Eric Plunkett graduated near the top of his class as salutorian at the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf.
So excited was Plunkett that he’d framed his college acceptance letter, telling his family that he would replace it four years later with his diploma.
Eric Plunkett.courtesy plunkett family
After leaving home, he quickly settled into student life at the college in the heart of urban Washington, D.C., which protected its students behind a 10-foot wrought iron fence that stood as a barrier to surrounding neighborhoods where crime was prevalent.
It could not, however, safeguard students from violence within.
On Sept. 28, 2000, Plunkett’s new classmate and friend Joseph Mesa, also 18, who lived across from Plunkett in the Cogswell Hall dorm, grew concerned when Plunkett missed their 8 p.m. math tutoring session. Plunkett’s dorm room door, almost always open to others, remained locked. It turned out no one had seen him all day.
Andy Nelson/The Christian Science Monitor/Getty Images
A residential adviser used his master key to enter Plunkett’s single room.
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He was dead from blunt-force trauma, with injuries on his face, head and lower back. Investigators at the crime scene also found clumps of Plunkett’s scalp and hair near his body — and, tellingly, a chair flecked with blood spatter, perhaps used to beat him.
Nothing pointed immediately to a potential killer’s identity. But the brutality of the attack suggested a type of suspect — someone acting out of rage and anger, and very possibly a person who knew the victim.
“There was somewhat overkill involved,” says LaFranchise.
Panicked students began questioning each other. But before police could deliver an answer, a second student on the same dorm floor was dead.
People Magazine Investigates: The Sound of Silenceairs Monday, Feb. 11 (10 p.m. ET) on Investigation Discovery.
source: people.com
