Entries are being added constantly.  If you find that a topic is incorrect, needs clarification, or isn't listed at all, please let me know.
 

For more information on the CAR-PGa, visit www.theescapist.com/carpga.htm
 

Collins, Harold

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Madison, Ohio youth who died on April 28th, 1983 during an attempt at auto-erotic asphyxiation.  BADD has attempted to associate this youth's death with D&D, despite the fact that this particular activity and the game have nothing in common.  They also list his death as a suicide, which is an obvious error - his death was an accident.
 

Cruel Doubt

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A televised miniseries that aired on NBC, May 17th and 19th, 1992.  It was based on a Joe McGinniss novel of the same name that detailed the murder of Leith Von Stein.

In it, a copy of TSR's AD&D Player's Handbook was featured as a prop with altered pages, making the book appear to be more of an inspiration to the crime. According to accounts of the film, the book was embellished with different artwork to feature a picture of a character with clothing and a backpack that matched that of one of the show's killers, as well as other illustrations that were extremely occultic and sinister in nature. 

Another made-for-TV movie, Honor Thy Mother, was based on the same story, and also falsified facts about D&D to more closely connect the crime with the game.
 

Dear, William

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Private investigator who wrote The Dungeon Master, the story of his investigation into the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III.  Dear's actions during his investigation began the anti-gaming movement.  In order to protect the social status of Egbert's family, he kept the real reasons behind the disappearance a secret, and led the public to believe that both it and the suicide were caused by D&D.

It is interesting to note that Dear changed the selling strategy for his book, shifting it's advertising focus from D&D to drugs, as sales of the book began to dwindle.
 

Dempsey, Michael

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Lynnwood, Washington youth who committed suicide on May 19th, 1981.  His father, a former police officer, claims that he saw Michael summoning D&D demons moments before killing himself, and that he could smell the odor of sulfur and garlic in his son's room after his death.  These odors, according to the father, are commonly associated with a demonic summoning.

Very few facts are known about this incident, as the only record available is the testament of Dempsey's father, who is obviously against the game.  However, the following things are wrong with that testimony:

• One cannot "summon" real, actual "D&D demons" as he suggests - such demons are imaginary elements of the game
• There is no procedure listed in any D&D book for the actual process of demon summoning - not to mention the fact that such an act is not available to the characters in a D&D game.
• The smell of sulfur and garlic could not have possibly come from any part of a D&D book - the sulfur odor was most likely the result of firing of a gun in an enclosed space.

Lafayette, Colorado brothers who committed murder/suicide in November of 1984.  Daniel, was 16, and Steven was 12.  Daniel forced his younger brother to shoot him and then Steven turned the gun on himself.

BADD and other anti-game groups and individuals have often attempted to connect this tragedy to gaming - despite the absolute lack of evidence to that end, and weighty evidence to the contrary.  Daniel had pled guilty to auto theft previously, and was facing sentencing within a month.  He was described as being "extremely afraid of the criminal justice system," and did not want to return to the school, which would have been part of his deferred sentence.

The parents of both boys have always maintained that games had nothing to do with the suicide - even Lafayette Police Chief Larry Stallcup admitted initially that the game had no connection.

Stallcup reversed his story later, however, and stated that he had been "threatened" by TSR into changing his position.  This "threat" was actually a request from TSR for a written statement that "investigation and news sources will be fair and careful when making any references to our products."  This was hardly anything more than a reasonable request for common sense - and certainly not something that a Police Chief should have been scared of.

When CBS's 60 Minutes ran an anti-game story on September 15th, 1985, and covered the Erwin suicides, the parents of the two boys became enraged.  They spoke out against the misrepresentation, but neither CBS nor 60 Minutes have ever issued a retraction.
 

Fairley, Caleb

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Pennsylvania youth who, in 1995, took the lives of a young mother and her baby. After a thorough search of his home, police found a collection of AD&D and Vampire books, as well as a collection of Magic cards.  The anti-gaming media focus was on Vampire, despite the fact that Fairley's crime had no 'vampiric' elements whatsoever.  At the murder trial, a Vampire t-shirt was submitted as evidence, despite the fact that Fairley wasn't wearing it when he committed the crime; newspaper accounts mention a bloody paisley-patterned shirt that was worn during the act. 
 

Ferrell, Rod

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Teen who believed he was a vampire, started a "vampire clan," and murdered the parents of Heather Wendorf, one of his "clan members," in November of 1996.  The media swarmed over the vampire angle of the story, despite the fact that the Wendorf's bodies showed "no sign of vampiric activity"; both were bludgeoned to death, and neither had been drained of any blood.  An "occult marking" found on both of the bodies turned out to be a letter "V" with seven marks around it, one for each of the clan members.  Ferrell was sentenced to death in early 1999. 
 

