The killing of Charles St. Denis (Chakradhari dasa), New Vrindaban, 1983
- Period
- 1983–1987
- Places
- New Vrindaban
- People involved
- 2
Recorded in this case
2 entries — 2 convictions.
Last reviewedSummary
Charles St. Denis (Chakradhari dasa) was killed at New Vrindaban, West Virginia, on 10 June 1983. Thomas Drescher (Tirtha das) was convicted of his murder by a Marshall County jury in December 1986 and sentenced to life; Daniel Reid (Daruka) pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and helped police find the body, which was recovered from a grave under a creek on community land in 1987.
According to the Fourth Circuit’s account of the evidence at Keith Ham’s federal trial, Reid decided to kill St. Denis after learning that St. Denis had raped his wife, consulted Kirtanananda Swami (Bhaktipada), and with Drescher lured St. Denis to his house, where he was shot and stabbed and then buried. Testifying at Ham’s 1996 retrial, Drescher said Bhaktipada had authorised the killing; the accusations against each man are on their records.
Drescher was tried while the body was still missing. In 1987 Reid helped investigators find it, wrapped in plastic about 18 inches beneath a stream on community land (Lede News). Television footage of the recovery, as identified by the person who posted it online in 2007, is in the document library.
Timeline
The case period, every status change in the accusations it involves, and the founding and closing of its places.
- 1968
- Founded1968 New Vrindaban
- 1983
- Case period1983–1987 The killing of Charles St. Denis (Chakradhari dasa), New Vrindaban, 1983
- 1986
- ChargedJuly 1986 Daruka Killing of Charles St. Denis (1983) The Los Angeles Times reported that he was indicted in July 1986 in Moundsville, West Virginia, with Thomas Drescher, on first-degree murder charges over St. Denis's death.
- ChargedJuly 1986 Tirtha Das Murder of Charles St. Denis (1983) The Los Angeles Times reported that he was arrested on 27 May 1986 in Kent, Ohio, on a West Virginia warrant over St. Denis's disappearance, and was indicted in July 1986 in Moundsville, with Daniel Reid, on first-degree murder charges.
- ConvictedDecember 1986 Tirtha Das Murder of Charles St. Denis (1983) A Marshall County, West Virginia, jury convicted him of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to life imprisonment; the California Court of Appeal (1990) dates the conviction to December 1986 and calls the sentence "life without mercy," i.e., life without the possibility of parole, and a federal court recorded in 2017 that he was serving "a life without mercy sentence for First Degree Murder". The Fourth Circuit records that he was "tried and convicted in West Virginia for the St. Denis murder". UPI dates the conviction to December 1986; AP gives 1987.
- 1987
- Convicted1987 Daruka Killing of Charles St. Denis (1983) Pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and testified against Thomas Drescher (AP); the plea had been entered by December 1987 (The Washington Post); Henry Doktorski's timeline dates it to January 1987, at Fairmont. The Los Angeles Times (1990) instead described an accused accomplice in the St. Denis killing as having agreed to testify under immunity. The Fourth Circuit records that "Reid and Drescher were convicted for the St. Denis murder".
People involved
2Everyone named in this case, with their role and the current status of what they are accused of. Cleared people are listed for fairness.
- DefendantConvictedMurder of Charles St. Denis (1983)Convicted of first-degree murder, Marshall County, December 1986; life imprisonment
- DefendantConvictedKilling of Charles St. Denis (1983)Pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and testified against Drescher; led police to the grave in 1987
Victims
1People named publicly in this case who have a memorial page.
- Chakradhari dasa?–1983New Vrindaban devotee killed in 1983; his body was found in 1987.
Documents
2Sources
2- [1]California Court of Appeal, Drescher v. Superior Court, 218 Cal. App. 3d 1140, 267 Cal. Rptr. 661 (Cal. Ct. App., 2d Dist., Div. 3, No. B045127) — via CourtListener, Mar 16, 1990 · copy on this site
- [2]Lede News (Wheeling), Marshall County's Gruzinskas Pleased with Krishna Resurgence (Steve Novotney) — interview with former trooper John Gruzinskas, Sep 25, 2023