Virginia Tech Student Charged In Death Of 13-Year-Old Girl

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Two
Virginia Tech engineering students have been arrested in connection
with the death of a 13-year-old girl whose disappearance last week from
her Virginia home set off a frantic, four-day search.

Blacksburg Police say
David Eisenhauer, 18, was arrested Saturday and charged with
first-degree murder and abduction in the death of Nicole Madison Lovell,
who disappeared from her home Wednesday. Natalie Keepers, of Laurel,
Maryland, was arrested Sunday and faces charges of improper disposal of a
body and accessory after the fact in the commission of a felony.

Both are being held without bond at the Montgomery County Jail.

“Based
on the evidence collected to date, investigators have determined that
Eisenhauer and Nicole were acquainted prior to her disappearance.
Eisenhauer used this relationship to his advantage to abduct the
13-year-old and then kill her. Keepers helped Eisenhauer dispose of
Nicole’s body,” Blacksburg police said in a statement.

Virginia
State Police located Lovell’s remains Saturday afternoon in Surry
County, North Carolina, just over the Virginia border. Hours later,
police announced the arrest of Eisenhauer, a freshman from Columbia,
Maryland.

State police spokeswoman Corrine Geller said Sunday that
a search and recovery team is combing a pond on the Virginia Tech
Campus. She would not say what officials are trying to find.

The
Roanoke Times newspaper quoted to Blacksburg Police Chief Anthony Wilson
as saying that Eisenhauer has not confessed to involvement in Lovell’s
death and did not give police information that led to the discovery of
her body.

Police initially charged Eisenhauer with abduction; he was charged with murder once the girl’s remains were found.

The
girl had been missing since last week. Her family says she disappeared
after pushing a dresser in front of her bedroom door and climbing out a
window. Lovell’s family members did not immediately return messages
seeking comment Sunday.

Eisenhauer was as a standout track and
field athlete in high school, who was named Boys Indoor Track Performer
of the Year by the Baltimore Sun in March. The Sun said Eisenhauer had
moved to Columbia from Yakima, Washington for his junior year and
quickly became a star on the East Coast. His coach told the newspaper
that Eisenhauer was “the best-kept secret in Maryland.”

Joe
Keating, who said he was a co-captain alongside Eisenhauer on the Wilde
Lake High School track team, described him as a normal kid who seemed to
enjoy being at school and never started any problems. Keating said he’s
“appalled” by the thought that Eisenhauer could be involved in Lovell’s
death.

“All of my friends that knew him, that graduated with him,
as well as everyone on the team, we’re just in total shock about this
entire thing. We would never have seen this coming,” Keating said.

Virginia
Tech said on its website that Eisenhauer was a freshman engineering
major at the school and that hundreds of students and researchers had
assisted in the search for Lovell. The school said in a statement
Saturday that he has been suspended from the university.

A number
listed for Eisenhauer’s parents was busy on Sunday. An official at the
county jail where he is being held would not say whether he has a
lawyer.

Virginia Tech president Tim Sands said the case left the school community “in a state of shock and sadness.”

“Speaking
on behalf of our community, let me say that our hearts go out to
Nicole’s family and friends,” he said in a statement posted to the
school’s website.

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