Post: #1

Quote: University of Utah student, 21, killed by ex-boyfriend was on phone with parents before fatal shooting

The 21-year-old University of Utah student who was allegedly killed late Monday night by her ex-boyfriend -- a registered sex offender -- was reportedly on the phone with her mother just moments before the fatal shooting.

Lauren McCluskey, a senior from Pullman, Washington, was found dead soon after gunshots were heard near a residential dormitory on campus. Her suspected killer, Melvin Rowland, was found dead inside an off-campus church in downtown Salt Lake City.

In a statement obtained by KTVU and attributed to her family, McCluskey's mom said she was speaking to her daughter on the phone as she returned from an evening class to her apartment.

"Suddenly I heard her yell, 'No, no, no!' I thought she might have been in a car accident. That was the last I heard from her," the statement said. "My husband called 911. I kept the link open. In a few minutes, a young woman picked up the phone and said all of Lauren's things were on the ground."



Melvin Rowland, a 37-year-old registered sex offender, is believed to have shot and killed University of Utah student Lauren McCluskey. He was found dead with from a self-inflicted gunshot wound about 4 miles from campus.


In the statement, the family said McCluskey and Rowland dated for about one month and he had lied to her about "his name, his age, and his criminal history."

"Lauren was informed by a friend about his criminal history, and she ended the relationship with her killer on October 9, 2018," the statement continued. "She blocked his and his friends' phone numbers and complained to the University of Utah police that she was being harassed."

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Rowland was convicted of attempted forcible sex abuse and enticing a minor over the Internet in 2004. He was released from prison in 2013.

University of Utah Police Lt. Brian Wahlin told reporters Rowland and McCluskey appeared to have had an argument at about 9 p.m. Monday night. Police found her body just before 10 p.m. near the medical towers.

Wahlin said police followed Rowland into the off-campus church after he was spotted at about 1 a.m. He said Rowland's body was found inside the church; he did not provide the circumstances of Rowland's death.

FOX13 reported Rowland was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside the Trinity AME Church, about four miles away from the scene of the shooting.

At 1:47 a.m., the university sent an alert that Rowland was “no longer a threat.”

University President Ruth Watkins said the university canceled classes Tuesday and scheduled a 5 p.m. vigil for McCluskey.

“Lauren was a highly regarded member of the university’s track and field team and an outstanding scholar, a senior majoring in communication,” Watkins said in a campus-wide message. “Several members of our university administration spoke with Lauren’s family last night and I have also reached out to them. Her family is understandably in shock at this news about their daughter. They are heartbroken. We have and continue to offer our full support to them at this terrible time.”

Athletics Director Mark Harlan said university counselors and psychologists were available to support McCluskey's teammates, coaches and friends.

"This news has shaken not only myself but our entire University of Utah athletics family to its core," he said.

McCluskey was a track and field athlete and majored in communication. She was set to graduate in May 2019.

"It was really scary to look out the window and see. I saw 15 to 20 police officers right where we're standing right now," Tyler Olsen, a student who lives in family housing near the shooting scene, told the Deseret News. "I mean, you're in your home, but nowhere feels safe in that moment."

Last month, an ex-convict pleaded guilty to killing a University of Utah student from China using a gun stolen after another slaying. Austin Boutain, 24, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Boutain and his wife were charged with hatching a carjacking plot that led to the October 2017 death of 23-year-old Chenwei Guo, whose parents live in Beijing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Followup story says she was extorted for $1000:

Quote:A University of Utah student who police say was murdered by her ex-boyfriend told officers she wired $1,000 to an account earlier this month to prevent the release of "compromising pictures" of the pair, investigators said Thursday.

University Police Chief Dale Brophy told reporters that Lauren McCluskey, 21, reported the extortion to his officers on Oct. 13, nine days before she was found shot dead outside an on-campus dormitory. The suspect in her murder, 37-year-old Melvin Rowland, was found dead that same evening of a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a Salt Lake City church.

Brophy said that McCluskey had ended her relationship with Rowland on Oct. 9 after she discovered that he had lied to her about his age and was a registered sex offender. McCluskey initially declined police assistance in dealing with Rowland, but later reported receiving numerous emails and messages using different names trying to lure her to locations in addition to the extortion attempt. Investigators now believe the messages all came from Rowland, who Brophy called a master manipulator.

"If his lips were moving, he was lying," Brophy said of Rowland. "I don't think he told the truth to anybody based on our investigation."

Rowland was spotted on surveillance video at various locations around the University of Utah's campus during the weekend before McCluskey's murder. Authorities believe he was trying to confront her. Hours before the killing, Rowland was in McCluskey's dorm building socializing with some of her friends. He later confronted McCluskey in the building parking lot, dragged her into a car he had driven to campus, and shot her multiple times.

