Monday, October 22, 2018

IN LOVING MEMORY OF LAUREN MCCLUSKEY (FEBRUARY 12, 1997 TO OCTOBER 22, 2018)


            Let us not forget the Lauren McCluskey every year on February 12 and October 22. We will not forget the way you live on this earth.

 
Lauren McCluskey
(February 12, 1997 to October 22, 2018)

Lauren J. McCluskey
1997 - 2018


Lauren Jennifer McCluskey, 21 years old, a beautiful young woman in all respects, was murdered on the University of Utah campus on October 22, 2018. A worldwide outpouring of grief testified to the light she brought during her life - a light that somehow still shines during these dark days.

Lauren was born in Berkeley, CA on February 12, 1997. She moved to Pullman, WA August 1998 when her parents, Matt and Jill McCluskey, joined Washington State University as professors. From an early age, she was bright, sensitive, and very active. She fearlessly climbed trees and climbing walls.

She entered her first Junior Olympic (JO) association track meet at 8 years old and set JO records in high jump, long jump, and 400 meter run. At age 9, she was told that if she qualified for nationals, she could go. So, of course, she qualified for nationals in the 9-10 age group. She continued to compete nationally in high jump, hurdles, and multi-events, earning USA Track and Field All American (top 8) 19 times and setting many USATF association youth records, 12 of which still stand, and the Junior (U20) association record for heptathlon. As she competed nationally, she made friendships with athletes, their families, and coaches from across the U.S.

As a high school freshman, she was WA State High School Champion in High Jump and 2nd in 100 meter hurdles. She high jumped 5'6" in her sophomore year before pulling her hamstring. She spent her junior year training at SPIRE and attending Andrews Osborne Academy in Ohio. She returned to Pullman for her senior year of high school. At the 2015 WA State High School meet, she qualified in four events, scoring in three, helping her team place third overall in the state. She set the Pullman High record for the 100-meter hurdles. She placed 9th at U.S. Junior (U20) Championships in the heptathlon that year.

She loved animals and volunteered at the Whitman County Humane Society helping to socialize cats so they would be more adoptable. She had two beloved cats of her own, Fuzzy and then Victory. She completed her Pullman High School senior project at the WSU Center for Animal Wellbeing. She also volunteered for the YMCA and Special Olympics.
Lauren graduated from Pullman High with honors and accepted a Track & Field scholarship at the University of Utah to compete in the PAC-12 Conference. At Utah, she competed in the multi-events and high jump. She was a loyal Ute and rooted for them with gusto. She earned PAC-12 (hon. mention) and MPSF All-Academic Awards and is 10th on the all-time performance list for the Utes in the pentathlon.

Her work ethic, in the classroom, weight room, and on the track, was exceptional. Her teammates and coaches were inspired and amazed at how she never complained, even when the weather was foul or practice was especially tough.

Lauren has been described as quiet but, more accurately, she chose her words carefully. Her professors were delighted by how she was engaged and made incisive, on-point comments. In college, she truly blossomed.


Lauren never had an unkind word to say about anyone. She loved being with friends and was a great dancer. She had a strong singing voice, loved karaoke, and even did standup comedy.

Lauren was a Christian. She grew up attending Community Congregational United Church of Christ and in college attended Capital Church in Salt Lake City. She was a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at the University of Utah.

She was a deep, independent thinker with an interest in philosophy and a strong sense of right and wrong.

She was a gifted writer, winning a high school award in her junior year of high school as the top writer at her prep school and excelling in college. Even her texts and e-mails were beautifully composed. Lauren enrolled in electives on grammar and logic for pure intellectual enjoyment. She was looking forward to graduating and finding a job in public relations or academic advising, preferably some place warm.

Lauren served as a Communication Intern at Courtland Place Retirement Community, where her grandparents live. In this internship, she designed and completed a picture directory with stories that she wrote about the residents. She enjoyed interviewing them and taking their pictures for the project. Her grandparents received wonderful feedback from their neighbors that they loved the book and interacting with Lauren.

