A Chicago man has been arrested and charged after allegedly raping and killing a woman who ignored his catcalls.
Ruth George, a young college student, was heading home earlier this month when a man, Donald Thurman, catcalled her.
Ignoring him, the 19-year-old swiftly made her way to the parking garage to get her car. However, Thurman followed her, and it was there she was found dead, face down in the back seat of her vehicle.
Check out the local news report below:
Cook County assistant state’s attorney James Murphy said Thurman was angry that ‘he was being ignored’, walking up behind her and putting her in a chokehold. ‘With his arms still wrapped around the victim’s neck, the defendant dragged the victim from the ground and he opened her back seat car door,’ before raping and killing her, prosecutors said, as per The New York Times.
George, a sophomore honours student from Naperville, had been at a college event earlier in the evening and had used an Uber to get back to the parking garage to collect her car.
After the teenager didn’t return home that Friday night, November 22, her parents grew very concerned. After calling the police the next day, they tracked her mobile phone to the parking garage, where her body was discovered.
According to CNN, campus police said: ‘The offender was taken into custody and subsequently gave a full confession to this horrific crime at approximately 3.20pm on the same day.’
Thurman, 26, was quickly identified via surveillance cameras in the area, at the campus of University of Illinois in Chicago. On the Sunday, police spotted him in the area and arrested him – he’s since been charged with first-degree murder and criminal sexual assault.
The alleged culprit – who was on parole – has previously been convicted of armed robbery, having been released from prison in December last year after serving two years of a six year sentence.
George’s mother released a statement following the incident, which read:
Ruth lived out her deep faith in Jesus by loving and serving others, leaving a legacy of Christ-centered kindness and sacrifice. She was the beloved baby of our family. We grieve with hope. We hold no hatred towards the perpetrator, but our hope is no other girl would be harmed in this way and for a mother to never experience this type of heartache.
George’s fraternity, Delta Epsilon Mu has, set up a GoFundMe account to help with the costs of her funeral – it’s already raised more than $30,000. You can donate here.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence contact the Rape Crisis England and Wales helpline on 0808 802 9999 (12-2:30 and 7-9:30). Alternatively you can contact Victim Support on 08 08 16 89 111.
After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.