This case is very personal to me; the murder of Benjamin Levine
People are always asking me what happened to make my now-deceased little brother the way he was. As painful as this is for me to talk about right now, I’m going to attempt to explain what sent my only sibling into that downward spiral.
From the left, my shirtless brother Jeremy, the deceased Benny, Jarred, Matt, and in the back is Mark. My brother Jeremy and Benny were the closest of all. this was probably taken in ‘98
Benny Levine, their other best friend, Matt Eberhard, and my brother Jeremy graduated in 2000; they were called the three amigos. If you saw one, you saw all three; when I was 18 and decided to go on a week long vacation with my then boyfriend, we took the three amigos with us. We were all so incredibly close.
They graduated in 2000 and their senior class trip was to Cancun for a week; they’d only been there maybe 3 days when they were hanging out at a bar called Señor Frog’s. It was their first trip without parents or their big sister Crystal there to watch over them and the legal drinking age in Mexico is 18. So Benny got really trashed; the bar asked Benny to leave, and my brother walked him out.
My brother told Benny to stay right there, he had to run back inside to locate their other best friend, Matt, so they could all leave together. My brother Jeremy was only gone a couple minutes, he found Matt and went back outside – but Benny was gone. My brother was told by witnesses that the police had picked Benny up. My brother and Matt called the Cancun police, and they said yes, they had Benny in custody; that they could come and get him in the morning. The next morning, the Mexican police claimed they never had Benny, they had never picked him up, and they completely denied ever having spoken to my brother and Matt on the phone the night before.
Article written about Benny’s Murder
Later that morning, 18 year old Benny, wrestling champ who had a full scholarship to Miami university for the upcoming year, a kid who’d never been in a fist fight in his life or in trouble with the law, was found beaten near death and thrown in a manhole where he died. This manhole was several miles away from senior frog’s, and Benny had no way to walk that far even if the police hasn’t picked him up. They said Benny fell off a bridge and into this uncovered manhole and died. What are the chances of falling off a bridge and directly into an uncovered manhole?
Poem my brother wrote about Benny
So, we were told that the Mexican police beat Benny to death and, in order to cover their tracks, they threw him in a man hole. We know for a fact that’s what happened, but there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it, it’s freaking murder, and there will never ever be any justice. Benny was with us 24/7, he had a key to our house. We were CLOSE. My oldest daughter, Andrea, is named after Benny’s little sister who’s name is Andrea; had my daughter been a boy, his name would’ve been Benny
Somewhat recent photo. From left: Mark North, Matt in the glasses, and my brother who was forever shirtless
After Benny died, that’s when the hard drinking began, it was like he was on a suicide mission; definitely survivor’s guilt. Jeremy felt like if only he had been there, if he hasn’t gone back inside to get Matt, Benny would’ve survived. And now my brother and Benny are both dead. The only thing bringing me comfort is knowing that they are together again; Benny and Jeremy are together again. Oh, and some of you may remember when a family member jumped my brother? They’re saying that’s what killed him, it’s what caused the brain bleeds which ultimately lead to his death. Yes, he was dying anyhow, but he wouldn’t have died then had his brain not been bleeding. Also we got a call from the coroner today, they lost my brother’s corpse. I swear to God this nightmare is never ending! Do me a favor, PLEASE! Call your family, even the ones you don’t like to talk to, and tell them you love them. The last time my brother called I didn’t answer and that will haunt me for the rest of my life!
My only sibling. What am I going to do without you, Jeremy!
This was several years back. I had an enemy post this photo as proof that I was cheating on my husband 😂 my husband was in the room and either he or my mom took this photo. My brother came in the hotel room to wake me up, to go swimming with him. When I wouldn’t wake up, he laid down with me and passed out lol. I treasure this photo 💚
We had just come home from church, I was about 14 and my brother About 12
*thank you to those of you who have donated to to me; we are approximately $1500 away from meeting our goal of burying my brother. Every single penny which has been donated to me has been given to my mother to pay for the funeral; Mama is very grateful for the outpouring of help. She’s one who’s always had money and asking for help is something she’s NEVER had to do before. She has a GFM, but they take a percentage of the money from the crowd funding. I will once again leave the info to donate; if you can afford to help, please do; if you can’t, please pray for peace for me and my mother. Again, I have had to ask for help for my brother many times, but since he’s gone now, I’ll obviously never ask again. Thank you 🤍. I have Facebook pay, my fb name is Crystal Bearr. My PayPal is:[email protected] or the link to my PayPal is: https://www.paypal.me/morbidnmacabre My Venmo is: @Crystal-Bearr my cashapp is: $Crystalbearr