Cold Cases Involving College Students
Homicides and disappearances of college and university students, on campus and off. Several of these cases led to changes in campus safety law and practice. ColdCaseIndex lists 40 cases on this theme, of which 18 are recorded as unsolved.
- Unsolved 18 (45%)
- Solved or convicted 21 (52%)
- Closed without conviction 1 (2%)
By type
By state or country
All 40 cases
Sreeja Koya
Sreeja Koya, a 23-year-old University of Massachusetts Boston graduate student from Telangana, India, was last seen leaving her residence in the Edison Green area of Boston's Dorchester neighborhood at about 9:45 p.m.
Caleb Harris
Caleb Harris, a 21-year-old Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi student, vanished from his apartment complex on Ennis Joslin Road in the early morning hours of March 4, 2024, leaving behind his truck, wallet, and keys.
Idaho Student Murders
Four University of Idaho students — Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves — were stabbed to death in their off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho.
Miya Marcano
Nineteen-year-old college student Miya Marcano disappeared on September 24, 2021, from the Arden Villas apartment complex in Orlando, Florida, where she lived and worked.
Aniah Blanchard
Nineteen-year-old Aniah Blanchard, stepdaughter of UFC fighter Walt Harris, disappeared from Auburn, Alabama, in October 2019. Her remains were found a month later in Macon County.
Mollie Tibbetts
University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts, 20, disappeared while out for an evening run in Brooklyn, Iowa, on July 18, 2018. Her body was found in a Poweshiek County cornfield on August 21, 2018.
Ashley Loring HeavyRunner
Ashley Loring HeavyRunner, a 20-year-old Blackfeet Community College student, vanished from the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Montana, in June 2017.
Hannah Graham
University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, 18, disappeared from downtown Charlottesville early on September 13, 2014; her remains were found five weeks later in Albemarle County. Jesse Matthew Jr.
Bryce Laspisa
Bryce Laspisa, a 19-year-old college student, disappeared on August 30, 2013, near Castaic Lake in Los Angeles County, California, after a series of unusual stops and phone calls while driving toward his parents' home.
Faith Hedgepeth
UNC-Chapel Hill student Faith Hedgepeth, 19, was found beaten to death in her off-campus apartment on September 7, 2012. Crime-scene DNA went unmatched for nine years, and a note written on a fast-food bag was found near her body.
Holly Bobo
Twenty-year-old nursing student Holly Bobo was abducted from her home in Darden, Tennessee, on April 13, 2011. Her remains were found in September 2014, about three and a half years later.
Lauren Giddings
Lauren Giddings, a 27-year-old Mercer University law graduate, was strangled and dismembered in her Macon, Georgia, apartment in June 2011.
Lauren Spierer
Twenty-year-old Indiana University student Lauren Spierer disappeared in Bloomington, Indiana after a night out. She was captured on surveillance video in the early morning hours.
Yeardley Love
University of Virginia lacrosse player Yeardley Love was beaten to death in her Charlottesville apartment by her ex-boyfriend and fellow lacrosse player George Huguely V.
Morgan Harrington
Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, 20, disappeared on October 17, 2009, after leaving a Metallica concert at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville. Her remains were found on an Albemarle County farm in January 2010.
Brandon Victor Swanson
Brandon Swanson, 19, drove his car into a ditch on a rural gravel road in the early hours of May 14, 2008, while driving home to Marshall, Minnesota, from Canby.
Meredith Kercher
British exchange student Meredith Kercher, 21, was killed in her bedroom in Perugia, Italy, on November 1, 2007. Rudy Guede was convicted of murder and sexual assault in 2008 and released in 2021 after serving 13 years of a…
Leigh Matthews
Leigh Matthews, a 21-year-old student, was kidnapped from the Bond University campus parking lot in Johannesburg on July 9, 2004.
Maura Murray
UMass Amherst student Maura Murray crashed her car on a remote road in New Hampshire and vanished before help arrived. A witness offered assistance but she declined.
