Justice for Franco American citizen's Murder in SF, HUghes De La Plaza

Victims Ask San Jose, Calif. Police to Reopen Troubling Case

Suspicious Death of Abused Jesuit Priest Ruled Suicide

New Evidence May Have Been Unearthed, Family, Supporters Say

Jesuits Settled Wrongful Death Case With Family for $1.6 Million in 2007

In a June 1, 2009 letter addressed to a Bay Area law enforcement agency, victims of childhood sex abuse are asking that:

-- a five-year-old suspicious death case be reopened by law enforcement,

The letter was written by victims of child sex abuse and their supporters who are members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPNetwork.org) and the family of Father James Chevedden, a Jesuit priest who died in 2004 after reporting that another Jesuit, Brother Charles Leonard Connor, sexually abused him in 1998.

According the coroner's report, Chevedden committed suicide when he fell from a parking garage in San Jose on his 56th birthday, minutes after he completed jury duty service. There was no suicide note and the police did not check his computer.

Chevedden's brother and SNAP are writing the San Jose police because of the agency's renewed promise to reopen cold or suspicious cases.

"We believe that new evidence may have been unearthed since the coroner quickly closed Fr. Chevedden's case less than 24 hours after his death," the letter to the San Jose Police says. "A wrongful death lawsuit against the Jesuits for Chevedden's death settled in 2007, and there may be a great deal of new and important information that was unearthed as a part of the discovery process."

In addition, the Jesuits implicitly admitted that they "lost" or "disposed of" important evidence in Chevedden's death, including his Bible, Rosary, note pad, glasses and some correspondence.

The letter also asks the cold case team to re-examine evidence at the scene and/or still in police or Jesuit possession.

If there is any reason to believe that Chevedden was intentionally hurt for being a whistle blower, the group believes, then it is a public safety issue that the death investigation be reopened.

Chevedden was sexually abused at Sacred Heart, a Jesuit-run facility in Los Gatos by Jesuit Brother Charles Leonard Connor in 1998, while Chevedden was healing from two broken feet. Connor also molested two mentally retarded men at the facility over a 30-year period and was convicted in 2001, although he is still allowed to live at the facility.