Writers often find inspiration from real events; both current and historical. Joyce Carol Oates is now being criticized as unethical for just that. The critics claim that it was not ethical for Oates to use the events that happened to John Fiocco Jr. in her story "Landfill", and also including many similarities between Fiocco and her main character Hector Campos Jr. Though there are some similarities between the two, the differences were great enough that only some who knew of the Fiocco case. Because of this, Joyce Carol Oates' decision to use Fiocco's death as a fictional basis was ethical. The sad story is still mostly a mystery because of the ongoing investigation, and both the police and autopsy report were withheld from the public. What is known, is that a nineteen year old freshman at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) named John Fiocco Jr. was reported missing from his dormitory on March 25th 2006 after drinking. Police reported finding blood, that was later identified as belonging to Fiocco around a dumpster outside of his dormitory. It was never made clear if it had any connection to the trash chute above, but his body was recovered at the Bucks County landfill in Pennsylvania. "Landfill" is loosely based on what happened to John Fiocco,It is a story of a nineteen year old college freshman at Michigan State University at Grand Rapids. He is a struggling student that tries extremely hard to fit in with the fraternity he joined. He is hazed and bullied, and on the night of march twenty-fifth, while heavily intoxicated, he falls down a trash chute at his fraternity house. A few weeks later, his body is discovered at the Tioga County landfill. The family of John Fiocco Jr, classmates, and other critics called Oates unethical for publishing her story in the New Yorker. Though the family has good reason to be upset because they were still grieving their loss when the story was published, using the event as an idea for "Landfill" w