Killer Thriller Docu: A Father’s Fight Against Hazing and the Film Bringing the Crisis to Light

Legally Brunette

iHeartPodcasts

True Crime

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 June 2026

⏱️ 41 minutes

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Summary

In this powerful episode, Jenn sits down with Gary DeVercelly, whose son Gary Jr. tragically died in a fraternity hazing incident nearly 20 years ago, and Daniel, director of the new documentary film 4000, premiering next week at the Tribeca Film Festival. They discuss the devastating realities of hazing culture, the silence that protects it, and the families who have turned unimaginable loss into a movement for change. Through Gary’s personal story and Daniel’s reporting, the conversation explores why awareness must start long before college and how breaking the cycle of hazing “tradition” could save lives.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an I-Heart podcast.
0:02.6	Guaranteed human.
0:16.6	Welcome back to Killer Thriller, Docu Edition.
0:19.5	I'm your host, Jennifer Fessler. Today we're discussing 4,000 days. It's a powerful new documentary premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival next week. So this film follows three families who lost their sons to fraternity hazing and refused to let those tragedies be forgotten. Their years-long fight for accountability and legislative reform
0:38.5	became a movement that is helping reshape the conversation around hazing in America.
0:43.5	Joining us, our director, Danielle Coutulo, who brings this remarkable story to the screen,
0:48.2	an advocate Gary Diversally, whose son Gary Jr. died in a fraternity hazing act.
0:53.7	Carrie has since dedicated himself to raising awareness and fighting for change to help prevent
0:58.2	other families from experiencing the same loss. Daniel, Gary, thank you guys so much for joining
1:03.9	us. Thank you for having us. Really? And of course, I want to start out by saying, Gary, I am so
1:10.4	sorry for your unimaginable loss. And, you know, I want to start out by saying, Gary, I am so sorry for your unimaginable loss.
1:12.9	And, you know, I'm happy to be able to say that from watching the documentary, I feel like I now know Gary Jr. a little bit.
1:22.7	And I love that part of it.
1:25.2	You know, I love it's such a hard, difficult, tragic story, but also being able to see the kids and hear about the kids and the way that you guys describe them. That was joyful. I love that I can say that I know about him a little bit. I wish that I had known him. But I, again, I can't imagine what you've been through. So I guess we'll just jump in, you guys.
1:45.8	I guess, you know, Daniel, how did you learn about Gary Jr.'s story? And you've been advocating,
1:53.0	I think, you know, for anti-hazing law for a while. I know you've been involved with several
1:57.9	docs, right? Yeah, I mean, almost a decade now.
2:06.4	And I kind of fell into it. I didn't, I never, this was never, I never intended for this to be kind of my cause. And I was just trying to help my alma mater out. I went to West Virginia
2:10.8	University and I do a lot of stuff with the university. I mean, I mainly do music stuff for a living.
2:16.6	So just kind of outside my wheelhouse.
2:19.0	But I, uh, I stepped up to help them after a kid named Nolan Birch died at WVU. Um, we made an
2:25.8	educational film and, uh, it was just supposed to be something to help, you know, alert people to
	...

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