Sunday, May 9, 2010

Love's Loss

University of Virginia student Yeardley Love was brutally killed this last week by someone she had cared for. Love was a senior at the University of Virginia and was also a lacrosse player. She is said to have had bright personality and to always be smiling. She was killed by her ex boyfriend George Huguely, who she had been dating on and off for about a year and half. Nobody was quite aware of Huguely’s violent past and what would happen to their dear friend.
The police are charging Huguely with first degree murder of Love. Huguely has come forward to the police, waved his Miranda Rights and told them what had happened that night. He says that he and Love had broken up and were communicating by emails when he became upset. He went to Love’s residence in the middle of the night where he kicked down her door in order to get into her room. Once in there he shook her violently and repeatedly slammed her head again the wall until she was dead and then he took her communication devices with him. He later told the police where they could find her computer. His lawyer is also saying that it was accident and that he never meant to kill love. "We are confident that Ms. Love's death was not intended, but an accident with a tragic outcome," said Francis Lawrence, Huguely's lawyer.” There was an autopsy performed on Love, but at the time of this report the results had not been released yet. Huguely is being held right now without bond.
The worst news was yet to come when the police began to look at Huguely’s rap sheet and see that this was not the first time that he had been trouble with the law. He had been charged with things such as possession of alcohol by a minor. It is reported that Huguely was known to have a violent temper and also a drinking problem. Officials say that Huguely was cooperative but visibly upset about what had taken place. They are still withholding information such as the motive and have interviews to conduct, but there were no witnesses leading up the murder so it has been difficult.
The family laid Love down to rest yesterday at funeral in her home town. Her lacrosse teammates chartered a bus so that they could be present and the funeral and the prayer service that was held the previous night. It was also reported that some of the members of the boys lacrosse team were going to be paul bearers at her funeral.
While this comes as a shock to the university, some people are saying that could have possibly been avoided if the university had done a background check on their students. Some people disagreed with this saying that it is a violation of students rights because they would be looking at their background and not the staff’s. The administration said that they are mourning her and death and find it more difficult that it was another one of their students that killed her.
As a university student I feel that it is the responsibility of the University I am attending to have my best interest at hand. I would like to be notified of a fellow student who has violent in order to protect myself, and for that matter I think that the staff should have background checks also. It is all about protecting the students and with the technology available today, there is no excuse for not doing everything possible to be aware of who is attending their colleges.