The parents of an 18-year-old University of Texas at Austin student have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a fraternity, alleging that months of violent hazing pushed their son into a psychological crisis that ended in his suicide in January 2024.
The family of Sawyer Lee Updike is suing the Alpha Nu chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity, according to a press release from their attorneys.
The lawsuit claims fraternity members subjected Updike to a series of abusive acts throughout 2023, including spearing him with a fishhook during an alcohol-related event, piercing his hip with a staple gun, burning him with cigarettes, physically beating him and forcing cocaine into his nose. Updike also allegedly received threats that his girlfriend would be sexually assaulted.
The suit says many of the hazing incidents were photographed and recorded.
On Jan. 16, 2024 — the first day of the spring semester of his freshman year — Updike was allegedly given cocaine and psilocybin mushrooms at the fraternity house. Suffering from the effects of the substances and an escalating psychological crisis, he died by suicide later that day, the lawsuit states.
Sigma Chi’s national organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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