On a night that was supposed to be a quiet one, with final exams just a day away, more than 1,500 students at the University of Virginia put down their books Wednesday and paid tribute to a fellow student killed this week.
An amphitheater was packed for an hour with students and administrators, some holding candles, all honoring the memory of Yeardley Love, the lacrosse player who was found dead in her apartment early Monday.
Another Virginia lacrosse player, George Huguely, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with her death.
During and after the vigil, Love’s teammates and sorority sisters huddled together to weep and hug. None spoke to reporters. Some members of the men’s lacrosse team were there, too, with a few leaving early. But many students there were not close to her.
“I didn’t know her personally, but her death deeply affected the entire community because it was someone inside this community that killed her,” Michael Minneman, a 21-year-old junior, said at the vigil. “You wouldn’t think something like that would happen.”
Court documents released this week, though, gave details of how that fateful night unfolded. In an affidavit filed in support of a search warrant, Huguely, a 22-year-old senior from Chevy Chase, Md., told the police that he and Love, also 22, had recently ended a romantic relationship. He said he broke into her bedroom and attacked her, shaking her as her head repeatedly hit a wall. The police said Love’s head was badly bruised.
The two had been in physical altercations before, including at a party near campus this spring, according to two students who were there. Those students, both athletes at Virginia, said they did not want their names to be published for fear of retribution from their teammates, who have chosen not to speak to reporters.
Speaking at the candlelight vigil, John Casteen, the university’s president, urged students to use Love’s death as a valuable lesson. He said he hoped her death “inspires an anger and a sense of outrage” about violence.
“If your relationship is toxic, seek help,” he said as his voice cracked. “Don’t hear a scream, don’t watch abuse, don’t hear stories of abuse from a friend. Speak out.”
Three days after the death that shook this college town, students tried to return to their routines. Some hunkered down to write final papers or cram for tests, although Love’s teammates and friends could ask to postpone those tests, university officials said.
The men’s and women’s lacrosse teams announced Tuesday that they would continue their seasons, and they did so with the blessing of Love’s family, Athletic Director Craig Littlepage said. Both teams are awaiting seeding in the N.C.A.A. tournament on Sunday. The men are ranked No. 1, while the women are No. 5.
At the same time, Love’s body remained at the state medical examiner’s office in Richmond, where the autopsy was completed Tuesday and toxicology tests are pending. Only the cause and manner of death will be released, said Steve Murman, a district administrator at the medical examiner’s office. Her funeral is scheduled for Saturday in Baltimore, not far from her hometown, Cockeysville, Md.
Huguely, who was set to graduate this month, is in a Charlottesville jail. He is awaiting his next hearing, on June 10.
For Casteen, the entire incident is hard to take. He said at a news conference that there were “a number of gaps in this situation that concern” him. One of those was that the university had not been aware of Huguely’s 2008 arrest about 70 miles from here, for public swearing, intoxication and resisting arrest, until it was reported in the news media this week. The arresting officer said that Huguely threatened to “kill everyone” in the police department if he was arrested.
Casteen said he was startled to learn that universities were not automatically notified when one of its students had been arrested. From now on, he said, Virginia will be periodically checking a statewide database for any of its students, especially athletes, who are arrested and charged with a crime.
“We should be using it in a defensive way to protect our students,” he said.
Still, Huguely had no record of aggressive behavior or discipline issues at Virginia, university officials said.
“There is absolutely nothing in my office to indicate that there was any problems or conduct issues with Mr. Huguely,” said Allen Groves, the dean of students.
Littlepage also said no incidents had been reported to him. He said, “I think the information and communication gaps are things we have to examine.”
According to documents filed with the Charlottesville Circuit Court on Wednesday, which have since been sealed by a judge, the police have searched Huguely’s apartment since Love’s death. They found a University of Virginia T-shirt that was stained red, a letter to Love and various other items that may be used as evidence in the case against Huguely, according to a report on the Web site of The Charlottesville Daily Progress.
Among the items seized by the police were two laptop computers, a spiral notebook, two socks, a bathroom rug, a shower curtain, the apartment’s entryway rug, a pair of cargo shorts and a polo shirt, the newspaper said. Investigators also took DNA swabs from several places in the apartment, including from the bathtub and the kitchen’s trash can. Make yourself heard
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