HYDERABAD: A girl from Hyderabad was sexually assaulted and murdered in Chicago, USA on Saturday.
The victim is identified as Ruth George from Hyderabad, an Honours student at the University of Illinois.
The Police have arrested the assailant, Donald Thurman, 26, from a Chicago metro station. He is not associated with the university. On Monday, he was formally charged with first-degree murder and aggravated sexual assault. The investigators have succeeded in securing the CCTV footages that corroborated with the crime.
The 19-year-old Indian-American student was first sexually assaulted and then strangled. Preliminary investigations revealed that the medical examiner ruled that the woman’s death was ‘homicide by strangulation’.
Her body was found at Halsted Street Parking Garage. Police discovered her unresponsive in the back seat of a vehicle owned by her family. The Chicago Police took assistance from the FBI Evidence Response Team to assist in the processing of the crime scene and to complete forensics on the vehicle.
According to the police, they retrieved video footage from university cameras of the offender who was seen walking behind the teen on Saturday. She entered the garage on foot at approximately 00:35 am, followed by the offender. The offender was seen again at 2:10 am walking on Halsted Street.
Donald Thurman who has a criminal history was arrested on Sunday near the Blue Line train Metro station at Halsted and Harrison streets. He was taken into custody and subsequently confessed to the horrific crime.
The University Chancellor Michael D Amiridis, in a statement, expressed sorrow and grief over the murder of the student.