Lauren McCluskey.Photo: Lauren McCluskey/Facebook
The convictedfelon who killed the University of Utah seniorwho had broken up with him — before killing himself hours later — went on a date with another woman 18 minutes after he dragged his 21-year-old ex to a car, shot her multiple times and left her for dead, authorities revealed.
“I can’t fathom how anybody with a conscience couldmurder their girlfriendand then go have dinner with somebody else and act like nothing happened,” University of Utah Police Chief Dale Brophy said at a press conference Thursday.
“That’s probably one of the most disturbing details of this case for me,” he said. “It takes a real special piece of work to do that.”
Lauren McCluskey, a communications major and track star from Pullman, Washington, broke up withMelvin Rowland, 37,on Oct. 9 after she learned about his criminal past as a sex offender and that he had lied to her about his name and age.
Rowland spent ten years in prison after he wasconvicted of attempted forcible sex abuseand enticing a minor over the internet in 2004, Brophy said.
“He was very, very good at getting people to trust him and Lauren was no different,” Brophy said.
Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office
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Eighteen minutes after Rowland killed McCluskey, he called a woman he’d met online days earlier, asking her to pick him up in the same parking lot where he’d just murdered his ex-girlfriend, Brophy said.
Lauren McCluskey/Facebook
After dropping him off at a coffee shop downtown, the woman saw news reports about the shooting and contacted the police, Brophy said.
Saying that Rowland had also “duped” this woman, he added, “He was a manipulator. If his lips were moving, he was lying. I don’t think he told the truth to anyone.”
The woman is cooperating with police, he said.
University to Review Campus Police
Brophy addressed questions about why the departmentdidn’t reach out to Rowland’s parole officersafter McCluskey went to police with concerns he was harassing her in the weeks before her death, saying university police weren’t aware he was on probation when they began looking into the complaint.
Since this was initially an extortion case, he said investigators wanted to make contact with Rowland first before notifying his parole officers.
“We didn’t want to lose any evidence before identifying any of our suspects,” he said. “We did not believe there was enough evidence at the time to contact other law enforcement offices.”
Released from prison in April, Rowland was on supervised parole, Utah Department of Corrections Public Information Officer Kaitlin Felsted tells PEOPLE.
Parolees are required to stay out of trouble during their probationary period and can be sent back to prison for parole violations, new arrests and even allegations of criminal offenses, depending on the severity of the accusation.
The university will conduct two independent reviews into the actions of the campus police department and campus safety, University President Ruth Watkins said.
source: people.com
