23: Rolling Stone’s Most Outrageous Article & the Bever Family Murders

When Rolling Stone published an article about a gang rape at the University of Virginia, people were outraged. Not only had a young woman been assaulted — but her attempts to get meaningful help from university administrators went nowhere. The piece was as beautifully written as it was horrific. But was it accurate?

Then Brandi bums us out with a story that starts with a 12-year-old boy’s call to 911. He told the dispatcher that his brother was attacking the family. Before he could provide more information, the line went dead. Police traced the call, but it was too late to save the family. By the time police arrived, five members of the Bever family were dead and the killers had fled the scene.

And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.

In this episode, Kristin pulled from:
“A Rape on Campus,” Rolling Stone
“‘Catfishing’ over love interest might have spurred U-Va. gang-rape debacle,” Washington Post
“In Rolling Stone Defamation Case, Magazine and Reporter Ordered to Pay $3 Million,” New York Times
“Key elements of Rolling Stone’s U-Va gang rape allegations in doubt,” Washington Post
“Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Report,” Rolling Stone
… and good old Wikipedia

In this episode, Brandi pulled from:
“One statement captured Bever jury’s challenge: How to compare two very troubled brothers” by Michael Overall, Tulsa World
“Robert Bever breaks down in tears on witness stand in younger brother’s murder trial, says they acted together but ‘in (their) own ways’” by Michael Overall and Samantha Vincent, Tulsa World
“Surviving Bever Sister Testifies In Brother’s Murder Trial” by Lori Fullbright and Taylor Newcomb, newson6.com
“Medical Examiner, DNA Expert Testify In Bever Murder Trial” by Taylor Newcomb, newson6.com
“Crime Scene Investigator Breaks Down During Bever Murder Trial Testimony” by Lori Fullbright, newson6.com