After shooting McCluskey, Rowland was picked up on campus by a woman he met online. They went to dinner, visited the state Capitol and went to her apartment where Rowland took a shower.

The woman later called police when she saw photos of the man being sought for the campus shooting.

Later that night, after the woman dropped Rowland at a coffee shop, police tracked him to the church where he killed himself.

Rowland got the gun by telling an acquaintance that his girlfriend wanted to learn to shoot.

Brophy said it appears the woman who picked up Rowland on campus and the person who loaned him the gun had been duped and will not face charges.

Police knew Rowland was a sex offender but not that he was on parole, Brophy said. He added that police didn't start the formal extortion investigation until six days after her Oct. 13 report due to workload issues.


Kaitlin Felsted, a spokeswoman for the Utah Department of Corrections, said police didn't make parole officers aware of the complaint filed by McCluskey.

In the early stages of the investigation, officers didn't have enough information to pass on to any other law enforcement, Brophy said, adding that there were no indications from McCluskey that Rowland was threatening physical violence.

University of Utah president Ruth Watkins said outside investigations are being launched to assess campus security and police protocols to determine if improvements can be made to prevent future shootings.

Watkins said so far she has found no mistakes in how police handled the case. Brophy said he welcomes the reviews.

Earlier in the day, Gov. Gary Herbert said corrections and parole officials had launched investigations into the handling of the case.

"Clearly in hindsight, we're going to say, 'You should have done this, you should have done that,'" Herbert said during his monthly televised news conference at KUED-TV

He noted, however, "You never know when these things are going to occur."

Rowland was paroled in April when he told the parole board that he was a changed man after being a peer leader in prison had helped him tap into his empathy and learn to follow the rules.

He spent nearly a decade in prison after pleading guilty in 2004 to trying to lure an underage girl online and attempted sex abuse charges, according to court records.

After he was charged, a woman came forward to report he had sexually assaulted her after a separate online meeting a few days earlier.

Rowland, a native of New York, was twice sent back to prison for parole violations that included possessing pornography and failure to complete therapy.

He blamed his "thinking errors" for the actions that kept sending him back in prison, according to recordings of parole hearings from 2010 to 2018 released this week by the Utah Board of Parole and Pardons.

Rowland said at a hearing in 2012 that he was a womanizer who manipulated women to get what he wanted.

Brophy offered the same assessment. He said McCluskey met Rowland last month at a bar where he was working security and started dating him. He visited her often in her dorm and made friends with other students in the building.

"He was very, very good at getting people to trust him," Brophy said. "Lauren was no different."

I take this as further evidence that education makes women stupider and more helpless. Zero survival instincts. A fourteenth century illiterate peasant woman would have had more common sense.


Additional pic. 7/10, WB, WNM

Post: #2

I wish I could have killed him before he committed this tragedy. She was young and did not deserve this, poor girl......

Post: #3

RIP to the girl... she certainly didn't deserve this. I highly disagree with OP that she "should have seen this coming" He was a con man and sounds like a damn good one. She met him through work an as soon as she found out about his lies she cut ties.....

At the end of the day this is just a tragedy

Post: #4

(10-25-2018 10:22 PM)Cr33pin Wrote:  RIP to the girl... she certainly didn't deserve this. I highly disagree with OP that she "should have seen this coming" He was a con man and sounds like a damn good one. She met him through work an as soon as she found out about his lies she cut ties.....

At the end of the day this is just a tragedy

A damn good con man... so cool and composed he decided to commit murder/suicide? Yeah he was a real OG

Post: #5

He used age and experience to manipulate this girl- but to her credit as soon as objective facts were presented to her about this piece of shit she tried to bail immediately.....I just despise him and pity her. Her poor friends and family.... this is just fucking sad.

EDIT: He extorted her for $1000 before he killed her. If I had a time machine I would not kill him , I would kidnap him and take him somewhere where I could take my time ............he would beg me for death- and I would eventually kill him.......slowly, but eventually.

Post: #6

(10-25-2018 10:22 PM)Cr33pin Wrote:  RIP to the girl... she certainly didn't deserve this. I highly disagree with OP that she "should have seen this coming" He was a con man and sounds like a damn good one. She met him through work an as soon as she found out about his lies she cut ties.....

At the end of the day this is just a tragedy

And he definately doesnt look 37. . . .

