CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — George Huguely, a University of Virginia men’s lacrosse player, has been charged with killing a member of the women’s lacrosse team, authorities said Monday.
The victim has been identified as Yeardley Love, 22, a fourth-year student at the university. Police said her body was discovered this morning at her apartment.
Huguely, also 22, has been charged with first degree murder. The anthropology major grew up in Chevy Chase, Md. and was an All-American high school lacrosse player, according to his bio on the school’s athletic site.
Huguely and Love had a past relationship, police said.
In a statement to the school community, UVA President John Casteen said "this death moves us to deep anguish for the loss of a student of uncommon talent and promise, and we express the University’s and our own sympathy for Yeardley’s family, teammates, and friends. That she appears now to have been murdered by another student compounds this sense of loss by suggesting that Yeardley died without comfort or consolation from those closest to her. We mourn her death and feel anger on reading that the investigators believe that another student caused it."
"Police investigators and the courts will eventually determine what happened and make judgments on the basis of evidence submitted by the police and the Commonwealth’s Attorney," the statement continued. "Meantime, along with all in the University and family members and friends elsewhere, we grieve and ache for this loss."
Casteen ended his statement by saying that "however little we may not know now about Yeardley Love’s death, we do know that she did not have or deserve to die–that she deserved the bright future she earned growing up, studying here, and developing her talents as a lacrosse player. She deserves to be remembered for her human goodness, her capacity for future greatness, and not for the terrible way in which her young life has ended."
