Murder at the Deaf School: The Gallaudet University Murders

Two deaths. Same dorm. Five months apart.

At Gallaudet University — a prestigious school for the deaf — a tight-knit campus is shaken by back-to-back murders inside the same residence hall.

At first, investigators fear a serial killer is targeting LGBTQ+ students. But as evidence unfolds, suspicion turns closer to home… and one of the witnesses becomes the prime suspect in a case that stunned the deaf community and raised urgent questions about safety, trust, and identity.

This is the full story of the Gallaudet University murders — where silence wasn’t safety, and the truth was hiding in plain sight.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:25):
From high school hallways to expansive college campuses and the
sanctity of their homes, these once secure spaces have transformed
into hunting grounds for sinister individuals seeking to inflict harm
on the unsuspecting. I'm your host, Mattie. Join me here
each week as we investigate the bone chilling stories of
senseless murders occurring in and around our centers of education.

(00:48):
Welcome to Murder You, an Abnormia original. Welcome back to

(01:18):
Murder You. This week, we have a unique case to discuss,
not just because of the motive behind the killings, but
because it took place at the only university designed exclusively
for the death and heart of hearing, meaning that all involved,
including the perpetrator and both victims, were deaf or heart
of hearing. First, let's learn a little bit more about

(01:40):
Galadet University, established in eighteen sixty four in Washington, d C.
MS Kendall, a well known philanthropist, realized that death and
heart of hearing people didn't have access to specialized education.
Language barriers, and the hearing world's perception of hearing specific
disabilities at the time made it difficult for deaf students

(02:00):
to learn in a traditional environment. So Kendall founded Galadet
and named it after the educator who would become the
school's first president, Edward Minor Galadet. Since then, it has
become a safe haven for deaf students, with many aspiring
to attend Galadet when they reach college age. The university

(02:22):
has produced many notable alumni, including actor Daniel Durant, who
starred in the Oscar winning film Coda about the reality
of families affected by hearing loss, alongside Marley Mattlin, a
well known actress and deaf advocate. Galadet is ninety nine
acres with under two thousand students and large red brick
buildings adorned with stunning turrets and towers. It even has

(02:46):
a ten foot tall wrought iron fence to ensure the
safety of its students and staff. It's chilling to know
that a beautiful place with an even more beautiful backstory
and mission one of inclusion and opportunities for people with
disabet would become the site of not one, but two murders.
This is the story of the murders of Eric Plunkett

(03:08):
and Benjamin Varner and how their unlikely killer was caught.
Eric Plunkett was born with cerebral palsy, a muscular condition
that affected his ability to walk, and profound deafness, meaning
he was almost entirely deaf. This didn't stop him from
leading a normal life, however. Eric's family was determined that

(03:29):
he would reach his full potential, so in middle school
he was moved out of the public school system and
into a specialized school for deaf students. After graduating at
the top of his class, he began attending Gallaudet University
in the fall of two thousand and this is really sweet.
He even framed his acceptance letter and promised his family

(03:49):
that he'd replace it with his diploma once he graduated. Unfortunately,
that day never came, as Eric's college life was tragically
cut short only a month after starting classes, when Eric
moved into Cogswell Hall at the start of his freshman year,
he met a few other students who lived on the
floor of his dorm and quickly befriended them. They called

(04:13):
their floor the Wild West, presumably implying that it was
a floor full of fun and adventure. But little did
they know it would be less of a feel good
adventure and more of a horror shell. On September twenty eighth,
two thousand, Joseph Masa Junior, one of Eric's friends, who
played a part in naming their floor, became concerned when

(04:34):
Eric never showed up for the tutoring session they were
scheduled for. Even more troubling, the door to Eric's dorm
room was usually open, allowing any of his friends to
pop in and say hello, but on this day, his
door had remained closed all day. Masa reported this concern
to their ra, who used his master key to open

(04:56):
Eric's room for a welfare check. Nothing could have prepared
him for what he found inside. Inside, Eric lay dead
on the floor in a pool of blood. His head
showed clear signs of blunt forest trauma. He also had
injuries on his face, head, and lower back, and this
is the most gut wrenching part of his crime scene,

(05:19):
A nearby chair was covered in blood spatter, indicating that
it had likely been used to beat him to death.
How brutal. Nothing at the scene pointed to a specific suspect,
but the rageful nature of the killing seemed to indicate
that it was someone he knew. Investigators figured they were

(05:39):
probably looking for someone with a vendetta against Eric, and coincidentally,
or perhaps not coincidentally, he had fought with another student recently.
The authorities began their investigation by interviewing the residence of
Cogswell Hall. It would be no easy feet, as nearly
every student they interviewed needed an interpreter. Five days into

(06:05):
the interviews, authorities learned that Eric was a member of
an LGBT club on campus. Some of the LGBT students
in the club were wary of hate crimes happening at
the university because of an altercation they'd had with a
campus Christian organization. They were all on edge and thought

(06:25):
perhaps Eric had been targeted because he was gay. They
also told investigators that Eric had been in a sexual
relationship with another student named Thomas Minch. However, when brought
in for questioning, Thomas denied being involved with Eric. He
even alleged that he'd never had sex with another man.

