Mom of Slain Utah Track Star Describes Haunting Last Phone Call: 'I Heard Her Yell, No, No, No!'
The University of Utah track star who was fatally shot Monday night in the backseat of a parked car had broken up with her killer two weeks prior when she learned he had a criminal history as a sex offender, her mother wrote in a statement after her death.
Just before 9 p.m. on Monday night, Lauren McCluskey, 21, was returning to her university apartment from a night class while talking to her mother on the phone, Jill McCluskey wrote in a statement released through the university.
“Suddenly, I heard her yell, ‘No, no, no!'” Jill wrote. “I thought she might have been in a car accident. That was the last I heard from her.”
While her husband called 911, Jill kept the line open, she says.
“In a few minutes, a young woman picked up the phone and said all of Lauren’s things were on the ground,” she wrote.
Police say the suspect, Melvin Rowland, 37, grabbed McCluskey and fatally shot her following an argument, according to a statement from the university.
The shooting took place at about 8:20 p.m when campus police responded to a call of a possible abduction, the university said in a statement.
McCluskey’s body was found in the back seat of a parked car, University Police Chief Dale Brophy said at a press conference Tuesday.
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Rowland was found dead hours later on Monday night inside a nearby church from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, CBS News reports.
In her statement, McCluskey’s mother revealed her daughter had “dated her killer for about one month.”
“He lied to her about his name, his age, and his criminal history. McCluskey was informed by a friend about his criminal history, and she ended the relationship with her killer on October 9, 2018,” she wrote.
Rowland was convicted of attempted forcible sex abuse and enticing a minor over the internet in 2004, court records show, ABC News reports.
After breaking up with Rowland, “She blocked his and his friends’ phone numbers and complained to University of Utah police that she was being harassed,” Jill wrote.
“She was dearly loved and will be greatly missed,” her mother wrote.
Slain Student ‘Had Strength and Determination’
During her time on the University of Utah campus, McCluskey stood out, her mother wrote. A senior student-athlete on the University of Utah track team, she was “an outstanding student with a 3.75 GPA majoring in communication and was excited to graduate in May 2019.”
“She loved to sing and had strength and determination,” she continues.
The university canceled day and evening classes for Tuesday to allow the campus community “to grieve the senseless loss of this bright, young woman,” University president Ruth Watkins said in a statement.
Counseling and support services are available to students, staff, and faculty, she said.
“Several members of our university administration spoke with Lauren’s family last night and I have also reached out to them,” Watkins said in her statement. “Her family is understandably in shock at this news about their daughter. They are heartbroken. We have and continue to offer our full support to them at this terrible time.”
The Associated Students of the University of Utah and the Athletics Department are planning a vigil for McCluskey on Wednesday at 5 p.m. on campus.
