A lady’s physique was present in a wooded space on the College of Georgia’s campus in Athens on Thursday, in accordance with college officers, who mentioned that foul play was suspected in her loss of life.
In a press release to The Occasions, the college mentioned the sufferer was an undergraduate scholar on the college till the spring of 2023 after which enrolled at Augusta College’s nursing program, which has a campus in Athens.
Simply after midday, a good friend reported to the campus police that the lady was lacking after she didn’t return from a run close to the college’s intramural fields, the College of Georgia Police Division mentioned.
At 12:38 p.m., officers discovered the lady’s physique in a patch of forest close to a lake. The lady, whose identify and age haven’t been launched, “was unconscious and never respiration” and had “seen accidents,” the police mentioned. Paramedics arrived and pronounced her lifeless.
The police would not have any suspects, Jeffrey Clark, the chief of college police, mentioned at a information convention on Thursday evening.
“When you’ve got a suspect that’s on the unfastened, there’s at all times a hazard,” the chief mentioned. “However there’s no rapid hazard presently.”
Chief Clark declined to touch upon the character of the loss of life.
He mentioned he couldn’t recall any homicides on campus prior to now 20 years.
Investigators had been reviewing footage from campus safety cameras, the chief added. He urged anybody with details about the case to the college Police Division at (706) 542-2200.
The college police mentioned that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Athens-Clarke County Police Division had been aiding within the investigation.
Kelly Girtz, the mayor of Athens-Clarke County, mentioned he joined the neighborhood “in deep sadness over today’s murder,” including that town was working with college police to deliver the investigation to a “fast conclusion.”
The college mentioned the college’s president, Jere Morehead, met with members of the sufferer’s sorority to supply his condolences.
The college canceled the rest of lessons on Thursday and all lessons on Friday. Officers inspired college students and workers members to take precautions on campus and really helpful that folks “journey in teams when potential and pay attention to your environment,” according to a statement. Augusta College additionally mentioned it canceled lessons Friday at its nursing college campus in Athens.
“I don’t really feel secure wherever,” Anika Bhattacharya, a sophomore on the College of Georgia, advised the television news outlet 11Alive, including that she had not too long ago considered going for a run within the space.
“I’m not even contemplating strolling on my own a lot in spite of everything this — at the least for the following couple months,” she mentioned, including “I simply don’t wish to take any probability in any respect.”
In accordance with The Red & Black, a campus newspaper, college students on the intramural fields mentioned that their lessons had been canceled halfway by a category interval on Thursday afternoon. The newspaper mentioned that cops had checked the identifications of the folks on the fields earlier than they left the realm.
The physique was present in a wooded space close to Lake Herrick, half of a bigger leisure space that features enjoying fields, tennis courts and trails for strolling, operating and biking. The lake and intramural fields abut the Oconee Forest Park.