(06:45):
He said that at some point before the day of
the murder, he was in eric storm and Eric made
a move on him. He said that he pushed him
off and stormed out. Besides, he had an alibi. On
September twenty, seventh night that Eric was killed, Thomas was
working as a stage manager for one of the school's
drama productions. The investigators didn't take Thomas's story at face value, though,

(07:12):
Detective Kyle Semeatti even threatened the young man, telling him
that if he didn't confess, he'd go to jail for
life and that everyone would know he was gay. Clearly,
you already know that the boy is either not gay
or deeply in the closet. To use what's likely his
biggest insecurity against him is such a low blow, But

(07:35):
I guess investigators have to exert whatever pressure they can
to get suspects to talk, and Simeatti believed there was
something Thomas wasn't telling them. So get this. He interrogated
Thomas for six hours with minimal breaks, hoping to catch
him in a lie. Eventually, Thomas broke and asked what

(07:58):
his fate would be if he told them what really happened.
On September twenty seventh, Detective Simeatti put a hand on
his shoulder and told him that it was okay to
admit it. Thomas finally told investigators that he and Eric
had a quote one time thing. He claimed that afterwards
he realized he was not attracted to men in that way.

(08:19):
He revealed that on the night of the murder, he
went into Eric's storm to look at the poster the
boy had hung up on his wall, one that Thomas
got him for his birthday. But as he was looking,
Eric came up behind him, making a sexual advance. Thomas
shoved him off and headed for the door. Eric followed,
asking him not to leave, and Thomas pushed him again.

(08:42):
This time Eric fell to the floor as Thomas hastily left.
Thomas didn't mention anything about Eric hitting his head or
getting injured in any other way. Despite this, Detective Semeatti
began reading Thomas his Miranda rites and arrested him for
the murder of Eric Plunkin. Once word got out to
other students at Galladet, students were in disbelief. They knew

(09:07):
Thomas and didn't believe he was capable of killing anyone.
The case against him was so weak that prosecutors didn't
press charges after Thomas was booked, so he was released naturally.
Gaaladet students were confused and outraged by this. If Thomas
was the culprit, he'd just been set loose, and if

(09:28):
he wasn't the culprit, then there was still a murderer
among them. Thomas retreated to his hometown to the relief
of many, but investigators still considered him their main suspect.
That is, however, until February third, two thousand and one,
five months after Eric's murder, which was assumed to be
a crime of passion, another boy named Benjamin Varner, was

(09:50):
found dead in his dorm room. Like Eric, Benjamin Varner
was born in nineteen eighty one. He also grew up
attending schools that accommodated his disability. Benjamin loved languages and travel,
wanting to experience different cultures outside of his own. He
became interested in the Muslim faith when he was thirteen

(10:10):
and began studying the Koran, fully identifying as a Muslim.
When he began attending Gladet University on a scholarship. Benjamin
studied accounting and also lived in Cogswell Hall. His body
was discovered on the floor of his room, stabbed nineteen times. Additionally,
his throat was slashed, His room was drenched in blood,

(10:33):
and there were bloody footprints that left a Nike aramac
sneaker impression on the floor. News of a second murder
at Goladet spread like wildfire among the students and within
the death and heart of hearing community beyond the school.
In an interview given to Time Magazine, a student named
Rebecca Goldenbaum said, a few hours after the body was found,

(10:56):
everyone in deaf America knew. They knew in caliun Slifornia,
they knew in New York. How terrifying to be a
member of a vulnerable community and the heart of your
safe haven is now tainted with two murders, plus those
in the LGBTQ plus community were doubly worried about being targeted.

(11:18):
I can only imagine the fear students had thinking they
might be next, especially since Thomas Minch, the original suspect,
had been with his family in New Hampshire at the
time of the second murder, meaning investigators were back to
where they started with no idea who committed this heinous crime.
At least two students withdrew from the university. The mental

(11:41):
health offices were packed with anxious young adults who were
just trying to get an education. It was pure chaos.
Authorities had no clues until they checked Benjamin's financial transactions
around the time of the murder. He wrote a check
for six hundred and fifty dollars. However, that check was

(12:01):
issued and cashed after his death, meaning it was likely
forged and the person it was made out to Joseph Mesa,
you know, the Cogswell Hall resident who initially reported Eric
Plunkett missing, the one who met Eric on the first
day of classes and declared their floor of Cogswell the

(12:21):
wild West. If the investigators had looked into Eric Plunkett's
finances at the time of his death, they would have
noticed that his debit card had been used at a
union station after his death and that his wallet was missing.
Now both murdered boys had been robbed by their killer,

