Hyderabad girl ignored attacker’s catcalls before being raped, murdered in US

HYDERABAD: Investigation into the cold-blooded rape and murder of an Indian American teenager, revealed that the accused, Donald Thurman, stalked and catcalled her, but the University of Illinois honours student ignored him and rushed to her car.
Angry as he was, Thurman went behind her, held her tightly by the neck, dragged her into the back seat of her car that was parkeed in the garage and sexually assaulted her, police said.
The crime took place after 1.35am on November 23. While he confessed to the murder, Thurman told police that he did not have sexual intercourse with her.
On November 26, Cook County assistant state’s attorney James Murphy gave a detailed account of the crime and how Thurman had sexually assaulted the victim after she fell unconscious.
The victim’s body was found face down in the car’s back seat when family and police reached the spot. Police also found that Thurman had used a condom that was disposed in the car itself, before he ran out of the garage.
The victim had attended a semi-official event for health fraternity students and was accompanied by another student up to a point. From there, the student went to her dormitory, while the victim walked alone to the garage. The other student has been named as a witness in the case.
“The victim walked past the blue line when the defendant noticed her. The defendant thought she was petty and tried talking to her but the victim ignored him. The defendant followed her and tried to talk to her again. The defendant catcalled at her. The victim continued to ignore the defendant and continued to walk to her car ,” Murphy said.
“The defendant was angry that he was being ignored,” Murphy said about Thurman who grabbed her around her neck from behind and put her in a ‘chokehold’. The girl fell to the ground and Thurman dragged her, opened the back door and put her there and committed the crime, he said.
On November 24 the victim was traced to the garage. Paramedics failed to resuscitate her and declared her dead.
Police then found out how the suspect looked and that he used the public transport. They nabbed him when he turned up at his regular route. He has been charged with first degree murder and aggravated sexual assault.