Post: #7

(10-25-2018 10:26 PM)Thot Leader Wrote:  A damn good con man... so cool and composed he decided to commit murder/suicide? Yeah he was a real OG

I never said he was a OG?? Lots of unhinged lunatics excel in the charm and charisma department. Do you think just cause someone has a screw lose an they have it in them to snap that they can't be charismatic or manipulative?? I honestly dont know what else to say....

I feel sorry for the thots you lead

Post: #8

(10-25-2018 10:40 PM)Cr33pin Wrote:  

(10-25-2018 10:26 PM)Thot Leader Wrote:  A damn good con man... so cool and composed he decided to commit murder/suicide? Yeah he was a real OG

I never said he was a OG?? Lots of unhinged lunatics excel in the charm and charisma department. Do you think just cause someone has a screw lose an they have it in them to snap that they can't be charismatic or manipulative?? I honestly dont know what else to say....

I feel sorry for the thots you lead

Anyone that unhinged is going to have a ton of red flags. And no, you can't just chalk it up to inexperience on her part. She wasn't a teenage runaway. My OP was that women used to be educated for the exact purpose of not winding up like her.

EDIT: if a 21 year old woman doesn't realize that men routinely lie to get sex, and have some skill at detecting these lies, her parents have failed, as has society.

Post: #9

(10-25-2018 10:30 PM)Atlanta Man Wrote:  He used age and experience to manipulate this girl- but to her credit as soon as objective facts were presented to her about this piece of shit she tried to bail immediately.....I just despise him and pity her. Her poor friends and family.... this is just fucking sad.

EDIT: He extorted her for $1000 before he killed her. If I had a time machine I would not kill him , I would kidnap him and take him somewhere where I could take my time ............he would beg me for death- and I would eventually kill him.......slowly, but eventually.

But then you would go to prison, for killing an innocent man...if you got caught. Even if you escaped to the future, you'd still be a wanted atlanta man.

Post: #10

Seems like a pretty run of the mill murder-suicide, such as those events can be bland.

I'm having a real hard time getting a racism-boner over this.

Might finally be time to look into TRT.

Post: #11

(10-25-2018 10:48 PM)Leonard D Neubache Wrote:  Seems like a pretty run of the mill murder-suicide, such as those events can be bland.

I'm having a real hard time getting a racism-boner over this.

Might finally be time to look into TRT.

She's 21, a good student seemingly from a good family. He's 37 and a convicted sex criminal. She chose to date him. Race aside, this isn't a run of the mill murder-suicide.

Also, I recommend Androgel + Pregnyl.

Post: #12

I know of women that have got involved with people like this and been killed by them.

Sometimes its women's lack of real world nous that contributes but I would argue that these men are often going through something like the cholera sufferer who briefly rallies and feels amazing before their final descent to death.

Guys, alcoholics, drug addicts, who are facing all the I-told-you-so's of their life showering down on them in one dark rain, who are about to be humiliated, whose entire lives are about to go under === have a brief rally and are the most charming and persuasive people alive for a few days or weeks.
Its a survival instinct.

This guy did not live in danger of shooting his exes right from when he was 14 years old. If he had then he wouldn't have been described as just a 'sex offender' which suggests milder transgressions. This is one of the final few spirals of his descent and it is conceivable to me that his 'Engine of Denial' staged a big rally and his strategies and tactics took on an added charm and force.
I've seen it happen before where everyone was jealous of a woman's great new boyfriend right before she disappeared and he later emerged as a medically insane murderer. The charm offensive was his psyche's last brief rally before he went full-on loco.

Might not have been the case here but I think its worth considering. Whether she was seriously naive or not.. I cant say I know either way.

fucksake though: horrible thing to have happened.

Post: #13

(10-25-2018 10:44 PM)Thot Leader Wrote:  EDIT: if a 21 year old woman doesn't realize that men routinely lie to get sex, and have some skill at detecting these lies, her parents have failed, as has society.

Women are NOT capable of having "casual sex", because the risks of sex for women are anything but casual. A society that fails to impress this on women, or worse yet tells them they are "strong" and "independent", is setting them up for ruin.

In any given sexual encounter, women can:
-get overpowered and raped
-get pregnant
-get an std
-attract the attention of a violent stalker

The fact that young women behave recklessly in the face of these risks is testament to the fact that their behavior needs to be restrained by the society around them, mainly for their own good. At a minimum, they should be ruthlessly slut shamed, and make men expect to prove themselves over the course of several weeks of dating before offering sex in exchange for attentive monogamy. Anything less leads to social decay.

The opposite of all these things is true for men. We are less likely to get STDs, can't get pregnant, will never be overpowered by a woman, and almost never get murdered by former hookups or gfs. Looks like men are actually the "strong" and "independent" ones after all.

