Anti Hazing law, strengthening penalties for hazing and elevating certain offenses to felony status. The law expanded legal definitions to better reflect modern hazing practices and required colleges and universities to publicly report hazing incidents and disciplinary outcomes. It also gives immunity to people in need of medical assistance from alcohol and anyone who tries to help them, closing the gaps between fear and getting help. But even as laws changed, the broader national picture remained deeply troubling. In November of 2025, the parents of 18 year old Sawyer Lee Updyte, a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin, filed a wrongful death lawsuit after their son died by suicide. According to the lawsuit, Sawyer endured months of severe hazing while pledging Sigma Chi, including alleged physical abuse, forced drug use, and escalating psychological torment. It was too much, and Sawyer tragically took his own Life on January 16, 2024. His parents alleged that the mistreatment created an environment of fear and humiliation that ultimately pushed him into crisis. Their lawsuit claims that fraternity leadership knew about the hazing culture and failed to intervene. In response, the University of Texas issued a cease and desist order against sigchi, which was also known as Texas Alpha Nu. The case is ongoing, but it has already expanded the national conversation around hazing to include not only physical injury, but psychological harm and its long term consequences. Together, these cases illustrate a full spectrum of what hazing can become. It can be loud and immediate, like a fatal fall after forced drinking. Or it can be slow and invisible, eroding someone's sense of safety until they no longer see a way out. Timothy Piazza was 19 years old. He was a son, a brother and a friend. He believed in doing things the right way. He trusted that if something went wrong, someone would step in. But in his own life, for 12 hours, no one did. And that silence continues to echo, not just in statistics and lawsuits, but in every conversation about what hazing is allowed to become. Because the question at the heart of the story has never been complicated. When someone's life is in danger, what matters more? Belonging, getting in trouble, or doing the right thing? What did you think of tonight's case? Drop your thoughts and theories in the comments and we'll see you tomorrow night for our final episode of Night Watch University Week. We're ending with a bang the scandal that impacted 11 different major schools across the country, Operation Varsity Blues. See you next time if you haven't already. Follow us wherever you're listening. Rimehouse24 7 and make sure to follow us on social media rimehouse24.7 for real time updates. Because the pursuit of justice never stops.
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Vanessa Richardson
Looking for your next listen? Hi, it's Vanessa Richardson and I have exciting news. Conspiracy theories, cults and crimes is leveling up starting the week of January 12th. You'll be getting two episodes every week. Wednesdays we unravel the conspiracy or the cult, and on Fridays we look at a corresponding crime. Follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen.
Host: Katie Ring
Date: January 22, 2026
This Night Watch episode, hosted by Katie Ring, dives deep into the tragic fraternity hazing death of Timothy Piazza at Penn State University in 2017. Through detailed storytelling and analysis, Katie reconstructs the timeline of events, the subsequent investigation, and the aftermath—including legal consequences, university reforms, and the national anti-hazing movement inspired by Piazza’s case. The episode also contextualizes broader cultural and legislative implications, highlighting the enduring dangers of hazing in American universities.
Most fraternity members received probation, community service, or fines; only two—Brendan Young and Daniel Casey, the president and pledge master—received jail time (2-4 months), plus three years probation/community service in 2024.
Sentences marked a rare criminal acknowledgment of the seriousness, though jail terms were brief.
The 2024 hazing-related suicide of Sawyer Lee Updyte at the University of Texas at Austin demonstrates ongoing problems.
Memorable Closing Reflection:
"Timothy Piazza was 19 years old. He was a son, a brother and a friend. He believed in doing things the right way. He trusted that if something went wrong, someone would step in. But in his own life, for 12 hours, no one did. And that silence continues to echo, not just in statistics and lawsuits, but in every conversation about what hazing is allowed to become." (Katie Ring, [31:31])
Katie closes with the core question:
"When someone's life is in danger, what matters more? Belonging, getting in trouble, or doing the right thing?" ([31:48])
On the culture of silence:
“The legal system had recognized wrongdoing, but it had struggled to fully address harm caused not by a single violent act, but by hesitation, fear and silence shared across a room.”
— Katie Ring ([22:38])
On opportunities lost:
"They began speaking directly to students and administrators, emphasizing a simple silence can be deadly. They spoke in specifics about hours, about minutes, about the space between 10pm and 10:48am because that space is where they lost their son."
— Katie Ring ([28:00])
On Tim’s intentions:
“He wasn't chasing a frat boy stereotype. He wanted to join a group of peers who could make a big school feel smaller and more personal.”
— Katie Ring ([03:48])
Katie Ring’s Night Watch episode offers a meticulously detailed and emotionally resonant exploration of the Timothy Piazza hazing case. By reconstructing the night’s events, the extensive investigation, and evolving legal and cultural responses, the episode underscores the dangers of fraternity hazing and the costs of collective inaction. The Piazza family’s activism and legislative legacy serve as a call to action, ensuring Tim’s memory helps drive real change in the fight against hazing nationwide.