GUILTY TX - Haruka Weiser, 18, found murdered, UT-Austin campus, 3 April 2016 *Arrest*

[jjenny]

I feel for his family. Nobody wants to believe their loved one is capable of such a horrible thing. We see it all the time. A person is accused of heinous crime. Family members say "this can't be so" "He would never do such a thing."
]
In my mind, denial is an expected response in such a situation. The heart and mind never want to accept such information about a loved one IMO.

His grandma doesn't seem to have any problems believing it.

 

[eileenhawkeye]

I don't know how many exactly, but this sure as **** isn't the first case. I can think of several recent ones off the top of my head.

Can you name some?

 

[eileenhawkeye]

I have a feeling that in the next week, we will get more information---more about the evidence they have linking (don't care how you spell his name and too lazy to copy and paste lol) to Haruka's murder. I've seen online comments saying things like "what if they just grabbed a homeless person 'cause he had her things and they were under pressure to make an arrest!!!!" It's like the Cooper Harris case when people were convinced that it was an accident and the police were just overzealous.

 

[eileenhawkeye]

Sadly, this happened to a friend and former occasional co-worker, he was simply walking in a popular, high end area, not late- when a group of brats, stopped this kind and gentle man, to ask for " the time", then robbed and stabbed him to death right there and then.
Under age and looking for drug money- apparently- all from good homes.

OMG. I am so sorry about your friend. I can think of a couple cases off the type of my head. In one case, a woman was murdered in a bathroom at a rest stop. In another case, gang members killed two girls who were walking home. I feel like cases where someone is robbed and killed are more common than someone just being assaulted and killed at the same place, or just being killed when their paths cross with the killer(s).

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Can you name some?

14-year-old April Dawn Millsap of Armada, MI was brutally murdered as she walked her dog. James Van Callis was recently sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder. http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...Armada-24-July-2014-2&highlight=april+millsap

 

[eileenhawkeye]

14-year-old April Dawn Millsap of Armada, MI was brutally murdered as she walked her dog. James Van Callis was recently sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder. http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...Armada-24-July-2014-2&highlight=april+millsap

Thank you. I remember April's case. It's interesting how much more national media coverage Haruka's case got over April's. April's case started out the same way, right with the discovery of her body? I'm guessing the UT Austin connection made the difference.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Thank you. I remember April's case. It's interesting how much more national media coverage Haruka's case got over April's. April's case started out the same way, right with the discovery of her body? I'm guessing the UT Austin connection made the difference.

April's parents actually reported her missing when she did not return home with her dog after the allotted time that it usually took for her daily late afternoon walk. Her body was discovered shortly after along the path where she habitually walked her beloved pet. The case was local (metro Detroit) for me, so I kept abreast of it from the beginning.

 

[tlcya]

Per the affidavit:

"Austin Police Homicide Detective Ray Tynes #4415 was in charge of processing the scene where the victim's body was located. The items that were described as being in the victim's possession were not found on scene. Detective Tynes was able to seize swabs of suspected biological matter from the scene as evidence for future analysis.

http://www.kvue.com/news/local/homeless-teen-in-custody-in-ut-students-death/126109134

One could make the argument that a homeless person who is said by those who know him to be mentally unstable or "slow" may have happened upon the body and taken items belonging to the victim. The surveillance video suggesting he saw her alive and followed her would seem to refute that idea but is not exactly proof that he was involved in her murder. I am interested in the results of testing the possible biological material. They may offer more concrete evidence of direct involvement depending on what they are and where specifically collected.

Arrest Affidavit

 

[Foxfire]

Thank you. I remember April's case. It's interesting how much more national media coverage Haruka's case got over April's. April's case started out the same way, right with the discovery of her body? I'm guessing the UT Austin connection made the difference.

Prolly Suzanne's Law made a huge difference too, eileenhawkeye..

NY - Suzanne Gloria Lyall, 19, Albany, 2 March 1998
Abducted near her campus on March 2, 1998, Suzanne Lyall is the one for whom the Federal "Suzanne's Law" was named, raising the age of a missing young person from 17 to 21, so that in the event a person goes missing near a college campus, or is college aged, the police will begin to search for them in earnest, thereby saving lives. Suzanne's Law was passed the same day as the National Amber Alert on April 30, 2003 by President George Bush, as part of the Children's Protection Act of 2003.

