American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corps

A story of murder in Tonga and injustice in the U.S.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Philip Weiss’ investigative work is a “heart of darkness” tale of idealism and violent death in an exotic land. In late 1975, Deborah Gardner, a 23-year-old Peace Corps volunteer, arrived in Tonga—an island kingdom Weiss describes as “a period on the map of the Pacific Ocean.” Already on the islands was one Dennis Priven, a brilliant, troubled young math instructor. Gardner was gorgeous and lively, and soon a handful of Peace Corps volunteers were at least half in love with her—Priven among them. But when Gardner deflected his attentions, he began stalking her. Ten months after
her arrival, Weiss writes, Priven killed Gardner, stabbing her more than 20 times with a dive knife.

Priven was tried in Tonga, defended by a wily attorney—at Peace Corps expense—and found not guilty of murder by reason of
insanity. (Weiss’ re-creation of the trial is particularly gripping.) U.S. officials then maneuvered to bring Priven home, with promises that he’d be committed to a psychiatric hospital.

But back in Washington, D.C., Peace Corps officials declared his service completed and watched him walk out to catch a plane to New York, where he lives to this day. End of story. No explanation to the Tongans who’d worked diligently to conduct a fair trial or to the victim’s parents. The whole dishonorable episode was buried by our government.

Weiss, a journalist for the New York Observer, was haunted by this story for years, and in 1997, he began digging like a possessed archaeologist. What emerged is a riveting narrative and an unforgettable portrait of American volunteers and Tongan officials. For those who’ve been tormented by the incident, Weiss’ exhaustive work must now appear as a kind of catharsis. For most readers, the sorrowing lesson at the center of Weiss’ story is that when it came to pursuing justice and the rule of law, officials in remote, impoverished Tonga were more steadfast and honest than officials of the United States of America. There is a humbling and timely lesson here for all of us citizens of the last superpower.

WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate