<p>Family believes fraternity death alcohol-related
Student identified as business freshman
By Patrick George</p>
<p>Phanta "Jack" Phoummarath was identified by police as the student found dead Saturday afternoon at the Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity house in West Campus. APD said the 18-year-old business freshman's death was nonsuspicious. </p>
<p>Phoummarath, an LPE pledge, was celebrating his acceptance into the fraternity as a full-fledged brother on Friday. APD officials said they are still conducting an investigation, and the filing of charges will depend on the cause of death as determined by the medical examiner, which may be released in the next several weeks.</p>
<p>John Phoummarath, Jack's 31-year-old brother, said his family has not yet decided whether or not to press charges against the fraternity.</p>
<p>"We want to let the police do their work and get to the bottom of this," John said. "We don't know if there are any charges to press yet."</p>
<p>John, who believes the death was probably alcohol-related, said his brother was brought to the medical examiner's office covered in crude, obscene marker drawings. The drawings were wiped off at the medical examiner's office, John said.</p>
<p>"Things like that happen all the time, but this was different," said Tiffany Phoummarath, John's 26-year-old wife and Jack's sister-in-law. "If he had woken up with marker all over his face, then ha, ha, ha, funny joke. But the fact that he had that on him when he passed was disrespectful and dishonorable."</p>
<p>The couple said they and their parents held a meeting with the fraternity's leadership on Sunday evening. The family heard LPE's side of the story and are taking it into consideration.</p>
<p>"We told the fraternity president that Jack wasn't just another kid," Tiffany said. "He was the baby of our family."</p>
<p>LPE President Benny Chan declined to comment directly on the case, saying only that his organization was in the process of consoling the family and "doing the best [they] can with everything at this time."</p>
<p>While LPE, a national Asian fraternity, is a registered student organization, it is not supervised by any Greek Life and Education fraternity councils and is not a recognized as an official University fraternity.</p>
<p>Phoummarath was the youngest of five children and a native of Houston, where he attended MacArthur High School and graduated this summer. His friends and family describe him as "a ray of sunshine." </p>
<p>"Everyone's day was better around Jack," Tiffany said. "I knew him since he was 12 years old, and there were nothing but good things to say about him."</p>
<p>A message board on Phoummarath's Facebook.com account is covered with messages of grief and disbelief from his friends and family, all praising Jack as being upbeat, happy and a good friend. His suite mate at the Jester Center, Thao Nguyen, said Phoummarath was very dedicated to his fraternity.</p>
<p>"He joined the frat about a month after school began," Nguyen said. "After that, he was tired all the time, and he was gone a lot. Even though we grew pretty close during the school year, he mostly hung out with his fraternity brothers."</p>
<p>John Phoummarath said that exact funeral arrangements for Jack have not yet been finalized, but the family plans to have him cremated this weekend. While the family grieves for Jack, they want the truth to come forward about what really happened on Friday night.</p>
<p>"We need answers, so we can get some closure," John said.</p>
<p>UT President Larry Faulkner said he was saddened by Phoummarath's death and hopes that measures will be taken in the future to prevent alcohol-related student deaths.</p>
<p>"This is a very, very sad development, and I am distressed deeply by it," Faulkner said. "The University has made substantial effort in alcohol education, but it's hard to know how effectively you can reach each student. It's not possible to control every student in every situation, but we can help educate students to make the right choices."</p>