College athlete Lauren McCluskey was killed after police failed to respond to multiple complaints about a harasser
Former Morris County prosecutor Bob Bianchi says that University of Utah student Lauren McCluskey did more than she should have ever had to do to seek help from police.
The detective assigned to the case of a University of Utah student-athlete who said she was being threatened by an ex-boyfriend is now out of a job -- just a few months after cops say the ex-boyfriend behind the harassment murdered the 21-year-old woman.
Officials say Lauren McCluskey was fatally shot by Melvin Rowland on Oct. 22, 10 days after McCluskey first told authorities she was being “threatened with compromising photos.” But it took seven more days -- and another call to campus police -- for officials to open a case. And when the probe was finally on the books, it was reportedly handed to an unidentified University of Utah detective who was off work and never got started on the investigation before McCluskey was murdered.
POLICE RELEASE 911 CALLS UNIVERSITY OF UTAH STUDENT MADE DAYS BEFORE BEING MURDERED BY EX-BOYFRIEND
That detective is no longer part of campus police, the Salt Lake Tribune reported Thursday. Chris Nelson, a spokesman for the department, didn’t comment when asked if the detective quit or was fired.
Lauren McCluskey was killed in October. (FOX 13)
McCluskey made her first call to police Oct. 12 to report Rowland’s alleged threats in the wake of the couple's break-up, according to the newspaper. Police didn’t open a formal investigation until seven days later and no work was reportedly ever done because the detective didn’t return to work until the woman had already been killed.
An independent review of the case found the detective in question, who was hired in March 2016, never talked to McCluskey in person, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. The review also found gaps in the way the police department trained officers, and that the detective “lacked [the] expertise to recognize subtle indicators of domestic violence cases,” the newspaper reported.
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In December, University of Utah President Ruth Watkins expressed confidence in police Chief Dale Brophy, despite the unflattering review.
Fox News’ Lucia I. Suarez Sang contributed to this report.
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