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Affidavit: Fair Oaks Ranch teen ‘most aggressive' in alleged LSU pledge member's hazing death

Matthew Naquin, 19, facing negligent homicide charge

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana – Ten people have been arrested on hazing charges in the death of a Louisiana State University fraternity pledge after a night of drinking.

The arrest affidavit for Matthew Naquin, 19, of Fair Oaks Ranch, the LSU student charged in connection with the death of an fraternity pledge, is shedding light on the events that led up to the death of Maxwell Gruver.  

Of the 10 people arrested on hazing charges, only Naquin also faces a charge of negligent homicide.

According to the affidavit, on the night of Sept. 13, the members of the fraternity Phi Delta Theta made the pledges play a game called “Bible Study.”

RELATED: Boerne teen one of 10 arrested in LSU fraternity pledge's death

Investigators learned that the game entails pledge members being asked questions about the fraternity, and if they get it wrong, they are forced to drink, the affidavit said.

The pledges lined up downstairs, while Naquin was upstairs, according to the affidavit. The affidavit continued to allege that Naquin yelled to the pledges, “Y’all better do well. I am already f----- up.” As the pledges walked upstairs, they had mustard and hot sauce thrown on them.

“All pledges interviewed and some active members stated that Naquin was the most aggressive by far during the hazing event,” the affidavit stated.

Naquin was forcing pledge members to take “pulls” of 190-proof Diesel, the affidavit said. A “pull” is where the men were consuming the alcohol for three to five seconds.

RELATED: Police investigating possible hazing death at LSU

A pledge member told police he thought Naquin and another member, Sean Paul Gott, were going hard on Gruver because he was late for events and noted that he thought Naquin and Gott were “taking it too far,” the affidavit said.

The affidavit said members told Naquin and Gott to “cut it out” and to “slow it down.” The police report said most pledge members took 3-4 “pulls,” while Gruver consumed at least 10-12.

The game began at 10 p.m., and Gruver was passed out by midnight, the affidavit said.

Gruver was found the next morning, passed out on the couch with a weak pulse. He was taken to a hospital, where he died on Sept. 14.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office reports that Gruver’s postmortem blood alcohol content was 0.496 percent. His cause of death was listed at acute ethanol intoxication with aspiration.

The nine suspects facing only hazing charges are Zachary Castillo, of Gretna; Sean Paul Gott, of Lafayette; Sean Pennison, Mandeville; Hudson Kirkpatrick, Baton Rouge; Elliott Eaton, of New Orleans; Patrick Forde, of Westwood, Massachusetts; Nicholas Tavlli, of Cypress, Texas; Zachary Hall, of Charlotte, North Carolina; and Ryan Isto, who is from Canada.

This is Matthew Naquin - turning himself in for arrest warrant on negligent homicide. Only felony charge in LSU hazing investigation pic.twitter.com/R5qGOGwhBY

— Rebekah Allen (@rebekahallen) October 11, 2017


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