Websleuths - NY - Suzanne Gloria Lyall, 19, Albany, 2 March 1998
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?4612-NY-Suzanne-Gloria-Lyall-19-Albany-2-March-1998

 

[eileenhawkeye]

April's parents actually reported her missing when she did not return home with her dog after the allotted time that it usually took for her daily late afternoon walk. Her body was discovered shortly after along the path where she habitually walked her beloved pet. The case was local (metro Detroit) for me, so I kept abreast of it from the beginning.

I see. But at some point, both cases were at the same stage: The body of a young girl/woman was found, she had been slain along a walking path. Although the story is horrific, sensational, rare and brazen, we can see that the UT-Texas connection (that Haruka was killed on campus and that she was a student there) is what caused the case to blow up in the media.

 

[jjenny]

Can you name some?

Jogger killed with machete for no reason. Suspect didn't know him at all.

"Thomas Johnson played football at Texas A&M before abruptly leaving school in 2012. He told detectives that he killed a random jogger at White Rock Lake in October. Two weeks after victim Dave Stevens’ death, his wife, Patti, took her own life. (The Associated Press)."

http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/201...lake-jogger-found-incompetent-for-trial.html/

 

[eileenhawkeye]

Jogger killed with machete for no reason. Suspect didn't know him at all.
http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/201...lake-jogger-found-incompetent-for-trial.html/

Thanks. I forgot about that case. I think the reason I had a hard time thinking of many off the top of my head is that they don't get much national attention.

 

[tlcya]

An affidavit obtained by PEOPLE detailing the allegations against Meechaiel Criner claims surveillance footage shows the 17-year-old suspect pulling a "shiny, rigid object" from his back pocket as he allegedly follows University of Texas ballet student Haruka Weiser across a bridge on the Austin campus Sunday night.

http://www.people.com/article/haruka-weiser-details-emerge-suspect-university-texas-murder

I haven't read if the murder weapon was found and if so where. I hope the creek is being searched if it has not been located yet.

 

[jjenny]

Murder weapon could be anywhere since he wasn't arrested right away.

 

[tlcya]

true and yet other items tying him to the victim and/or crime scene were found in his possession when he was taken into custody many days after the murder. This whole crime feels very random and disorganized to me. His staying in the area. The fire to destroy some evidence but not all. I am just trying to approach this with those things in mind. Body of water right near were the victim was left dead. Seems like not a huge leap that the weapon may have been chucked into that creek.

 

[jennapuppy]

My son was on it. He's dead now. Busted into our bedroom right after midnight that night. An argument ensued because he had just totaled his 3rd vehicle in about 5 years (actually this was his girlfriend's vehicle). We didn't realize the severity of the crash until we saw the vehicle. We don't know how he was able to make it home. Maybe the K2, I don't know. He started beating the $hi+ out of his dad, kicking his dad with his steel-toed boots with some kind of high kick with one leg (with one leg broken from the crash we were told), a .38 was drawn. He was told to leave the bedroom. Jumped his dad in the hallway. Gun went off. They said he died in surgery. I think the drugs in his system probably contributed to him dying. Will be 5 years this July. K2 - It's bad. It's evil.

I'm so sorry for your loss, Bootsctr. It's so hard to watch our teen and adult children make bad choices in life. I know the feeling of helplessness and just wishing they didn't have to grow up so you could protect them forever. My heart goes out to you.

 

[x_files]

actually I've known many. They prefer living or squatting and not living at home, sometimes there wasn't anything wrong with where they were living they didn't want to follow rules would party take drugs and drink instead.

 

[dotr]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/sister-teen-accused-ut-murder-speaks-article-1.2594480


Meechaiel Criner and his siblings were raised by their grandmother, his sister said.

 

[tlcya]

A reminder,

Please leave the general public comments to Facebook right there on Facebook.

Provide direct links to news organization articles whenever possible rather than links to the news orgs Facebook pages. We won't be giving Facebook comment section debaters airplay here. Thanks, tlcya

 

[jjenny]

true and yet other items tying him to the victim and/or crime scene were found in his possession when he was taken into custody many days after the murder. This whole crime feels very random and disorganized to me. His staying in the area. The fire to destroy some evidence but not all. I am just trying to approach this with those things in mind. Body of water right near were the victim was left dead. Seems like not a huge leap that the weapon may have been chucked into that creek.

Well, anything is possible. It could be in a creek or could be somewhere else. Fire was in a trash can. Murder weapon could be in some other trash can. There were several days in between murder and arrest. So that makes it much more difficult to figure out where a murder weapon could be.