Dru Sjodin
University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin was abducted from a mall parking lot in Grand Forks by registered sex offender Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. Her body was found near Crookston, Minnesota, in April 2004.
Joshua Guimond
Joshua Guimond, a 20-year-old junior at Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, left a late-night card game at the Metten Court dormitory around 11:45 p.m.
Rachel Louise Cooke
Rachel Louise Cooke, 19, left her parents' home near Georgetown, Texas, for a run at about 9:30 a.m. on January 10, 2002, while on winter break from college in San Diego, and never returned.
Hyun Jong "Cindy" Song
Hyun Jong "Cindy" Song, a 21-year-old Penn State student, vanished after being dropped off at her State College, Pennsylvania, apartment early on November 1, 2001, following a Halloween night out.
Jill-Lyn Euto
Jill-Lyn Euto, 18, was stabbed to death in her sixth-floor apartment at 600 James Street in Syracuse, New York, on Super Bowl Sunday, January 28, 2001. Her mother found her the next day.
Tara Louise Baker
Tara Louise Baker, a 23-year-old University of Georgia law student, was killed in her Athens apartment in 2001, the crime concealed by an intentionally set fire.
Claudia Kirschhoch
Claudia Kirschhoch, a 29-year-old New York travel writer and editor with Frommer's Travel Guides, disappeared in Negril, Jamaica, in late May 2000 after a press trip to Cuba was cancelled.
Suzanne Lyall
Suzanne Lyall, a 19-year-old University at Albany computer science student, disappeared on the evening of March 2, 1998, after leaving her mall job and taking a bus back toward campus.
Kristin Smart
Cal Poly freshman Kristin Smart disappeared after a party near campus. Fellow student Paul Flores was the last person seen with her.
Sophie Sergie
Sophie Sergie, 20, of Pitkas Point, Alaska, was found sexually assaulted, stabbed and shot in a dormitory bathroom at the University of Alaska Fairbanks on April 26, 1993.
Tammy Zywicki
College student Tammy Zywicki was last seen with her disabled car on Interstate 80 in LaSalle County, Illinois. Her body was found nine days later in Missouri.
Gainesville Ripper Victims
Danny Rolling murdered five college students over four days in Gainesville, Florida, in August 1990; four attended the University of Florida and one attended Santa Fe Community College.
Tiffany Sessions
Tiffany Sessions, a 20-year-old University of Florida student, disappeared on February 9, 1989, after leaving for an afternoon walk near her Gainesville apartment.
Angela Samota
Angela Samota, a 20-year-old Southern Methodist University student, was raped and stabbed to death in her Dallas home in the early hours of October 13, 1984.
FSU Chi Omega Murders
Margaret Bowman, 21, and Lisa Levy, 20, were killed and two sorority sisters badly injured when Ted Bundy attacked the Chi Omega house at Florida State University early on January 15, 1978.
Bonnie Garland
Bonnie Garland, a 20-year-old Yale student, was fatally beaten with a hammer as she slept in her parents' Scarsdale, New York, home on July 7, 1977.
Mared Malarik & Karen Ferrell (WVU Coed Murders)
West Virginia University freshmen Mared Malarik, 19, and Karen Ferrell, 18, vanished on January 18, 1970, after leaving a movie in downtown Morgantown and accepting a ride toward their dormitory.
Betsy Aardsma
Betsy Aardsma, a 22-year-old Penn State English graduate student, was stabbed once in the chest in the stacks of the Pattee Library on November 28, 1969, the day after Thanksgiving. No one has ever been charged.
Cheri Jo Bates
Cheri Jo Bates, 18, a Riverside City College freshman, was stabbed to death near the campus library on the night of October 30, 1966; her body was found the next morning.
Richard Speck Victims
Richard Speck broke into a Chicago townhouse and methodically murdered eight student nurses. Corazon Amurao survived by hiding under a bed and later identified Speck.
Paula Jean Welden
Bennington College sophomore Paula Welden went for a hike on the Long Trail near Bennington, Vermont and was never seen again. Her disappearance was the most prominent in a series called the 'Bennington Triangle' disappearances…