Star student athlete asked repeatedly for protection before she was murdered

this is a special edition of Nightline the calls for help now reporting amy robach okay so I'm dealing with the situation for I'm being blackmailed money in the last days of her life Lauren McCluskey was begging to be heard I think they're trying to lure me somewhere do you know when an arrest would be made talking with police over 20 times crying for help with her ex-boyfriend a seasoned manipulator who had his sights set on Lauren at first she thought he was 28 the handsome bouncer she had met at a bar she looked really mature for a 28 year old his true identity a 37 year old convicted sex offender out on parole every woman I've met they come across that I I used my manipulations actors to get what I wanted now relentlessly stalking harassing and blackmailing Lauren [Music] she was the lauded college athlete lover of music and animals i called 9-1-1 because i was i was concerned her final moments captured on a phone call with her mother her father immediately calling 911 thing no no no no and out of like someone might have been grabbing or there's something what they didn't know then their daughter was already dead attacked and shot multiple times that ex-boyfriend killing the promising athlete in cold blood so the last words he heard her daughter's no no no those three words are forever etched in jill McCluskey's memory questions now about why their daughter's cries for help didn't seem to be heard the University of Utah now on the defensive was Lawrence Tech preventable yes absolutely when you walk into Lauren McCluskey's room at her home in Pullman Washington instantly you see all the things she loved and the kind of girl she was a star athlete whose talents were already being recognized even before her tenth birthday look at these medals quite a few so she started competing nationally as as a nine year old coming in here is still hard it's nice that to look at look at those things know she did a lot Lauren didn't care what you look like she didn't care where you came from sort of fearless you know everywhere parent says this but she was a very kind very kind person I noticed that she was very athletic from from when she was an infant it was on the track where Lauren really shined where she and her good friend Regina Snyder first became close we really bonded there are our workouts and then be like we became really great friends one of my best friends Colleen Hinman first met Lauren over 15 years ago my dad wouldn't me to babysit for them she was spunky she had a lot of energy as she got older she really blossomed they all watched as Lauren grew up and decided to go to college at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City she was a senior yes it was fall the beginning of a new year her very last one at her beloved University Lauren was at a bar with friends when she met a man he said his name was Shawn fields that he was 28 and working as a bouncer the relationship quickly grew serious friends said he'd often visit her in her dorm but friends grew concerned telling housing staff Lauren was in an unhealthy relationship Regina remembers Lauren telling her about her boyfriend what made me feel comfortable was how he would be calling every single time whenever we would be out and she would she would say I have to get this I was like I'm not necessarily comfortable with how he's treating you being kind of controlling when did you first hear your daughter talk about this man in September he was very charming he tried to sweep her off her feet I was concerned that he was a little older than her I didn't know you thought he was a little older yes not but he was actually 37 years old something 21 year old Lauren discovered when she googled him Shawn wasn't his real name either it was melvin roland and most horrifying of all rowland had been convicted for attempted forcible sexual abuse and enticing a minor over the internet in 2004 and had been jailed twice since in a 2012 parole hearing he seemed a question if he was rehabilitated I know I'm I have that capability reoffending just over four weeks after first meeting him Lauren confronted Roland with what she had learned and broke up with him but she let him spend the night and borrow her car the next day to run errands and so when your daughter tells you this guy I've been dating is a registered sex offender what was your reaction I said you were doing exactly the right thing to break up with him were you afraid for her at that point in any way I was concerned the next day Lauren tells her mom that Roland wants her to meet him at the stadium parking lot to return her car Jill now worried calls campus police and worried that he's dangerous he was blind to her and he's actually a sexual offender and enlight about his age and things like that I just like someone to accompany her I will give her a call did you want me did you call back or Kay lotioning campus police do call Lauren that afternoon Lauren tells dispatch that Roland has now decided to drop the car off closer to her dorm okay do you feel comfortable with him doing that I know your mom was really concerned about it well I think I think it's okay okay if it's all right with you I mean we're here 24/7 I'm supercool you could come hang out here and have him drop it off here but Lauren calls back I was wondering if I could get a ride to the stadium okay definitely yeah for sure an officer accompanies her and they successfully retrieve her car dispatch calls Jill back to let her know thanks so much I just want to make sure that was fitting that because I feel like he has a little bit of control over her family you know that something bad could happen so you felt safe at that point like my daughter is in a good place in good hands pressures will be protected absolutely but things soon ramp up just two days later on October 12th Lauren calls campus police back about some texts she's received I got a text about you know asking if I wanted to go to a funeral his funeral and I think they're trying to lure me somewhere campus police begins a formal investigation this day and an officer calls her back but the next day Lauren's situation gets even scarier from being blackmailed some money it's a photo of my me and I they're starting just to send it out to everyone and her thousand dollars dispatch relays that Lauren's being blackmailed to an officer who makes contact with Lauren she eventually goes in person down to the campus police station but she seems unsatisfied and worried so she calls Salt Lake City police I wasn't sure how long they were going to take but because she lives on campus in University jurisdiction they transfer her back to campus police I had called 9-1-1 because I was I was just concerned and I wasn't sure I'd help speed things up do you know when an arrest would be made you didn't talk to an officer if you want I can arrange that if you want that okay yeah that sounds good that arrest was never made in fact officers never even went to see Melvin Roland and an investigation into the extortion charges didn't start until a week after Lauren reported it the detective assigned to her case was off Lauren told her mom she felt like she was all on her own unprotected by those tasked with keeping her safe one thing she did tell me feels like I'm bothering them because she called she was calling so much and then I remember telling her it's their job to listen to you you know if you're complaining but they weren't about them no they weren't they weren't they weren't taking her seriously and Lauren's friends reported to campus staff that Roland had talked about wanting to get Lauren a gun but no one including campus police knew yet was that Roland was on parole what should have been an automatic red flag for law enforcement campus police wasn't sharing information with Salt Lake City police and the parole board never knew anything about Lauren's complaints a communication gap which would prove fatal and they missed the fact that he was on parole lauren had no experience in law enforcement or computers and yet she was able with a laptop computer to find out all of this information he was a sex offender he lied about his age he lied about his name and yet the police couldn't make this additional leap and discover his parole status which is public information those are things that should have set off red flags you don't know necessarily if a suspect is going to go out and commit a violent act but the fact that you don't know that they're going to do it or not doesn't mean that you just leave them alone you have to at least do something to make sure the act doesn't occur in this case prevent somebody from dying it's now Monday October 22nd how concerned were you at this point now I had a false sense of security the police were on the lookout never my wildest dreams did I think that this individual could hang out at her dorm but Roland was at her dorm seemingly lying in wait hanging out with some of her friends at about 8:00 p.m. that night after getting out of class on her walk home Lauren calls her mom just a chat like they often did she was talking about class projects that she was working on it was just a fantastic conversation next semester classes - she mentioned she was planning her future she decided exactly totally and then all of a sudden she yells no no no next Lauren's parents hundreds of miles away desperate for answers inside the police responsed hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the ABC news YouTube channel if you'd like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our Channel and don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching

Channel: ABC News

Views: 3,710,372

Keywords: University, of, Utah, Lauren, McCluskey, Melvin, Rowland, Matt, Jill, student, track, athlete, parents, ex, boyfriend, suspect, slain, crime, abc, abcnews

Id: aCCPqdaXNTQ

Length: 11min 17sec (677 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 26 2019