(12:42):
and the police had a new suspect. When they searched
Joseph Masa's room, they found a pair of bloody Nike
airmaxes that matched the Warner murder scene. They brought Mesa
in for questioning. At first, he denied being involved with
either murder, but it it didn't take him long to crack.
Facing the mounting pressure of the evidence, he finally blurted out, okay,

(13:06):
I did it. Mesa made a three and a half
hour long statement where he detailed how he killed his victims.
He said that he choked, beat and kicked Plunket until
he was sure that he was dead. And for Benjamin Barner,
he had spotted a pairing knife that Benjamin kept under

(13:26):
his microwave. Mesa decided the knife would make an excellent weapon.
But when did Mesa decide he was going to kill?
To know that, you need to learn a little bit
about who Joseph Mesa Junior is and how his life
culminated with becoming a killer. Masa was born in Guam. Ironically,

(13:48):
he was voted most likely to be rich in high school.
He was an athlete who wrestled in high school and
was alleged to be so strong that at once took
three boys to pin him. That part of his background
sounds like some kind of urban legend. I know, but
things got much more realistic for him when he began
attending Galadet, and he ran into both financial and academic

(14:11):
trouble at the school. Mesa allegedly had no higher than
a fourth grade reading level. He'd been caught stealing at
the university once before, in nineteen ninety nine, and he
was suspended that year after swiping another student's debit card
and stealing three thousand dollars from him. He confided in

(14:33):
his resident assistant, a boss Ali Beminish, that his criminal
tendencies were due to his upbringing in Guam, where he
claimed he saw a lot of blood while being involved
with a gang. After a year long suspension, Mesa was
allowed to come back to the campus. In retrospect, that

(14:53):
wasn't the best move by the university. The authorities were
shocked they missed MEA's criminal record during their investigation. Still,
they assumed, based on the brutality of Eric's murder, that
it was a personal attack or so called crime of passion. Now,
Time magazine points out that though this case happened a

(15:14):
university for the death, it was interesting that disability played
such a small role in these killings. However, once Mesa
and his legal team began defending his actions. They cited
a lifetime of isolation and frustration caused by his inability
to communicate as a reason for his lashing out and

(15:35):
committing murder. Listen at this point in this podcast. We
are no strangers to murderers blaming their actions on mental
disabilities like schizophrenia. However, blaming one's actions on a physical
disability is quite unique. But the defense team didn't stop there.
His attorney, ferris Or Bond, argued that Mesa saw sign

(15:58):
language in his head that told him to kill his classmates. Really,
I'm not buying that, one, Bond said. Quote he couldn't stop.
He wanted to, but he couldn't. That's why these things happened.
Mesa described the hands he saw in his mind as

(16:19):
wearing black gloves and claimed he'd been seeing these visions
since he was ten years old. As the trial went on,
it was moved to a larger courtroom to accommodate the
many spectators, including the victims' families and Gauladat students. Had
Mesa really seen sign language in his head telling him

(16:39):
to kill well. One piece of evidence brought up in
court may have been the nail in the coffin for
Masa's defense. While in jail awaiting trial, he'd written a
letter to his girlfriend, Melanie dick Uzman, where he'd asked
her to lie about his mental health to corroborate his

(17:01):
He said that he was going to try an insanity
defense and that it wasn't true, but he hoped it
would work anyway. The letter was read aloud in court,
which was a bad look for Mesa, to say the least.
The jury deliberated for only three hours before convicting him

(17:22):
of all fifteen felony charges, including two counts of first
degree murder. He was sentenced to two life without parole terms.
This case was wild from start to finish. Both victims
had promising lives ahead of them, and the deaf community
was so shaken by this act of violence. Galadat is

(17:43):
regarded as a very tight knit campus, with all its
students connecting through the shared experience of living in a
world where disability is often an afterthought. You'd think that
would instill a sense of camaraderie in Joseph Mesa junior,
but he proved to be the exception to an otherwise
tight knit community that looks after its own. It also

(18:07):
goes to show you that there are sinister people lurking
within every community, and no one is ever one hundred
percent safe with these individuals hiding in our midst. The
director of the mental health center at Galadet at the time,
Laura Rush, stated, friends of Eric and ben are struggling
with feelings of depression and friends of Joseph are getting

(18:28):
over feelings of betrayal. But we are a strong community
and we are recovering. Twenty four years later, Galadet has
not forgotten Eric or Benjamin. Both of their families continue
to be significant donors in memory of their sons, helping
Galadet continue to be a safe haven for death and
hard of hearing students from all over the world. That's

(18:52):
it for this episode of Murder. You and remember, if
you are someone you know is in crisis, please call
or text nine eight eight, go to the nearest emergency room,
reach out to a twenty four hour crisis center or
a mobile crisis outreach team in your area.