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Va. Tech freshman said plot to kill teenage girl was ‘secretive and exciting’ Va. Tech freshman said plot to kill teenage girl was ‘secretive and exciting’
(about 2 hours later)
BLACKSBURG, Va. — A Virginia Tech freshman told investigators that she wanted to be part of something “secretive and exciting” when she became involved in the plan to kill a 13-year-old girl, helping a college classmate pick a remote spot for the slaying, buying a shovel with him and ultimately disposing of Nicole Lovell’s body, a prosecutor said Thursday. CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. — A Virginia Tech freshman helped plot the killing of a 13-year-old Blacksburg, Va. girl because it was “secretive and exciting,” helping a classmate pick a spot for the slaying, buying a shovel and ultimately disposing of Nicole Lovell’s body, a prosecutor said Thursday.
Montgomery County, Va. Commonwealth’s Attorney Mary Pettitt said Thursday that Natalie Keepers, 19, was intimately involved in the murder plot, laying out the allegations during a hearing at which a judge denied Keepers’s bond request in Christiansburg, Va. Montgomery County, Va. Commonwealth’s Attorney Mary Pettitt said that Natalie Keepers, 19, was intimately involved in the murder plot, laying out the allegations during a hearing at which a judge denied Keepers’s bond request.
“To be involved in the homicide of someone she didn’t know at all is just astonishing,” Pettitt said.“To be involved in the homicide of someone she didn’t know at all is just astonishing,” Pettitt said.
Keepers is accused of assisting another Virginia Tech student, David Eisenhauer, 18, of Columbia, Md., who has been charged with abducting and killing Nicole. The middle schooler disappeared on Jan. 27, sparking a multi-day search, and her body was found last weekend just across the North Carolina border. Keepers is accused of helping David Eisenhauer, 18, abduct and kill Nicole, a teenager who had been bullied in middle school and had survived cancer and a liver transplant. The girl disappeared on Jan. 27, sparking a major search before her body was found last weekend in North Carolina. Eisenhauer has been charged with abduction and first-degree murder in Nicole’s death.
[Friend says she warned school about Lovell’s relationship with older man]
Keepers’s attorney did not directly address the charges against her at the bond hearing, but said he wanted the opportunity to prepare a strong defense and “explain some of it.”
Two law enforcement officials have said Eisenhauer had sexual contact with the 13-year-old girl after meeting her online and used their relationship to lure her out of her home.
Tammy Weeks, Nicole’s mother, said she discovered a night stand pushed up against the door to Nicole’s room and a window ajar on the day she disappeared. Authorities said it was likely Nicole was stabbed to death the same day.
Keepers, petite and wearing glasses, entered the courtroom wearing an orange jumpsuit and with her hands shackled.
Eisenhauer and Keepers, of Laurel, Md., were close friends at Virginia Tech, having both come from nearby Maryland high schools. It was Eisenhauer who rushed Keepers to the hospital when she had appendicitis in the fall.
In January, Pettitt said, Keepers began helping Eisenhauer plot to kill Nicole. The two college students had “bounced ideas about the best ways to commit a murder,” Pettitt said. The prosecutor and police have said nothing about a motive for the slaying.
The two discussed nearly every aspect of the murder, Pettitt said. Keepers went along as they decided where Nicole should be killed — a remote area outside of Blacksburg. They discussed the murder at a cookout in Blacksburg and Keepers went with him to purchase a shovel — to bury Nicole’s body — and cleaning supplies.
They decided, Pettitt said, that Eisenhauer “would take her to a remote location and cut her throat.”
Law enforcement officials said Eisenhauer, a cross-country runner, had sexual contact with Nicole, who lived in Blacksburg and attended Blacksburg Middle School. They said she was lured from her house as part of the slaying plot.
Nicole was reported missing the morning of Jan. 27. Her cell phone and a blanket with Minions cartoon characters printed on it also were missing.
The blanket and cleaning supplies were later found in a suitcase in Keeper’s dorm room, officials said.
Pettitt said investigators immediately dug deep into Nicole’s history on social media, where she had laid bare her heartbreak and anguish over boys and, according to her mother, sought solace from the taunting and bullying she endured in the real world.
[A 13-year-old’s online fantasies turn fatal][A 13-year-old’s online fantasies turn fatal]
Pettitt said they discovered she had been corresponding with Eisenhauer, sending her last missive at around 12:40 a.m. on the morning she went missing. Thursday’s hearing provided many new details about the slaying, but a central mystery remains: Why would two seemingly successful and bright college students hatch a plot to kill a middle schooler? Pettitt offered no motive in court, but two law enforcement officials have told The Washington Post that Eisenhauer had an inappropriate relationship with Nicole and lured her out of her home to kill her.
In his first interview with police, Eisenhauer admitted to seeing the middle schooler shortly before she went missing, Pettitt said, but he said he had just driven to her apartment complex and that the girl had come over to his car to give him “a side hug,” and that he had left. Keepers’s lawyers did not directly address the charges against her at the bond hearing, saying they want the opportunity to prepare a strong defense and “explain some of it.”
Keepers, in two interviews with police, revealed that Eisenhauer had said he killed the middle schooler and also told them that she had helped load her body into the trunk of Eisenhauer’s Lexus. She then helped him unload the body in a remote area just across the border in North Carolina. Eisenhauer, of Columbia, Md. and Keepers, of Laurel, Md., were close friends at Virginia Tech, having both come from nearby high schools. He was a standout runner and she had dreams of working for NASA.
