UR Security Services and the Rochester Police Department are investigating the circumstances surrounding a female undergraduate student who sought shelter overnight in an abandoned off-campus building with no recollection of how she got there.
The woman was found in the early morning hours of Saturday, Nov. 18 by a private security patrol officer hired by the owner of the premises, located approximately two miles from the River Campus. The officer transported the woman in his marked security vehicle back to her dorm at her request and then contacted UR Security.
“We made contact with her almost immediately in her residence hall and arranged for her to get medical attention at Strong [Memorial Hospital],” Director of UR Security Walter Mauldin said. “Because of the nature of her account of events about where she had been the night before up to a certain point then the point where she forgot or didn’t know where she had been for a period of time and then where she then able to say, ‘I was here but that’s two miles off campus,’ the Rochester Police Department was notified at her request and took a report.”
Mauldin would not say specifically where the woman was found but did say that it was a commercial institutional-type building not affiliated with UR.
“At this point we are still trying to determine the exact series of events that took place,” Mauldin said. “We know that during Friday to Saturday evening the 18th she was, at least in the late evening hours, in attendance at an unregistered party at the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.”
According to Mauldin, the woman attended the party with several friends but is unsure what happened from there.
“Alpha Delta Phi is deeply sympathetic with the victim but has no involvement with the incident,” ADP President and junior Rory Piper said.
The question Security and RPD are investigating, according to Mauldin, is what occurred that night from the point where she was at the ADP house to the point where she was found off campus.
“She was found off campus with scratches and abrasions and that kind of thing, possibly from falling down, we don’t know, but with minor injuries sustained during the night,” Mauldin said. “She was not from that area of the city and was not familiar with her surroundings.”
Along with RPD, UR Security has been trying to reconstruct her movements and activities to find out exactly what happened to her.
“I can’t go into much detail about all we know or any kind of medical care received,” Mauldin said.
Mauldin declined to comment on whether a rape test was performed or if any suspects have been developed.
RPD has committed one investigator that specializes in such incidents, which is especially significant, Mauldin said, because staffing shortages have caused the Rochester Police to shift many detectives away from investigative work and back onto uniformed street patrol.
RPD was contacted for this story but a spokeswoman did not have enough specific information on the case to comment before press time.
“Our concern is for her not knowing what happened for a period of several hours and being concerned if there was some compromise to her physically or sexually during that period of time,” Mauldin said. “What the investigation underway is to determine is what happened and what forensic evidence [exists] or statements that can be taken to help clarify.”
Mauldin indicated that a number of individuals have been interviewed about the case and that some have been more helpful than others.
“We have approached a number of people and requested their cooperation,” Mauldin said. “We have received varying levels of cooperation, and we continue to pursue things. We have had some people indicate ‘sure we will cooperate’ and when we actually got them to sit down they gave us a vanilla version of nothing.”
The Rochester Police Department and UR Security are asking for the University community’s help in reconstructing the timeline of events and the whereabouts of the student that night. Information about related activities in the Fraternity or Residence Quad areas, or vehicles located nearby, that might be useful to this investigation, should be directed toward UR Security at (585) 275-3436 or (585) 273-5200. If you wish to remain anonymous, you can contact University Intercessor Kathy Sweetland at (585) 275-9125 or sweetland@intercessor.rochester.edu.
“For the sake of care, we proceed as though we have something that might have happened criminally so we don’t skip over anything,” Mauldin said. “But we have a lot of holes to fill so there has been a pretty substantial effort on our part and on the part of city police.”Bruml is a member of the class of 2008.