Post: #14

Really sad story. RIP to her.

Post: #15

(10-25-2018 10:53 PM)Thot Leader Wrote:  She's 21, a good student seemingly from a good family. He's 37 and a convicted sex criminal. She chose to date him. Race aside, this isn't a run of the mill murder-suicide.

Young women are naturally stupid and reckless. They make impulse decisions based on tingles.

This sociopathic, violent sex predator gave her tingles. Many mass murderers get fan mail in prison from adoring women. Charles Manson got married in prison.



An overlooked function of any decent society is forcing women into marriages/sexual relationships with men they aren't really interested in, but who are obviously high quality guys. I can just imagine some bratty 18 yr old girl yelling at her Dad:

"Eww who is this nerd?? I don't like nerds, I want to get banged out by Chad and his friend Daquan. And what the hell kind of name is Elon anyways? Maybe he can buy me a purse with his nerd money, or something.....UGH."


^for those who don't recognize him, this is Elon Musk before he started taking testosterone injections and got hair transplants.

Post: #16

You're not supposed to mention race in these kinds of articles about crime --- just have "man" murders "woman".

Post: #17

John Victim: It turns out my girl gave me AIDS, can't believe she lied to me about her status

AtlantaMan: Damn that sucks brotha, fuck that bitch, I'd kill her

Creepin: Yeah damn. F'n lying bitches. Sorry bro

John Victim: Thanks guys. Yeah it's rough.

Thot Leader: Well you chose to be with her man

jeffreyjerpp: You know, there are some guys who are Bug Chasers...

John Victim: wtf ....

Quote:Rowland spent time at a Buddhist institute in Berkeley, Calif., according to one parole hearing, and then enrolled in JobCorps in Clearfield, Utah. He later studied for a year at Salt Lake County Community College and for two semesters at the University of Utah.
...
Rowland spent his youth, he admitted in one parole hearing, as a “womanizer” who would lie to women to get them to have sex. During sex-offender treatment, he admitted to having an attraction to underage girls and vulnerable women and said he would seek them out.
...
“I’d say every woman I met or that I came across I used my manipulation tactics to get what I wanted,” Rowland said in a 2012 hearing.
...
when the prison sent him to the San Juan County jail for sex-offender treatment, he manipulated an employee there to gain internet access.
...
He was returned to prison Feb. 17, 2016, after his agent discovered Rowland had been using social media to meet women for sex.

Clearly this was a guy adept at manipulation and was not prone to obvious outward unhinged behavior. Those types can't make through a Buddhist monastery and multiple semesters at college.

It is very easy to deceive a girl for a short time like a month, even a smart girl from a good background, with far less experience at manipulation than this guy.

Post: #18

(10-25-2018 11:27 PM)jeffreyjerpp Wrote:  looks is the only thing that matters

Post: #19

Some of the reactions here are delving into confirmation bias - “this is why women shouldn’t be educated”, “she was so naive!”.

Yet he fooled her only for a month or so and him fooling her doesn’t seem to be anything close to an egregious case of “Hah! Dumb female!”. One month, guys. That’s it. She broke it off and he became unhinged. What am I missing about her so-called stupidity or childishness? Based on what we know, there isn’t any of either.

From what Brophy said, he managed to work security for a bar, so he fooled them, too, or at least had the cover of that job to fool others if the bar knew his antecedents (which I doubt).

The girl could have been an entitled bitch (don’t know), the girl could have been a naive angel in almost areas of her life (don’t know). What I do know is that the evidence for “coed girl dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb” (since this is Mormon territory) is slim to none.

Nothing I can see in this indicates she was overly reckless or dumb about this man.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing when you’re a non-murder victim observing the details of a murder victim’s death online.

The girl didn’t deserve to die and wasn’t even close to stupid in her actions (unless something else comes out), she’s a victim, and my sympathies are with her and her family.

Post: #20

Some guys here are really starting to sound like they are full of rage. I get it this is a bad time for masculinity in the western world. Women are becoming sluts and shit blablablabla. But what does this girl have to do with that? This problem was put forward by certain devil-worshiping elites i don't think she was attending their board meetings.

Let her rest in peace. Pray for her later this night and for all those suffering in this world and hopefully she's in a better place illuminating in god's eternal love.

Some of you guys should think about this more specifically. What if this happened to your sister, brother other relatives?Maybe even your dad or mom? Even if my sister was the biggest whore on this world and my brother was an extreme pussy ass faggot. I still would cry and weep for both of them. Few people deserve what this girl was put through.

And that dude is no man, He's the spawn of the devil. Who kills because they were rejected? Weak men and gammas. I hope god gives him a reasonable punishment, At least make him suffer.

