WI - Murder-Suicide at UW-Platteville Drom Room - Kelsie Martin, 22, of Beloit, & Hallie Helms, 22, of Baraboo - 19 May 2025

[Live_and_Learn]

I am trying to invite you to a private group where we are discussing this case but your settings won't allow me to invite you

I appreciate it and have changed my settings to allow direct messages. I must have locked it down very long ago when I first joined. Thank you!

 

[sunspun]

Is there more room in that group?

 

[kaen]

Regarding a possible civil lawsuit against the university, if there was evidence that the suspected murderer had a history of mental illness that was known and could have posed a danger to other students in the residence hall, including the res hall advisor, then this would be important information. The university would have to disclose this information in a civil lawsuit.

At our university, there is a Crisis Response Team and they meet every Monday morning to review details of student issues and determine if steps should be taken to actively address them, depending on their severity and danger to the individual student and/or other students and university personnel. The Crisis Response Team includes campus LE officer, Dean of Students, Director of the Counseling Center and other appropriate university administrators.

Threat assessment teams and a duty to warn will all be a major issue if there was mental health issues with this murderer.

So much we don't know and it is all so tragic.

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

Threat assessment teams and a duty to warn will all be a major issue if there was mental health issues with this murderer.

So much we don't know and it is all so tragic.

Duty to warn only applies in very specific threats toward named individuals. There is no duty to warn for just mental instability, and actually would be a HIPAA violation. The truth is, fortune tellers don't exist. No one can predict what another individual will do. All we have are risk assessments, but they only get you so far. At the end of the day, we can't fully predict human behavior.

I think it's the gun that will be the focus if there were mental health providers involved. JMO.

 

[kaen]

Duty to warn only applies in very specific threats toward named individuals. There is no duty to warn for just mental instability, and actually would be a HIPAA violation. The truth is, fortune tellers don't exist. No one can predict what another individual will do. All we have are risk assessments, but they only get you so far. At the end of the day, we can't fully predict human behavior.

I think it's the gun that will be the focus if there were mental health providers involved. JMO.

Will disagree since we do not know if there was a threat that was specific or if this murderer had a history or other issues. Hopefully, more details will be disclosed to determine if there were factors. I certainly understand Duty to Warn and Threat Assessment teams and their responsibilities.

 

[Sundog]

Will disagree since we do not know if there was a threat that was specific or if this murderer had a history or other issues. Hopefully, more details will be disclosed to determine if there were factors. I certainly understand Duty to Warn and Threat Assessment teams and their responsibilities.

Agree, we have threat assessment teams at our universities with the appropriate senior personnel meeting weekly for review. If there were red flags regarding HH, the shooter, before this incident then they should have been able to provide targeted training to res hall directors and protocols could have been developed on how to deal with an escalation of behavior such as a mental health breakdown that some are speculating took place. In this kind of situation, the res hall staff would have been advised to call campus police in an emergency and not try to intervene in the situation on their own. So it is important that we find out if there were red flags regarding this individual and what, if any, actions the university was taking to deal with it and protect the personnel who worked in the res halls and on campus, and also students. Following this high profile incidenet, most higher ed institutions are now reviewing and looking at their threat assessment processes, procedures and protocols as a result of this tragedy at UW-Platteville. It's too late for Kelsie Martin, but hopefully will protect others going forward.

 

[Amy0077]

My guess is that it could have been unrequited attraction/love and with graduation recently, one knew the other was not going to be around any longer. Leaving school and not being nearby anymore. Maybe one recently broke up with the other knowing they were off to start their lives and college was over.... Many possibilities, but we don't often see women using guns this way.
Very sad.
MOO.

My thoughts exactly. However, you said it better than I ever could. Very sad for all involved.

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

Will disagree since we do not know if there was a threat that was specific or if this murderer had a history or other issues. Hopefully, more details will be disclosed to determine if there were factors. I certainly understand Duty to Warn and Threat Assessment teams and their responsibilities.

I'm not commenting on whether or not we know if there was a specific threat involved. I'm clarifying that Duty to Warn only applies if there is a specific threat involved. In other words, no provider has a "duty" unless there is a specific threat. So if Hallie went to a provider and said "I'm going to kill Kelsie," that's where duty to warn would be involved. Short of that very specific statement or something similar to it, there is no duty to warn from mental health providers, even if she had a history or other issues.

I'm not sure in what context you're referencing threat assessment teams, but I'm going to guess you're referring to campus threat assessment teams. I don't know what their responsibility may be. I'm just referring to doctors and other mental health providers.

 

[Shamrock1]

The main case on duty to warn is Tarasoff, if anyone is interested: Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California - Wikipedia

 

[Sundog]

Two UW-Platteville female students, both 22, die in 'targeted and isolated' dorm incident

After hours of being tight-lipped, the university announced in an email that two female students, both 22, had died.

www.jsonline.com

Students who own guns for hunting or sporting purposes are allowed to store them at the UW-Platteville Police Department in a vault, Hallman said. Guns are not allowed in residence halls or other campus buildings, the Journal Sentinel previously reported. But people with a state-issued concealed-carry license may have them on campus grounds or in personal vehicles.