(Left to right) Shady Mostafa, Jack Godfrey, Cameron Kopp
The university and Greek life community reeled when Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity members found fellow member and university student Jack Godfrey dead in his College Park home on Hopkins Avenue on Nov. 6.
Almost five months later, police arrested Arasp Biparva, a former university student, in New York City on March 26 in connection with Godfrey’s death, said John Erzen, spokesman for the assistant attorney’s office.
A grand jury indicted Biparva with one count of manslaughter two days earlier.
Erzen said Biparva, 23, is being held in a New York jail and awaiting extradition to this state.
“We are in the process of working with the officials up there to have him transferred down here,” Erzen said. “Then, when he does get transferred down here, he’ll go to the county’s department of corrections, where he’s got the $250,000 bond on the manslaughter charge.”
The cause of Godfrey’s death remained unknown until December 2014, when the medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide directly linked to head injuries he suffered in an altercation in early 2013, Erzen said.
Security cameras outside of Cornerstone Grill and Loft, along with a police investigation after the incident, deemed Biparva responsible for the attack on Godfrey, Erzen said.
Once Biparva returns to this state, he will remain in custody at the Department for Corrections for Prince George’s County in Upper Marlboro unless he is able to post bond, Erzen said.
There are still multiple steps that must be taken, such as motions hearings and status hearings, before a trial is scheduled, Erzen said. A date for a trial is not yet determined.
Erzen said if Biparva goes to trial and is found guilty of manslaughter, the maximum sentence he could receive is 10 years in prison.
Prince George’s County Police Lt. Jarriel Jordan said police could not offer further details of the case at this time in the interest of a fair trial for Biparva.
While Tau Kappa Epsilon members are pleased Biparva is being brought to justice, fraternity member and junior kinesiology major Nick West said most of the members are choosing not to focus any energy on Biparva.
“We all, especially the TKE kids, have our remembrance of Jack, and that’s not what he would’ve focused on,” West said. “[Biparva] getting indicted doesn’t really bring out an emotional response in us the way that talking about Jack does. It’s a better way of remembering him, and brings more joy and closure to kids’ hearts.”
In the early hours of March 27, 2013, police found Godfrey, then a sophomore, lying still on the sidewalk near Cornerstone Grill and Loft.
“He was unconscious,” Erzen said. “That was a result of being punched in the face and then hitting his head when he was knocked to the ground.”
Erzen confirmed the assault on Godfrey transpired during an altercation at about 2 a.m. at the intersection of Knox Road and Route 1. He added the fight could have involved as many as 15 to 20 people.
Officials then transported Godfrey, who suffered from a concussion and other head injuries, to the Prince George’s Hospital Center, Erzen said.
West said Godfrey’s recovery defied all odds.
“The doctor had originally said he had a very small chance of surviving the night, but then ultimately he did push through,” West said. “When he got back to school, you would have never known something was wrong. He was old Jack.”
In October 2013 — with Godfrey back at school after about six months of recovery — Biparva pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, Erzen said. He served 10 days in the county’s correctional facility and paid $19,212.95 in restitution to John Godfrey, Jack Godfrey’s father.
Almost a year passed, and it appeared Godfrey had made a complete recovery, but Tau Kappa Epsilon member and senior management major Justin Shapiro noted the days leading up to his death alluded to trouble.
“He hadn’t been feeling well for a few days,” Shapiro said, citing headaches and vomiting.
West said that by midafternoon Nov. 6, no one in the fraternity had heard from Godfrey. He added when he and other fraternity members returned home in the early evening, they found Godfrey unresponsive in his bed.
Although Godfrey’s sudden death devastated the community, fraternity members coped and found solace through acts of charity in his honor, West said.
Tau Kappa Epsilon held its second Red Carnation Ball at the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center on March 27 and raised $20,000 with live auctions, silent auctions and dinner services.
Shapiro said the $20,000 will be split into two $10,000 donations. One donation will go toward a new creative-writing scholarship for the journalism school — Godfrey loved creative writing — and the other will go to Capability Ranch, a center for special needs youth and young adults that Godfrey’s mother runs in Ramona, California.
“We’re still staying close with his dad, his mom, his brother and just living through Jack that way now, and it’s nice,” West said. “Seeing all the good things we can do by thinking of Jack is great.”
