University of Utah student Lauren McCluskey was looking forward to graduating next year. The 21-year-old was a star member of the university’s track and field team and an accomplished scholar majoring in communications, according to her family and school.

On Monday night, around 8:20 p.m. local time, McCluskey was returning to her university apartment from her night class. She was talking to her mother, Jill McCluskey, on the phone.

“Suddenly, I heard her yell, ‘No, no, no!’” her mother told BuzzFeed News in a statement. “I thought she might have been in a car accident. That was the last I heard from her.”

Jill's husband called 911. “I kept the line open,” she said, “and in a few minutes, a young woman picked up the phone and said all of Lauren’s things were on the ground.”

On campus, university police had responded to a report of a possible abduction in a parking lot. They found McCluskey’s body in a parked car near the Medical Plaza residential hall, the university said. She had been fatally shot.



Police began searching for the suspect, described as a 37-year-old black male — 6 feet 3 inches tall, 250 pounds; wearing a gray beanie, black pants, white shoes, and a white hoodie — who was last seen fleeing on foot from the Medical Plaza Towers residential hall. Authorities said he was picked up in a vehicle by another person.

Shortly after midnight, Salt Lake City Police Department officers located the suspect who ran into a church after a short pursuit on foot. Officers heard a gunshot and found him dead in the church from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The suspect was identified as Melvin Rowland, a registered sex offender in Utah, according to authorities.



Rowland was convicted in 2004 on felony charges of enticing a minor and attempted forcible sexual abuse, according to the Utah Department of Corrections.

McCluskey had dated Rowland for about a month, according to her family.

“He lied to her about his name, his age, and his criminal history,” her mother said.

After a friend informed McCluskey about his criminal history, she ended the relationship with Rowland on Oct. 9, Jill said.