Confession In Gallaudet Murders

The freshman accused of killing two classmates at Gallaudet University, the nation's only liberal arts university for the deaf, made a videotaped confession of his guilt, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Joseph M. Mesa Jr., 20, was ordered held without bond after a brief court appearance, where he was arraigned on two counts of felony murder in the deaths of Benjamin Varner and Eric F. Plunkett.

"There is substantial probability that Mr. Mesa committed these murders," said District of Columbia Superior Court Hearing Commissioner J. Dennis Doyle, in denying a defense request to release Mesa to a halfway house.

Mesa was ordered to provide a handwriting sample to the court, over his lawyer's objection.

Mesa spoke to District of Columbia police detectives for the first time on Monday, but did not admit to the killings until Tuesday. At that time, he told detectives he wanted to talk, voluntarily waived his rights and provided a videotaped statement with the aid of interpreters. That statement included details of how he killed Varner when he went to Varner's room to rob him.

Police say they have evidence that on Feb. 2 — within an hour of killing him &151; Mesa cashed a $650 check on Varner's account.

They also say Mesa admits beating Plunkett to death. Prosecutors say Plunkett's debit card was used in several transactions after the time they believe he died.

Mesa said nothing in court, although a sign-language interpreter was provided. Several Gallaudet students were in the courtroom. A preliminary hearing is set for Feb. 23.

Plunkett was found beaten to death Sept. 28 in his first floor room. Varner was found Feb. 3 stabbed to death in his fourth floor room. Robbery was the motive for both killings, police said.

Police revealed earlier in the investigation that they had recovered a bloodstained jacket and a knife in a trash bin behind a dormitory.

Ramsey said Mesa had visible injuries and that will be used against him in court. Investigators felt that Varner's attacker had been injured during the slaying.

"There's a sense of relief in knowing someone's been arrested and charged with these terrible crimes," said I. King Jordan, the university's president. "At the same time, there's a real sense of sadness that the individual that is said to be responsible is from our community."

Varner, 19, of San Antonio, was found dead of multiple stab wounds Feb. 3 in a fourth-floor dorm room of Cogswell Hall. Plunkett, 19, of Burnsville, Minn., also a freshman, was found beaten to death in a first-floor room of the same dorm on Sept. 28.

The killings shocked the close-knit community of 2,000 students at Gallaudet, which was established by Congress in 1864.

Security has been tight at the campus since Varner's death. University police had been checking student IDs and writing down the license plates of vehicles entering the campus.

Mesa's arrest lifts the cloud of suspicion from Thomas Minch, 18 of reenland, N.H., who was arrested five days after Plunkett's death but later released. He has not been allowed on campus since that time.

"Mr. Minch was not involved in the murder of Eric Plunkett," said D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey.

Gallaudet officials said they would try to convince Minch to return to campus to continue his education.

"I think there's relief, but a great deal of sadness," said university spokeswoman Mercy Coogan.

Police credit cooperation from students and university staff for their success in solving these cases.

"If we got the kind of cooperation from all of our communities that we got from the Gallaudet community we'd be a lot more successful," Ramsey said.

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