A 26-year-old man on parole has been charged with the strangulation death of the 19-year-old college student.

The body of 19-year-old University of Illinois at Chicago student Ruth George was found in her family vehicle at a UIC parking garage on Saturday, Nov. 23. The Cook County medical examiner’s office determined the cause of death was strangulation, and her death was ruled a homicide.

As hundreds of UIC students gathered the following Monday to mourn the death of the kinesiology student who friends called “Ruthie,” officials announced a man had been charged with her murder and sexual assault.

Donald D. Thurman, 26, was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated sexual assault on Monday, Nov. 25. Officials said Thurman, who was on parole at the time of the attack after serving two of six years in prison for a 2015 armed robbery conviction, confessed to the murder and sexual assault Sunday afternoon.

George graduated in 2018 from Naperville Central High School, where she was on the gymnastics team.