In it, a "phony" copy an AD&D manual was featured as a prop. The cover of the manual was unlike anything TSR has ever put out for AD&D, and while reading it, an investigator claims to find a reference to "extra points for multiple hits," an obvious fabrication by the writers, as AD&D contains no rules that are even similar to such a description.  This was an attempt to draw a clearer link between the crime and the game, in the typical sensationalist fashion.

This story was also covered in Cruel Doubt, another made-for-TV movie (a miniseries, aired on NBC) that also tried to make the connection by misrepresenting a real game.
 

Jesse

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NBC television series starring Christina Applegate as a single mother attempting to get her G.E.D.  In an episode that aired in February of 1999, Jesse goes out on a date with her math teacher to an "exclusive club."   As it turns out, the teacher is an avid D&D player, and has brought her to a gaming club meeting.  The ten-minute segment pokes a lot of fun at gamers, but leaves out any references to Satanism, witchcraft, or the occult.   (The best part: when Jesse calls a friend to tell her she's at a D&D game, the friend yells "Oh crap!  Get out of there!")
 

Mazes & Monsters

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A novel by Rona Jaffe, later turned into a made-for-TV movie starring Tom Hanks.  The TV adaptation was aired on CBS on December 28th, 1982. 

In the movie, a bright young college student (Hanks) loses his hold on reality while playing a role-playing game. Gaming is depicted as an obsessive hobby, played, for the most part, by social outcasts. 

One of the most humorous scenes of the film happens when Jay Jay's character jumps into a pit to collect what he thinks is treasure, only to find it filled with sharp spikes. "Why didn't you use your sonar?" chides another player (Sonar? Were they playing dolphins?). 

Released to video as "Dungeons And Dragons" (!) in the late 80's by Film Ventures.  Recently, I found a copy (with the original title, by Front Row Entertainment) in the budget video rack of my local Suncoast Video.  Both videos, for obvious reasons, have Hanks' face plastered on the cover. 
 

Pulling, Irving "Bink"

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Son of Patricia Pulling, founder of Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons (B.A.D.D.). Pulling committed suicide with his mother's revolver not long after returning home from school on June 9th, 1982.  His mother was quick to blame his suicide on a D&D session that occurred that day in which his character allegedly received a curse. None of the other players present at the game remember such a curse. 

Pulling faced a lot of problems that could have been contributing factors: he had troubles fitting in at school and couldn't find a running partner in his bid for school office, and was known to have written "Life is a joke" on a school blackboard not long before his suicide. Weeks before his death, nineteen rabbits that he had been raising and a house cat were found disemboweled.
 

Pulling, Patricia

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Mother of Irving "Bink" Pulling and founder of Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons (B.A.D.D.).  Pulling was infamous for her selective reporting techniques; that is, when displaying an article from a newspaper or magazine, she would remove sections of text that did not agree with her point of view and shift the order of the paragraphs in the article. This would often alter the original intention of the article drastically. 

After the suicide of her son, Pulling devoted her life to spreading the word of the imagined evils behind gaming. In this time, she founded B.A.D.D., sued (and lost against) Bink's school and TSR for wrongful death, and solicited the Surgeon General to put a warning label on D&D, claiming that it could cause its players to commit suicide.  She also wrote "Interviewing Techniques For Adolescents," a primer for police officers who are dealing with crimes that involve role-playing games.  In it, she lists ESP (extra sensory perception) as a occultic ability, despite the fact that she claimed to have had a premonition of Bink's death as she approached her house the day of his suicide.   Pulling died of cancer in October of 1997.
 

Radecki, Thomas

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Founder of NCTV (National Coalition for Television Violence) and board member on Tipper Gore's PMRC group who once used quoted material from Rona Jaffe's novel Mazes & Monsters as if it was real and factual.  Radecki, a psychologist, lost his license to practice for five years for engaging in immoral conduct with a patient.  He has since returned to his practice.
 

Sellers, Sean

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Murderer who killed a convenience store clerk in 1985, and his parents in 1986.  Sellers' attorneys tried several defenses to avoid the death penalty; the classic "D&D made me do it" defense, the Satanism defense, and later, the Multiple Personality Disorder defense.   All of them failed.  Sellers was executed in February of 1999.  He was the first person executed for a crime committed at the age of 16 in the last forty years. 
 

This document is a work in progress, and is in no way complete as you see it here.  If I have left something out, or missed an important point, it is imperative that you, the reader, bring it to my attention.  All contributors will receive credit for their contributions at the end of the document.