A model student-athlete, Lauren had a 3.77 GPA and applied to graduate in spring 2019. Recognizing her academic accomplishments, the University of Utah conferred a posthumous B.Sc. Degree in Communication.

Lauren is survived by parents Matt and Jill, brother Ryan, grandparents John and Linda McCluskey, Ross and Joyce Rudeen, uncles Jeff and Steve Rudeen, aunt Jennifer McCluskey, cousin Madison Bryant, and her cat Victory.

In lieu of flowers, Matt and Jill suggest donating to the Lauren McCluskey Memorial Fund for student athletes in track and field, https://giving.utah.edu/lauren-mccluskey/ or the Whitman County Humane Society https://www.whitmanpets.org/how-to-help/donate/monetary-donation.html.

Let her light shine.

A celebration of life for Lauren will be held on Sunday, November 11, 2018 from 4 to 6 pm at the SEL Event Center in Pullman, WA 99163.

Published in Salt Lake Tribune from Oct. 28 to Nov. 4, 2018 

Lauren McCluskey
(February 12, 1997 to October 22, 2018)

  
Timeline of events in the Lauren McCluskey case

Oct 25, 2018

The following timeline is based on contacts University Police had with Lauren McCluskey as well as information gathered in the case since Monday and was shared at a press conference held Thursday, Oct. 25:

Sept. 2: Lauren met Melvin Shawn Rowland at a local bar where he was working as a bouncer and began a relationship with him. He visited her often at her residence hall and built friendships with other students in the building.

Oct. 9: Lauren learned Rowland’s real identity—including his actual age and the fact that he was a registered sex offender. At that point she decided to end the relationship. She invited Rowland to her dorm room and confronted him with the information. He admitted his sex offender status but denied the age difference. Lauren told him she was ending the relationship. He spent the night in her room and borrowed her car the following day to run errands.

Oct. 10: Campus dispatch was contacted by Jill McCluskey, Lauren’s mother, who requested a campus security escort to help her daughter retrieve her vehicle from her ex-boyfriend.

University Police contacted Lauren and she initially declined the assistance, stating that Rowland was going to drop the vehicle at her apartment and she felt comfortable having him do that.

A dispatcher told Lauren she would have security officers near the building just in case and asked her to call back if the situation changed.

Oct. 10, 5 p.m.: Lauren called back and stated her car had been dropped off at the parking lot at Rice-Eccles Stadium and that she needed a ride to pick it up. A security escort responded and gave Lauren a ride to pick up her car.

Oct. 12: Lauren contacted University Police to report having received suspicious messages that she believed were from friends of her ex-boyfriend. The texts stated that Rowland was dead, and it was Lauren’s fault. She was able to determine by looking at social media that was untrue.

The reporting officer asked Lauren if she felt in danger or threatened by the texts. She stated she did not, but that she felt his friends were trying to lure her somewhere.
The officer told her to not go anywhere that made her uncomfortable and to call back if she received additional messages or contact.

Oct. 13, 9:22 a.m.: Lauren again contacted University Police to report receiving additional messages she believed were from her ex-boyfriend and/or her ex-boyfriend’s friends. The messages demanded money in exchange for not posting compromising photos of Lauren and Rowland on the internet. Lauren stated she sent $1000 to an account as demanded in hopes of keeping the photos private.

A report was taken, a criminal history was pulled and the case was assigned to a detective for follow up on possible sexual extortion charges.

Oct. 19: The formal investigation of the extortion charges began. A detective contacted Lauren to gather additional information about the extortion, to identify all suspects possibly involved and to seek an arrest warrant for Rowland and/or his acquaintances responsible for the alleged crime.

Lauren McCluskey
(February 12, 1997 to October 22, 2018)


Oct. 19-22: Security video showed Rowland at various locations on campus.

