Remember the young coed found dead in her Eastern Michigan University dorm room right before Christmas? Well, they’re calling it murder. And, an arrest has been made. Here’s a clip from the article that ran in today’s “Ann Arbor News“:
…(P)olice allege, 22-year-old Laura Dickinson was killed by a fellow student who broke into her dormitory room, raped her and then took keys and women’s underwear as he made his escape.
As 20-year-old Orange Amir Taylor III was arraigned Saturday in connection with Dickinson’s death, those who knew her and others in the campus community were grappling with the shocking news that she was violently attacked and slain…
Robert Dickinson (the victim’s father) said he was originally told there was no sign of foul play, so he believed his daughter had died of natural causes.
On Friday, he said, he was told that Taylor became a suspect after police saw him entering and leaving the dormitory on a surveillance camera and then matched his DNA to evidence left at the scene.
Dickinson said investigators also told him they had suspected Laura’s death was not by natural causes, but kept her family in the dark because they feared the suspect would flee…
University Ombudsman Greg Peoples said Taylor had transferred to Eastern and had yet to declare a major. Taylor, on his Facebook page, indicated that he was an education major who would graduate in 2009…
Dickinson was a vegetarian studying to be a dietitian and nutritionist. She worked part time at a Hastings health food store, her parents’ coffeehouse and a jewelry store. She was a member of the EMU rowing team, and a 2002 graduate of Hastings High School, who talked of joining the Peace Corps to help kids in Africa dealing with AIDS.
EMU students are asking questions. For the most part, it seems they want to have an explanation from the EMU administration, and from the police, as to why they weren’t told that a rapist/murderer was loose on campus. Most, it seems, appreciate that investigators may have had good reason not to share information, but, at the same time, they want to know where that line is drawn. At what point does the safety of the living take precedence over an investigation? It’s a valid question.
(update: EMU administrators deny that they withheld information.)
On a related note, it’s hard to imagine that the timing of these events, as terrible as they are, could have been any better for EMU administrators. The student’s death was discovered only after most students had already left for Christmas break, and, now, news that she was in fact murdered, is coming out two days in to spring break. If these events had played out at any other time, there may have been serious repercussions. As it is, however, I doubt there will be much. (Some students will, no doubt drop out, fearful for their safety, and others may choose not to come to EMU in the first place, but I don’t suspect there will be large-scale protests either demanding answers as to why students weren’t better informed, or significant public safety initiatives. Attentionn spans are short, even when it comes to murder.)
