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Suspect to be charged with murder in killing of University of Texas student Teenage runaway charged with murder in killing of University of Texas student
(about 5 hours later)
A 17-year-old suspect will be charged with murder on Friday in the killing of a University of Texas dance major whose body was found in a creek on campus in Austin, police said. A teenage runaway accused of killing a student in a brutal attack on the University of Texas campus was charged with murder on Friday.
Meechaiel Criner is in custody and will be formally charged on Friday afternoon in connection with the killing of 18-year-old Haruka Weiser, Austin police chief Art Acevedo said at a news conference. Less than 18 months ago, Meechaiel Criner professed his determination to overcome a difficult upbringing and go on to make a positive contribution to society.
At a news conference on Thursday, the UT president, Greg Fenves, said the “unthinkable brutality against Haruka is an attack on our entire family”. But Austin police said on Friday that they were confident the 17-year-old was responsible for the death of Haruka Weiser, a freshman dance student whose body was found at a creek that runs through the heart of the campus.
Weiser’s family said she had planned to take on a second, pre-med major soon and to travel to Japan this summer to see family, according to Fenves.Weiser’s family said she had planned to take on a second, pre-med major soon and to travel to Japan this summer to see family, according to Fenves.
Acevedo said the campus has extensive video monitoring and that the timing and location of the man caught on surveillance video and “a lot of things we’d rather not talk about” indicate he killed Weiser on Sunday. It was the first killing on school grounds since a bell-tower mass shooting nearly 50 years ago.Acevedo said the campus has extensive video monitoring and that the timing and location of the man caught on surveillance video and “a lot of things we’d rather not talk about” indicate he killed Weiser on Sunday. It was the first killing on school grounds since a bell-tower mass shooting nearly 50 years ago.
Police have not released details about how Weiser died, although authorities have repeatedly underlined the brutality of her killing. An autopsy shows she was assaulted, but police have refused to elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation.Police have not released details about how Weiser died, although authorities have repeatedly underlined the brutality of her killing. An autopsy shows she was assaulted, but police have refused to elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation.
Weiser, of Portland, Oregon, was last seen about 9.30pm on Sunday leaving UT’s drama building. Weiser’s roommates reported her missing shortly before noon on Monday, and her body was discovered on Tuesday in a creek near the alumni center and football stadium, an area bustling with activity day and night. Criner was featured in an interview in an issue of the Texas high school, Texarkana, student newspaper from December 2014. The report, headlined “Voice of Hope”, quoted him as saying he has “been bullied almost my whole life” because of what the writer described as a “thick, African-like” accent, and added that child protection officials sent him and his sisters to live with his grandmother because of his mother’s heavy drinking.
Weiser’s was the first on-campus homicide since former US marine Charles Whitman climbed to the top of UT’s bell tower on 1 August 1966 and opened fire, killing 16 people and wounding scores of others. He said he was a victim of violence during six months he spent in foster care while at elementary school – on one occasion being locked in the bathroom and on another being thrown to the ground by a foster parent, and that being in care was almost akin to being in prison. “Every day, I feel people think I’m not capable of much,” he is quoted as saying. “What I want to leave behind is my name – I want them to know who Meechaiel Criner is.”
UT asked Austin police to lead the investigation with the help of the Texas department of public safety, which has assigned 20 state troopers to campus a day, including some on horseback. Gay said law enforcement is offering a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. His grandmother told KSLA local news that his family had not been in contact with him since he left home last August.
A spokeswoman with the Texas department of family and protective services said that Criner “was in our care” this week and that a caseworker in Austin had contact with him at a shelter for homeless youths. She said he was a “foster child on runaway status” but declined to give more details.
Criner was booked into the county jail in the early hours of Friday morning and is being held on $1m bail. He is not believed to have any connection with the university, which has about 51,000 students. The death is the first homicide on campus since 1966, when 14 people died in a mass shooting.
Weiser, an 18-year-old freshman from Portland, Oregon, was reported missing on Monday. According to the arrest affidavit she called a friend on Sunday at about 9.30pm to let her know she was “on the way” back to her dorm after a class in the drama building. She was carrying her Apple computer and iPhone. The typical route would have taken her on a path that runs alongside the creek.
Just after 11am the next day her friends made a missing person report to university police when she did not show up to class. Police “conducted a cursory search in Waller Creek for Weiser but did not locate her”, the affidavit states.
Her body was found in the creek by university officers on Tuesday morning about 150 metres from the drama centre and had “obvious trauma”, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit states that a suspect riding a woman’s bicycle was seen on video surveillance footage arriving near the alumni centre at about 9.20pm and attempting to open the doors of a parked van.
“The figure of a female dressed in all black and looking at her cellphone could be seem walking towards the alumni centre. As the figure passed the suspect and continues towards the bridge, the suspect watched her, puts the kickstand down on the bike, reaches into the back of his pants with his left hand and pulled out what appeared to be a shiny rigid object. The suspect then followed the female across the bridge and on to the sidewalk.”
He is not seen again until 11.47pm, when he is caught on camera walking with a slight limp and carrying a small bag.
The Austin police chief, Art Acevedo, said in a news conference on Friday that city firefighters responded to a call about a trash fire on Monday just north of the campus and police took a male to a homeless shelter for young people.
On Thursday, when officials released video footage of the suspect, the firefighters realised he resembled the teenager who started the trash fire. A member of the public who made the original call about the fire also contacted police after seeing the footage. Officers went to the shelter and arrested him on Thursday evening, initially on suspicion of tampering with evidence.
Acevedo said that Criner had a small blue duffel bag resembling one that belonged to Weiser. The trash container set on fire in an abandoned building had items believed to be hers amid the ashes, according to the affidavit, including coursework and a Dr Martens shoe similar to the kind she was wearing when last seen alive. Officers searched Criner’s room at the shelter and found a MacBook with a Portland sticker.
Students gathered for a vigil on Thursday to mourn Weiser, who was described as a gifted student who enjoyed both modern and classical forms of dance. She trained in ballet in Oregon and was planning to take on a second major in pre-med studies and to visit family in Japan this summer.
In the wake of her death the university has stepped up security. It has increased police patrols and is encouraging students to walk in groups and be aware of their surroundings. It has also pledged to conduct a review of campus security.
“As we struggle to understand why she was killed, if her death can somehow make it safer for a young woman to walk home, if it will prevent another assault or murder, then at least we could find some meaning behind an otherwise senseless and tragic death,” her family said in a statement.