Stone Foltz’s last few hours, before he slipped into unconsciousness and died a few days later, were described for a Wood County jury that is deciding the fate of two men accused in his death.

Jacob Krinn and Troy Henricksen are charged with involuntary manslaughter in the March 2021 death of Foltz, a Bowling Green State University sophomore from Delaware, Ohio.

On the witness stand Friday, Scott Steck said he, Krinn and another Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity member left Foltz, who was apparently snoring on his couch. This was about two hours after Foltz consumed a fifth of alcohol at a Pike initiation event on March 4 at the off-campus house, 318 N. Main St.

Steck said he helped get Foltz back to his apartment on Klotz Road.

In the car ride there, Steck said Foltz threw up in the back seat and “all over” Steck.

“I was asking him how he was doing and he just smiled. Jacob was just trying to get him to wake up,” Steck said.

He helped carry Foltz into his apartment.

“We laid him down on the couch and Jacob put a trash can by his head,” Steck said, adding that they stayed for about 30 minutes.

Foltz had turned himself to lay on his stomach and was snoring when they left, Steck said.

Wood County Prosecutor Paul Dobson asked why he left Foltz.

“None of us had any reason to believe anything was wrong. Jacob said he was going to be all right,” Steck said.

“Why did you defer to Jacob?” Dobson asked.

“Jacob was my Big and he was a little older. I figured he would know better than me if someone needed to stay or not,” Steck said.

Through a Facebook group chat, he found out early the next morning that Foltz was in the hospital “getting revived.”

“I freaked out,” Steck said.

Foltz died of alcohol poisoning March 7.

Steck is from Delaware and knew Foltz before they were students at BGSU.

Krinn’s attorney, Samuel Shamansky, referred to Steck’s interview with police.

“You indicated to the police that nobody was forced to drink,” Shamansky said.

He also pointed out that it was not Krinn’s decision alone to leave Foltz and that, truly, no one thought Foltz was suffering.

“If you thought something was wrong, you would have said something. You weren’t deferring to anyone,” Shamansky said to Steck.

“And Stone was a friend of yours … and if you had even a little inkling that this was out of the ordinary or dangerous to your friend, you would have stayed, called an ambulance, called the police, called his friends.”

Steck agreed.

A video that Steck took of Foltz on the couch was to show the other Pike members that Foltz “was in good shape,” Shamansky said.

Steck recalled his own Big/Little night with Pike.

“I didn’t take my anxiety meds, so I was pretty freaked out,” he said of thinking about consuming the “family bottle.”

Steck said he drank quite a bit and Krinn was his Big. Steck said he wan’t a big drinker but did consume most of his Evan Williams bourbon over 90 minutes.

“I didn’t want to be the guy who didn’t drink,” he said.

Canyon Caldwell, who has pleaded guilty to eight counts of hazing and obstructing justice, recalled his initiation.

“They said the goal was to finish the bottle. If you can’t, not a big deal,” he said on the stand Friday afternoon.

Caldwell did not finish the bottle, with an inch or two left. He dumped it down the sink when he was out of sight.

“I didn’t want anybody seeing me or saying ‘finish the rest of the bottle.’”

On March 4, 2021, he was at the frat house, playing a video game during the Big/Little event. When some of the pledges started vomiting, he went up to his room.

Police officers came to the door at 12:30 a.m., shortly after Foltz had been taken to the hospital, and said they would be back later in the morning for an interview.

They started cleaning up, Caldwell said.

Shamansky asked if Krinn was involved with the clean-up. Caldwell said he was not.

Henricksen’s attorney, Eric Long, asked if Henricksen was at the Big/Little event or clean-up. Caldwell said he was not.

Jarrett Prizel, 20, Olean, New York, has pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and eight counts of misdemeanor hazing.

On the stand Friday morning, Prizel said he now attends the University of Alabama. He was a Pike at BGSU in 2019. There were 13 in his pledge class.

His brother was an active member and talked about the Big/Little event and the family bottle.

Prizel shattered his collarbone the week before his Big/Little event and did not drink at the party, but went to it.

Krinn was there, he said, and drank a family bottle.

Prizel also attended a Big/Little in fall 2020, where he was the new member educator, a role that Henricksen had in spring 2021.

Prizel said that if pledges don’t finish a bottle or participate in the Big/Little event, they are allowed to continue with the fraternity process.

A new member educator has a lot of influence, he said. The educator plans brotherhoods, which are weekly meetings to learn about Pike history.

Prizel said he led the pledges to the Big/Little in March 2021 after Henricksen said he had a headache and was not coming.

“I was a little annoyed by it,” he said, adding that he also had a Little that night, Nick Pavone.

Shamansky asked if the pledges had to drink.

“You didin’t force them to do anything, did you?” he asked Prizell.

“No, sir,” Prizell said.

“It wasn’t mandated by your fraternity,” Shamansky said. “It certainly wasn’t mandated by Jacob Krinn.”

Long pointed out that none of the pledges said no to drinking, although they did to cleaning, which was often requested by Pike members.

The trial is back in session Monday at 9 a.m. before Wood County Common Pleas Judge Joel Kuhlman.