On video of the route Weiser usually took to her dorm, investigators spotted a man who arrived by bicycle trying to open the doors of a parked van, the affidavit said.
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On Friday police said that a homeless 17-year-old had been arrested and will be charged with murder in the death of a University of Texas dance major in the heart of the bustling campus. It takes him longer to pick up than the average person, but he’s not slow enough to say I’m going to kill this person and take her purse and carry it with me.
She grew up near Beaverton, Oregon, in a four-acre co-housing community established in 1998 around the values of community, service and sustainability, where residents share tools like lawn mowers but also responsibilities like gardening, said Weisers neighbor, Helen Spector.She always had sunshine in her smile wherever she went, Spector told the AP by phone Saturday while preparing soup for Weisers grieving parents and younger sister and brother.Spector said Weiser loved ballet and hip-hop dancing and wanted to study medicine, emulating her father, a doctor in Oregon.
Criner, who was not a student at the university, had a bag believed to belong to Weiser, Acevedo said.
Weiser’s body was found Tuesday morning on campus.
Authorities took Criner into custody without incident Thursday at an emergency homeless shelter.
And her sister added: ‘Whatever has happened is very shocking.
About an hour before Weiser’s body was found, graduate student Stephanie Sandoval was walking on the loading dock next to the creek and knew something wasn’t right. They discovered the remains of a young female with obvious trauma to her body, according to the affidavit. The suspect wasn’t seen again until 11:47 p.m. on surveillance footage, according to the affidavit.
He said the motive for the killing was not known.
Austin police are working with police departments from the University of Texas and the UT System, as well as the Texas Rangers, to solve the case, which has ignited a conversation about safety across the UT campus.
An examination of the patrol car’s digital video revealed that Criner was wearing trousers and shoes similar to the man seen on the surveillance video.
A police report indicates more campus surveillance video catches the suspect following Weiser as she is walking home from dance rehearsal Sunday night.
Parents attending the show say they’re happy to be with their children during the hard time.
Hundreds of people turned out for a vigil Thursday evening at the campus, home to almost 51,000 students. They now believe one of those items was Weiser’s backpack.
According to an affidavit, the surveillance video shows a man with clothing matching Criner following a woman, and reaching into the back of his trousers and pulling out “what appeared to be a shiny rigid object”.
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo says Meechaiel Criner (mih-kah-EEL’ KRY’-nur) is in custody in Travis County Jail and that he will be formally charged Friday afternoon in the slaying of 18-year-old Haruka Weiser. Her body was found in a creek on campus on Tuesday.
While Haruka’s family did not speak at the news conference, her mother did ask Acevedo to relay a message to the public: “Please tell all your officers, please tell everyone at the University of Texas, please tell everyone involved ‘Thank You.’ And please also tell them to take care of themselves and go home and hug your children, not once, but twice”.
“I can’t imagine a more heroic, courageous and strong family under circumstances that no family should ever have to face”, Fenves said.
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Weiser’s family said she had planned to take on a second, pre-med major soon and to travel to Japan this summer to see family. That said, one wonders if the lack of family disconnect and the degree of upheaval the youth incurred led to his destabilization?
