Utah University Athlete Murdered

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

A 21-year-old young athlete who was about to graduate next year from the University of Utah was shot dead Monday by her ex-boyfriend. The girl had cut the relationship a few days ago when she discovered that her ex had hidden her true identity and the fact that she had spent almost a decade in prison for sexual crimes against minors.

The events occurred this Monday around 8:20 pm when the Salt Lake City police responded to a call made from the university campus reporting a shooting. The incident sparked panic for approximately three hours among the students.

There was discovered the lifeless body of Lauren McCluskey inside a car parked in front of her bedroom. Soon after, authorities located the lifeless body of Melvin Rowland, 37, inside a nearby church. Apparently he killed himself.

“I heard her scream no! no! No!”Exclaimed Jill McCluskey, the girl's mother, on Tuesday morning, revealing that they were talking to her on the phone when her daughter was attacked.

Minutes later McCluskey heard a woman's voice telling her that her daughter's belongings were scattered on the floor. "I thought it was a car accident," said the woman, who is a university professor in Washington. "That was the last time I heard from her."

The young athlete was originally from Pullman, in the state of Washington, according to what her mother revealed in a statement issued on Tuesday. There she made sure that the young student had had a courtship of approximately a month in length with Rowland, and that this had ended upon discovering that the subject had lied about her age, her name and the fact that she had spent 8 years after the bars for crimes of the sexual order. The man was listed on a local sex offender registry.

The relationship ended on October 9 when the young woman made a complaint to the police about the subject. Dale Brophy, the chief of local police, told the AP agency that detectives were working to build a case around the complaint, without giving further details.

For her part, Ruth Watkins, president of the University of Utah, canceled classes on campus, reporting that a vigil in honor of McCluskey will be held this Wednesday night. "As a campus community we share the pain of this tragic loss," Watkins exclaimed in a statement. McCluskey would graduate from communications in May.