Post: #21

This is completely different from the usual case of a woman knowingly lusting over a jerk, thug, rapist, murderer, etc. She seemed like a normal, common-sense person. Not much to do with our usual topics...

Post: #22

Here's what we know:

Quote:37-year-old Melvin Rowland

He looks at least 10 years younger.

Quote:...Rowland, who Brophy called a master manipulator.

Rowland said at a hearing in 2012 that he was a womanizer who manipulated women to get what he wanted.

"He was very, very good at getting people to trust him."

...he admitted in one parole hearing, as a “womanizer” who would lie to women to get them to have sex...

...when the prison sent him to the San Juan County jail for sex-offender treatment, he manipulated an employee there to gain internet access.

So he was a highly charismatic and manipulative conman.

Quote:After shooting McCluskey, Rowland was picked up on campus by a woman he met online. They went to dinner, visited the state Capitol and went to her apartment where Rowland took a shower.

Later that night, after the woman dropped Rowland at a coffee shop, police tracked him to the church where he killed himself.

Unsurprisingly, that guy probably had mad game.

Quote:Rowland spent time at a Buddhist institute in Berkeley, Calif.

Could ramble about his deep spirituality and talk about his time as a Buddhist monk.

Quote:He later studied for a year at Salt Lake County Community College and for two semesters at the University of Utah.

Knew how to fit in and navigate through a college environment.

Quote:McCluskey met Rowland last month at a bar where he was working security and started dating him.

Worked as a bouncer, so we can assume that he was tall and fit.

Quote:Hours before the killing, Rowland was in McCluskey's dorm building socializing with some of her friends.

He visited her often in her dorm and made friends with other students in the building.

Everyone in her social circle liked him and her friends approved of him.


To summarize, here's everything she knew about the guy:

• Looks young (could lie about being a lot closer to her age, while still having vastly more life experience than her)
• Tall and fit
• Highly charismatic
• Mad game
• In tune with his spirituality
• Can blend into a college environment
• Approved by friends and social circle
• Has a job
  

What's not to love?

And we don't even know what he told her when they met. Master manipulator and compulsive liar, remember.
How about something like "I'm studying for my PhD in engineering and work as a bouncer on the side to pay for my studies".
She probably thought she had met black Dolph Lundgren for all we know.

In our current culture where women are given free choice in the men they want to be with, cases like this one are an unavoidable tragedy and will always happen.
It's the price a few unlucky ones have to pay, so the many can enjoy their free sexuality.

That's why in the past, society in general enforced marriage and monogamy and a woman's family chose her mate for her, which involved some serious screening.

The truth is that women, left to their own devices, really have no defense against a man like that. They aren't supposed to, and they haven't evolved for it.
She did all the due diligence we can reasonably expect from her, and unfortunately this time she was the one who drew the short stick.

Post: #23

(10-26-2018 04:22 AM)OnlySightseeing Wrote:  

(10-25-2018 11:27 PM)jeffreyjerpp Wrote:  looks is the only thing that matters

Can I get a NSFW. Not a good way to start my day.

Post: #24

I wonder what he’d score on the psychopath test.

Post: #25

(10-25-2018 10:22 PM)Cr33pin Wrote:  RIP to the girl... she certainly didn't deserve this. I highly disagree with OP that she "should have seen this coming" He was a con man and sounds like a damn good one. She met him through work an as soon as she found out about his lies she cut ties.....

At the end of the day this is just a tragedy

Agreed. Show me a 21-year-old who is street savvy, and I'll show you someone with diagnosable PTSD. Nobody sees people like this coming until they've been through the wringer with lunatics a couple of times. Her learning experience just happened to kill her.

Also, fuck. That guy is 37? I need to up my skincare game.

(10-26-2018 06:07 AM)Belgrano Wrote:  She did all the due diligence we can reasonably expect from her, and unfortunately this time she was the one who drew the short stick.

More than that, she actually took responsible, mature steps when she realized what she was going on: cut contact, informed the police, etc. None of the usual two-way dance you see when someone is locked in a drama-addict death spiral with an abuser and doesn't really want out.

Another interesting bit from OP's story:

Quote:After shooting McCluskey, Rowland was picked up on campus by a woman he met online. They went to dinner, visited the state Capitol and went to her apartment where Rowland took a shower.

The woman later called police when she saw photos of the man being sought for the campus shooting.

This dude went to campus to murder a former plate and had a new plate pick him up at the scene to go to dinner.

Holy shit. The inside of this guy's brain must have been like a Dave Chapelle "True Hollywood Story" at all times.