Oct. 22, 10:39 a.m.: Lauren emailed police to report having received an additional text from a spoofed number claiming to be Deputy Chief Rick McLenon requesting she come to the police station. University Police now believe the text came from Rowland with the intent of getting Lauren to leave her dorm room.

Oct. 22, 3 p.m.-6 p.m.: Rowland spent the afternoon waiting for Lauren with some of her friends in the residence hall.

Oct. 22, 8:20 p.m.: Rowland confronted Lauren, who was on the phone with her mother, in a parking lot outside her residence hall. In the altercation, she dropped her cell phone and belongings. He dragged Lauren to a different spot in the parking lot where he forced her into the back seat of a car he had driven to campus. He shot her in the car multiple times.

Oct. 22, 8:23 p.m.: Dispatch received a call from Matt McCluskey, Lauren’s father, stating he believed his daughter was in trouble, relayed what her mother had heard on the phone, and requested that officers respond.

Oct 22, 8:32 p.m.: Police responded to the parking lot, located Lauren’s belongings and began searching her dorm, surrounding area and the parking lot. Additional resources were mobilized.

Oct. 22, 8:38 p.m.: Rowland was picked up by an acquaintance and leaves campus.

Oct. 22, 9:55 p.m.: During a search of the parking lot, police discovered Lauren’s body in the backseat of a vehicle.

Oct. 22, 9:56 p.m.: A secure-in-place alert was sent campus wide that stated there had been a shooting on campus.

Oct. 22, 10:09 p.m.: Alert sent with suspect information. Updates were sent approximately every 30 minutes reiterating the secure in place order.

Oct. 22, 11:46 p.m.: Alert sent lifting secure-in-place order after University Police determined suspect had left campus.

Oct. 23, 12:01 a.m.: Alert sent identifying shooting suspect as Melvin Rowland.

Oct. 23 12:46 a.m.: Salt Lake Police located Rowland and engaged in a foot pursuit. He entered Trinity A.M.E. Church, 239 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., and as police entered the church he shot himself.

Oct. 23, 1:47 a.m.: Alert sent saying Rowland had been located and is no longer a threat.
Additional Information:

Q. Where did Rowland get the gun used in the attack?

A. University Police have learned Rowland borrowed the gun from an acquaintance under false pretenses. The acquaintance is fully cooperating with law enforcement. According to the acquaintance, Rowland said he wanted to borrow the gun to teach his girlfriend how to shoot. It is not anticipated that any charges will be filed.

Q. Who picked up Rowland on Monday night after the shooting?

A. Rowland called a woman he had met on a dating site and asked her for a ride, saying he had just finished a workout at the U. She agreed and picked him up. They went to dinner at a local restaurant, drove by the state Capitol and then went to her home in downtown Salt Lake City where Rowland took a shower. She later dropped him off at a coffee shop downtown. Subsequently, she saw news reports about the shooting, recognized photos of Rowland and contacted police. The woman is fully cooperating with the investigation and it is not anticipated she will face charges.

Q. How did University Police identify Rowland as the suspect in the shooting and determine he had left campus afterward?

A. University security cameras recorded him in the parking lot outside the residence hall. Another video showed him getting into a vehicle that left campus. Police also had the information relayed by her parents.

Q. Why didn’t University Police contact Adult Probation & Parole on Oct. 13 after learning Rowland was a registered sex offender?

A. University Police were investigating what was understood at that time to be an extortion case and did not yet believe there was enough evidence to share with other law enforcement. The current investigative process is to gather evidence that supports the claim and then to make contact with a suspect. It’s during this phase that police would have reached out to AP&P.

Q. Why didn’t University police assist Lauren in getting a restraining order?

A. Rowland was threatening Lauren financially and reputationally, but there was no indication to University Police from Lauren that he was threatening her with physical harm.
INTERNET SOURCE: https://unews.utah.edu/timeline-of-events-in-lauren-mccluskey-case/

 
Lauren McCluskey
(February 12, 1997 to October 22, 2018)


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