A Press conference was held to bring attention to Darren's story.

April 20th, 2006 - Loews Hotel, Los Angeles
Below is text of the speech given by Maxine Russell

A Mother’s Appeal to President Hu Jintao for Justice Regarding My Son’s
Alleged Murder in China

     Friday, April 14, 2006 marked the one year anniversary of my son’s alleged murder in China. He left for China on December l, 2004, well educated and full of hope for his new teaching position in Guangzhou, China. When he arrived, all of the things promised to him in the contract were false. He wasn’t given his own apartment, tutoring, a work permit, the proper salary, upper grades, small classes, etc. The two-story school with a courtyard and garden turned out to be just a photo taken by the owner. She said, “I don’t know who uses that building, but it looked pretty so I used it for the school.”  Instead, Decai English Training School was two rented classes in a library and a 12th floor office.

       I had a special SBC phone plan where I could call China and pay $50.00 per month for 3,000 minutes. So I called Darren daily at 3:00 P.M. our time, 6:00 A.M. China time. We were extremely close with one another and I wanted to keep in close touch. Things went wrong from the beginning. The apartment was shared. There was a wonderful Black teacher from Africa (the first foreign teacher she ever invited to teach there), but he was let go. Darren used most of the $400.00 I left him until he got paid to help the other gentleman find a job in another part of China. He is still there and very happy with a legitimate situation. There was no heat, hot water, etc. in the apartment. The windows were forced to stay open permanently and Darren became quite ill. The owner warned Darren if he got sick often, she would let him go too. The owner never got Darren the proper work permit, instead asking him to go monthly and renew his tourist visa in Hong Kong. I begged Darren to find another school, but he didn’t want to leave the few students he had at that point. He said it wasn’t their fault things weren’t done properly.

      At some point around the end of January, the owner of Decai became a recruiter for two large, legitimate government schools. Then Darren was assigned to teach in both primary and senior schools. He had 1,200 students per week and was teaching 7 days per week. He would teach all day and then have to do written lesson plans at night. He contracted a very serious strain of bronchitis. He would go to the outpatient area of the local hospital four days at a time and get painful intravenous injections. His arms became so painful and bruised. They couldn’t always find the vein at first. But he continued to teach, not wanting to disappoint his students. Darren was the only foreign teacher at those two schools. That is why his schedule was so demanding.

       I visited Darren in February. He had some days off during the Spring Festival. We traveled to Yunnan Province where Darren and I went on Chinese speaking tours. He wanted to become proficient at the language. He loved China, its people, and had so much respect for the culture. We had a wonderful time together visiting the stone forest and underground caves. The Chinese people on tour with us couldn’t get over how friendly Darren was. Darren carried small gifts with him and gave everyone a tiny teddy bear when we left. We all hugged and took photos. It was a wonderful experience. I asked Darren if he felt comfortable his contract would be corrected. He felt that he needed to be patient and give it a little more time. The staff had said the “recruiter” was honorable and would correct the conditions.

      One day, one of the employees at the school was angered because that employee arrived late (buses were delayed). That person was docked half a day’s pay. That person told my son that the recruiter was taking $40,000 from tuition and only giving the school $10.00 per semester per student. That person was angered that the recruiter was dishonest.

       On April 8, 2005, Darren and I talked by phone as we did daily. He said he was completely exhausted, couldn’t breathe properly because of the bronchitis, and couldn’t keep up the pace of 7 days per week and 1,200 students (grades 1-12) per week. I told him he should leave and find another school. But again, he wouldn’t leave the students. He enjoyed teaching them and he said they enjoyed his classes. I told him to ask for a six-day work week and also say he needed a work permit. He approached the recruiter and she denied his request. She became angry and said he would have to continue working 7 days per week. At that point he said, “Then you need to let me say good-bye to my students and give me my passport. She refused again. Finally, without ever letting him say good-bye to the students, she ordered him out of his apartment. She had three people go to the apartment with him and he took five suitcases, 17 books (from the U.S.), clothes, momentos, etc. Much had to be left behind due to the circumstances. Three three staff were ordered to take him clear across town to a military owned hotel. They were told to “get him as far away as possible where he can’t cause any trouble for me. I never want to see him again.”

         The first night at this hotel Darren was threatened and robbed. We wired him money to purchase a plane ticket home, but later found out that money never made it from corporate to the local offices until April 20, 2005 (6 days after his alleged murder). There have been many versions of what happened to Darren. The State Dept. told my remaining son and I that a Mack truck hit Darren and his head was unrecognizable. She recommended I don’t look at it at all. She said this occurred at 12:30 P.M. shortly after lunch. Then I spoke with the U.S. Consulate who said his body didn’t look like it was in any kind of accident. There were no marks anywhere on the body indicating that. One of his Chinese friends was told that his body was in the street bleeding until a couple took him to the hospital around l:00 P.M. The final version from the Guangzhou Traffic Police was that he was hit around 4:30 A.M. and taken by ambulance to The Second Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Guangdong Province. Yet when his records were sent they were from The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University and were those of a Chinese woman hospitalized from April 20-22 suffering from depression. It took me four days in person with a translator to get the correct records.

        Initially I wanted to fly to China and take Darren home, but I was told I had to use one of four agencies. So I asked a Rabbi to say prayers over Darren’s body and the U.S. Consulate took photos for me. The photos were doctored. When I finally got Darren’s body home (weeks later), there was a large fist mark in one cheek. It had been covered with make-up. There was also what appeared to be two burn marks on his left shoulder. His body was turned so that shoulder didn’t even show. There were no marks indicative of any truck accident – no bruises, broken bones, lacerations, bleeding, etc. on his body beneath his neck. The only bones broken were his knuckles where he probably tried to protect himself.

Maxine B. Russell