Post by Scumhunter on Feb 6, 2016 10:42:43 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: courierpress.com)
It has now been over 14 years since then 23-year old Benjamin Doyle was found beaten to death at a party. The case was featured on AMW's old website as a "My Story" where a friend or family member of a victim writes in to AMW to profile their case on their website. In this case, Benjamin's mother wrote in. Below is the archived description of the case. I edited out the My Story quotations just to not confuse readers but Benjamin's mother's comments can be found on the official AMW archive link below the admin notes:
Blue Christmas
Holidays hold a certain emptiness for Bridget Donnellan. Every holiday season, she is painfully aware that someone is missing from her Evansville, Ind. home.
Her oldest son, Benjamin Doyle was murdered on September 13, 2001.
Fatal Accident Or Foul Play?
Police say Benjamin spent his last night at a party at his girlfriend's townhouse. The party began to break up at about 2 a.m., and some of the guests left. A next door neighbor heard a big thump on the wall around that time, and then another thump at 4 a.m that was hard enough to knock items off the neighbor's wall.
According to police, Benjamin's girlfriend found him later that morning at the bottom of the stairs. His girlfriend said to cops that she thought he was passed out from alcohol, so she called his sister, Mary, to pick him up.
When Mary arrived, she told police she knew something bad had happened. Her brother was bruised and would not wake up. She called Bridget to tell her that she thought Benjamin had fallen down the stairs, then called for an ambulance.
Benjamin died at the hospital -- and police weren't sure how to classify the case.
Only the family had heard Tracy's remark, which suggested that someone had attacked Benjamin, but investigators followed up on it. Still, it wasn't until the coroner's report came back that investigators officially changed their ruling from accidental death to murder.
According to the report, the injuries Benjamin sustained could not have come from falling down the stairs. It appeared to police that Benjamin had been beaten to death. Also, the report said Benjamin had no drugs in his system, and a blood alcohol content that was only .03 over the legal intoxication limit of .10.
Police say because of the high levels of intoxication of the party-goers, they are having a hard time putting together what happened that night. They are looking for anyone who can give them an idea of what happened to Benjamin. The family is convinced that someone out there knows what happened, and prays that they will have the strength and courage to come forward.
A Final Photograph
Benjamin was killed two days after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The whole country was in a state of morning, but Benjamin's family's grief was doubled.
The final contribution Benjamin made was to donate his organs to the Twin Towers Disaster Fund, helping to save the lives of innocent people who might otherwise have died after the attacks.
Thoughts? There have been a few updates since AMW first profiled this case on their old website. On August 1, 2008 a grand jury indicted Tracy Wongngamnit (Benjamin's ex-girlfriend) for Murder. She was arrested and placed into jail. In the spring of 2009, the Murder charge was dismissed and Tracy Wongngamnit was released from jail.
According to Reddit's "Unresolved Mysteries" message board, one poster found a topix link and that there were a number of people at the party who may have been methamphetamine users, so that could be a potential clue.
Admin Note #1: Based on crime location, our advice for anyone with information who killed Benjamin would be to contact the Evansville, Indiana Police Department. Information on how to contact them can be found at the following link: www.evansvillepolice.com/contact
Admin Note #2: If you have any news-related updates on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form
Relevant links:
web.archive.org/web/20070806080125/http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=39583
www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/3kvebr/what_happened_to_benjamin_doyle/
storify.com/kgerton1/benjamin-patrick-doyle-s-unsolved-evansville-murde
www.topix.com/forum/city/evansville-in/TKU6LI3SSI40EA3RP
www.courierpress.com/news/local/evansville-woman-faces-murder-charges-in-seven-year-old-case-ep-448301446-327007691.html
www.14news.com/story/7068652/14-news-exclusive-cold-murder-case-heats-up