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The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld a ruling that Peru State College was not liable for the 2010 disappearance of one of its students.

The court issued its ruling Friday in the lawsuit filed by the parents of Tyler "Ty" Thomas against the Nebraska State College System's governing board. The wrongful death lawsuit contends the college failed to protect Thomas from harm.

Thomas, 19, disappeared after encountering Joshua Keadle, a fellow Peru State student now serving prison time for raping another teenage girl.

Thomas was a freshman at the Southeast Nebraska college when she disappeared in December 2010 after leaving a party. Authorities said Keadle told them he and Thomas had sex in his vehicle that night, and that he left her at a boat ramp along the Missouri River and she threatened to report he had raped her.

Keadle has not been charged in her disappearance, but a jury found him liable in a lawsuit and ordered him to pay $2.6 billion. Thomas' family won't be able to collect because Keadle doesn't have the assets to pay it, but their attorney has said the judgment — believed to be the largest in state history — would provide them some solace.