Keepers’ attorneys painted her as a bookish and quiet teen with strong academic prospects. Keepers also testified during the hearing that she was bullied in middle school, and told the judge she started cutting herself and contemplated suicide. Keepers has two brothers and a sister. It was Eisenhauer who rushed Keepers to the hospital when she had appendicitis in the fall. She was in counseling at the university and suffered from depression and panic attacks, according to testimony Thursday.
Tim Keepers, Natalie’s father, testified on her behalf in requesting bond. He told the judge that his daughter had never been in any trouble. He described his family as a “pretty close, very strong Christian family.” Pettitt said the plot to kill Nicole slowly and carefully evolved in January. The two engineering students hashed out nearly every aspect, even discussing it once at a cookout. Pettitt said the pair purchased cleaning supplies and a shovel and settled on a final plan: Eisenhauer would slit Nicole’s throat in a remote area outside Blacksburg.
Keepers wanted to become an aerospace engineer like her father. The plan unfolded in late January. Nicole reportedly told a neighbor’s children on the day she disappeared she was going to sneak out that night to meet someone named “David” and showed the girls messages from him on the messaging app Kik; authorities have said the teenager and the freshman met online.
“She wanted to follow in my footsteps,” Tim Keepers said, breaking down into tears. He said he was shocked by the charges against his daughter. Tammy Weeks, Nicole’s mother, said this week she found a night stand propped against her daughter’s bedroom door and a window ajar.
“She was an absolutely wonderful role model to my other kids,” Tim Keepers said. Pettitt said Nicole apparently climbed out the window — carrying a blanket that featured characters from the “Minions” movies — unwittingly sneaking out into danger. Prosecutors had previously said that Nicole likely was killed the same day she went missing.
Keepers and Eisenhauer were both engineering students at Virginia Tech, and friends said they appeared to have bright futures. Keepers hoped to work for NASA, and Eisenhauer was a standout runner.
A friend of Nicole’s told The Washington Post on Wednesday that she reported to officials at Blacksburg Middle School that she feared Nicole was having a relationship with an adult and that she had posted about the relationship on Facebook.
[Prosecutors say teen was stabbed to death][Prosecutors say teen was stabbed to death]
Keepers has been charged with accessory before the fact to first-degree murder, accessory after the fact and concealing a body. The most serious charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. After the girl disappeared, Pettitt said investigators immediately dug deep into Nicole’s history on social media, where she had laid bare her heartbreak and anguish over boys and, according to her mother, sought solace from the taunting and bullying she endured in the real world.
Attorneys for Eisenhauer have declined to comment, but in court documents Eisenhauer is said to have told investigators: “I believe the truth can set me free.” In one instance, a friend previously told The Post she became so worried about Nicole’s apparent relationship with an adult that she reported the situation to a school resource officer at Blacksburg Middle School. Blacksburg police said they never received such a warning.
[Friend says she warned school about Nicole Lovell’s relationship with adult]
During the hearing, Pettitt said investigators discovered Nicole had been corresponding with Eisenhauer, sending her last missive at about 12:40 a.m. on the morning she went missing.
In his first interview with police, Eisenhauer admitted to seeing the middle schooler shortly before she went missing, Pettitt said, but he said he had just driven to her apartment complex and that the girl had come over to his car to give him “a side hug,” and that he had left.
Keepers told police that Eisenhauer said he had killed the middle schooler. She told police that she helped load Nicole’s body into the trunk of Eisenhauer’s Lexus and then helped him remove the body from the car in a remote area just across the border in North Carolina.
Keepers’s attorneys painted her as a bookish and quiet teen with strong academic prospects. Keepers also testified during the hearing that she, like Nicole, faced problems in school. She told the judge she started cutting herself and contemplated suicide. Keepers has two brothers and a sister.
“In eighth grade, I was dealing with a lot of bullying issues so I started cutting myself,” Keepers said, seated before the judge in an orange jumpsuit with her hands shackled. She wore glasses and spoke softly.
That’s when she went to the Christian Counseling Center in Maryland and learned better coping techniques, like singing and drawing, Keepers said.
But even after middle school, she continued to cut herself. At Virginia Tech, where she started in the fall, she was in counseling and took medication for depression and anxiety.
Keepers said she made a pact with a friend last year, pledging that if they could both go a whole year without cutting themselves, they would get a tattoo of a semi-colon. It was intended to symbolize that she wanted to continue her life, “instead of putting an end to my story.”
“That was my promise to my parents, my friends, to God,” Keepers said. “I’ve learned how to love myself and how to take care of myself.”
She celebrated the milestone by getting the tattoo. It was soon after that she allegedly began planning Nicole’s slaying.
Tim Keepers, Natalie’s father, testified on her behalf in requesting bond. He told the judge that his daughter had never been in any trouble and described her as being part of a “pretty close, very strong Christian family.”
He said Keepers wants to become an aerospace engineer like her father.
“She wanted to follow in my footsteps,” Keepers said, breaking down into tears.
Natalie Keepers has been charged with accessory before the fact to first-degree murder, accessory after the fact and concealing a body. The most serious charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
A bond hearing has not been scheduled for Eisenhauer and his attorney did not respond to a request for comment about the allegations against him. According to court documents, Eisenhauer is said to have told investigators: “I believe the truth can set me free.”
Jouvenal reported from Washington.Jouvenal reported from Washington.