Heartbroken parents of teen who killed himself after ‘horrific hazing’ sue fraternity: ‘It was cruel and senseless’
A University of Texas freshman took his own life after months of ‘demeaning and cruel hazing’ which saw him burned with cigarettes and beaten, a lawsuit claims.
Sawyer Lee Updike was allegedly ‘speared with a fishhook’ during an alcohol-fueled event and had his hip pierced with a staple gun, according to the filing from his parents. The lawsuit also alleges that he was forced to take cocaine.
Updike, 18, died alone in a convenience-store parking lot just months after joining UT Austin’s Sigma Chi’s Alpha Nu.
His parents Sheryl Roberts-Updike and Lee J. Updike claim their son was treated so badly that he was ultimately pushed him into a fatal psychological collapse.
Now almost two years after their son’s death, the devastated couple have filed a lawsuit against one of the country’s most prominent fraternities.
‘I live every day with the weight of his absence,’ his mother, Sheryl Roberts-Updike, said in a statement. ‘What happened to Sawyer was cruel, senseless, and preventable.’
Updike arrived at UT Austin in the fall of 2023 as a promising student, the lawsuit states but by January 2024 he was dead.
His final months were marked by violence, threats and coerced drug use, the filings allege.
Sawyer Lee Updike, 18, is seen with his mother Sheryl Roberts Updike. Sawyer’s parents have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Sigma Chi fraternity at the University of Texas at Austin which claims brutal hazing led him to take his own life
Sawyer Lee Updike is pictured with bruises to his back after an alleged hazing incident
Court filings describe how Sawyer was allegedly ‘speared with a fishhook’ during an alcohol-fueled event
Some members of the fraternity members threatened to sexually assault his girlfriend if he didn’t obey they commands, the lawsuit claims.
The alleged hazing was systematic, relentless, and according to the lawsuit as seen by People, carried out with the knowledge and participation of older members who ‘forcefully dominated over pledges.’
By mid-January, the damage had sent Sawyer into a full-blown psychological crisis, the complaint claims.
On or around January 16, 2024, just two weeks into the spring semester, Sawyer returned to the Sigma Chi house.
According to the complaint, fraternity members gave him cocaine and psilocybin mushrooms, intensifying the spiral that had already left him anxious and fearful.
He staggered out of the house a short time later, intoxicated. The lawsuit describes his crisis as being ‘exacerbated’ after being forced to take drugs, reports Fox 7.
Soon afterwards he got into his car and drove to a nearby convenience store. In the parking lot, Sawyer died by suicide, the lawsuit says.
Sawyer’s parents say they replay their son’s final hours constantly as they try to understand how their child who left for college full of promise could end his life in a parking lot.
The lawsuit details how Sawyer’s hip was reportedly pierced with a staple gun
A photo of a staple gun allegedly pressed up against Sawyer skin is included in the legal documents
Sawyer is seen in a bathtub surrounded by beer bottles during an alleged hazing ritual
Sawyer is seen in a photo from the lawsuit with burn marks apparently from lit cigarettes
In one message, Sawyer writes how he is being ‘alcohol hazed’
‘No parent should ever lose a child, and certainly not because of hazing disguised as brotherhood,’ mom, Sheryl, said in a statement.
‘It is unbearable to know that a young man with so much promise was put through something so dangerous in the name of belonging.’
Their attorneys argue that the pattern of hazing was so extreme and so well known within the fraternity that his death was ‘the combination of demeaning and cruel hazing and the introduction (forced providing) of illegal drugs.’
In the months after Sawyer’s death, Sigma Chi conducted its own internal investigation.
The fraternity confirmed the UT Austin chapter has since been closed and that several members were expelled.
Sigma Chi International Executive Director Michael J. Church issued a statement, as first reported by CBS Austin.
‘Sigma Chi International Fraternity was devastated by the tragic death of our brother, Sawyer Lee Updike, at the University of Texas in January 2024.
‘In the months that followed, credible allegations of inappropriate behavior from members in that chapter emerged, prompting a thorough investigation by Sigma Chi International Fraternity that resulted in the closure of this chapter and the expulsions of several members of the organization.
Sawyer’s parents want to understand how their bright, eager first-semester student ended up dying by suicide
The lawsuit describes Sawyer’s crisis as being ‘exacerbated’ after being forced to take drugs
‘For Sigma Chi, our central principles call us to hold each other to the highest possible standards and to care especially for our brothers. Any individual who fails to do so betrays not only himself but also his brothers and the values we hold sacred.
‘As these matters proceed through the court system, we will expect and encourage that any individuals who are found responsible for any of the actions described in it will face the fullest consequences that our justice system demands.’
The Daily Mail has contacted both the University of Texas at Austin and the Sigma Chi fraternity for further comment.
