Time spent with good friends is one of the few things folks from any time, place or walk of life can enjoy and look forward to. If you’re one of my good friends not named Matt or Megh, chances are, when we get together, we’re playing Dungeons & Dragons. This juggernaut of high fantasy role playing, math, drama, conquest, triumph and anguish has been the epicenter of so many enjoyable times in my life. But … like most things good and amazing in this world … The shine hides a shadow … and my beloved DnD is no exception.
And “roll to save” is probably what then 15-year-old David Ventiquattro said to his friend and neighbor, Martin Howland, as he leveled a shotgun at the 11 year old boy and prepared to pull the trigger.
But let’s back things up a little bit.
For some deep background so we know what we’re dealing with, Dungeons & Dragons is a TableTop Role Playing Game, or TTRPG, first introduced in the ‘70s. The game centers around the dynamic of the Dungeon Master, or the one running and telling the story, and the adventuring party, the people at the table playing as characters in the story being run by the Dungeon Master. To play, the Dungeon Master constructs a fantastic world filled his quests and strange and exotic creatures, villainous enemies, engaging cities, locations and people and moments in time where the heroes played by the others at the table can rise about the chattel of the common men around them, stare death and danger and evil in the face and become gods amongst mortals.
Or they can try to fuck a goblin. That’s pretty common as well.
But, in short, there are rules in books that everybody involved in a game needs to know or know how to reference. There is a character sheet which gives you all the stats your character has, dice to determine what works and what doesn’t and dice to determine how much damage or impact certain behavior has on the world. It is the most fun you can have while drinking and speaking in a bad Cockney accent.
So these boys were in Herrings, NY which is a tiny hamlet … sub 200 people per the 2020 Census … In Jefferson County, a few miles east of Watertown, NY, a city where I lived for a few years and still visit often for work. And they were playing DnD. What the party dynamics and quest were, we don’t know. But the year is 1985 so close your eyes and imagine any scene in Stranger Things where they were playing DnD and this is probably pretty similar to what David, Martin and the rest of their friends were doing on the fateful night of November 22.
These two boys were playing this game in Ventiquattro’s bedroom, by themselves when, triggered by an in-game happening, Ventiquattro pulled out a real shotgun and aimed it at his friend. Believe it or not, according to fellow neighborhood boys, Jeremy Barlow and Leonard Strebing - 10 and 12 years old respectively at the time of the killing - questioned during the trial, this wasn’t the first time this had happened. Unlike these previous times, however, Ventiquattro discharged the weapon, killing his younger friend.
As the investigation began, Ventiquattro met with his lawyer, William McClusky. I wish I had a transcript of these meetings because, in these meetings, Ventiquattro explained a dynamic where his in-game character’s purpose was to “extinguish evil” and that, throughout the course of the game, Howland had become evil. So, naturally, Ventiquattro needed to extinguish him … in-game of course but execution is everything and Ventiquattro ended up taking things a bit too far and found himself on trial for murder.
A New York Times article published Nov. 23, 1986 details the results of the police investigation. Following this investigation, State Police officers testified that Ventiquattro leveled his .20-gauge shotgun inches from the back of Howland’s head. The investigator, Robert J. Semione testified saying: “He stated that he was in another world. He stated in his fantasy world he wanted to kill Martin [Howland], but not in real life.”
McClusky clung to an argument that Ventiquattro was “immature and did not realize the consequences of his actions.” A statement backed up to some extent by Dr. John F. Harkulich, a psychologist local to Syracuse. Dr. Harkulich was brought in to examine Ventiquattro’s mental and emotional development. Dr. Harkulich concluded Ventiquattro had the maturity of a 12 or 13 year old at best, despite being 15 at the time of the shooting and 16 by the time court proceedings ended.
The Persuasion Check by the lawyer failed and Ventiquattro was found guilty of Second Degree Murder by Jefferson County Judge John Aylward. In his reading of Ventiquattro’s sentencing, Judge Aylward said the “shotgun slaying” of Howland was the “most senseless, motiveless slayings” he had ever seen. The jury deliberated for four hours before turning in a “guilty” verdict
For his actions, Ventiquattro received a rather odd and open ended sentence of five and a half years to life in prison, to be served, at first in the Brookwood Center Division for Youth in Calverack; an institution 30 miles south of Albany, according to the New York Times article published following the sentencing, Dec. 6, 1986.
Following the criminal trial, Martin Howland’s mother was awarded $75k following a wrongful death lawsuit.
Ventiquattro went on to serve only a matter of months for the death of Howland, however. In 1988, the Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, Fourth Department overturned the conviction and ruled that police questioned and isolated Ventiquattro from his parents for eight hours to obtain a confession. With the conviction overturned, Ventiquattro was free to resume his life.
After his release, Ventiquattro eventually relocated to Virginia where he married, had children and a career as a truck driver. He died suddenly in 2010 after a short illness. His death brought about a wrongful death suit itself, when FTL Express and his widow eventually agreed to a $50k settlement after the legal system found ground the acute bronchopneumonia which took Ventiquattro’s life was brought about as a result of injuries sustained when an FTL truck rear ended Ventiquattro’s truck which was stopped because of a traffic accident.
Ventiquattro was 39 at the time of his death.
In closing:
“A bad roll of the dice. A plan doomed to fail. An epic showdown with the Big Bad. Character death is a natural part of Dungeons & Dragons. And while spells like revivify can undo a tragic swan dive off a cliff, your party may at times find themselves short of a diamond or spell slot to bring a dead character back to life. But there’s value in letting characters fail and death doesn’t have to be final. You can use death to drive the narrative forward and facilitate great roleplay.”
Michael Galvis, for DnDBeyond.com
Sources:
https://jeffcowiki.miraheze.org/wiki/David_Ventiquattro,_16,_kills_Martin_Howland,_11
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/06/nyregion/16-year-old-boy-sentenced-for-murder-of-his-playmate.html?sec=&spon=
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrings,_New_York
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/23/nyregion/16-year-old-is-convicted-in-fantasy-game-slaying-of-boy-11.html
https://wvrecord.com/stories/510604829-wrongful-death-settlement-worth-50k
https://www.grandlefuneralhome.com/obituary/980010
https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1340-how-to-handle-character-death-in-dungeons-dragons
Story Written By Zac Sweeney