In 2018, Lauren McCluskey, a University of Utah student, was brutally murdered by her sex offender ex-boyfriend days after her sexually explicit photos were shared by a campus police officer to his colleagues. The university described the murder as “brutal, senseless, and preventable tragedy”, which angered many at the time. The university “acknowledges and deeply regrets that it did not handle Lauren’s case as it should have and that, at the time, its employees failed to fully understand and respond appropriately to Lauren’s situation.” Her death prompted a review of the university’s mishandling of the case and led to a $65 million lawsuit against the university.
Rowland, her 37 year old ex-boyfriend, had lied about his identity and history with the law and when caught, McCluskey had broken up with him. He then began stalking, threatening, and extorting her, leading to her fatal death by gunshot. McCluskey reported these acts several times to university police before being murdered with no action taken. Hours after murdering McCluskey, Rowland committed suicide as police were searching for him. The university claims that “If these employees had more complete training and protocols to guide their responses, the university believes they would have been better equipped to protect Lauren.”
Eventually, the state of Utah agreed to pay the McCluskey $10.5 million and donate $3 million to the Lauren McCluskey Foundation by March next year. Her mother expressed that “The settlement is important for many reasons. It addresses how Lauren died, but it also honors how she lived.”
