“It will never happen to me.”
Young people think we are invincible. Nothing bad could ever happen, not really. We listen to the news rattling off terrible tragedies and events as though they are stats from a sports game
Karlie Hall was murdered by her boyfriend in her dorm room on campus.
Karlie Hall, an 18-year-old freshman at Millserville University was killed on Sunday, Feb. 8. Hall was strangled to death. Her boyfriend has been charged with criminal homicide.
Millersville University is a little more than an hour’s drive from our campus. Loquitur covered domestic violence during a special issue in the fall, and focused on domestic and dating violence.
Police say Hall’s 19–year-old boyfriend, Gregorio Orrostieta, called 911 in the morning, claiming that he was trying to save her and administering CPR. However, cops believe this was all part of an elaborate act.
Hall was allegedly dead hours before he dialed 911. Police say Orrostieta and Hall were fighting at a party, which only escalated when they went back to her dorm room. He pushed her head into a chair, hit her and ended up strangling her to death.
It is unfathomable and horrible that a young life was taken so soon. If people reported the boyfrend’s strange actions, if she was able to contact someone for help, if someone saved her while she was clawing and fighting for her life, she could have had a future.
If.
Hall’s twin sister, Kristen, lives on campus. Her entire family is torn apart. Hall’s mother was a single parent who had to raise three girls on her own.
Students remember 19-year-old Millersville freshman Katie Hall.
Her twin sister will need to go about her days, going to classes, seeing friends, trying to make a life all while haunted by the tragedy that took her sister away. Passing by Bard Hall where the young freshman was murdered must be an eerie experience.
Hall’s family has raised money to donate to a woman’s shelter.
The issue should not just be another terrible story on the news. After the reporters leave from covering the emotional candlelight vigil, there is pain, sadness and much for schools and society to do to prevent dating and domestic violence.
Through a phone interview, fellow classmate Bri Pogue, senior education major, said, “An event like this on our campus is almost unheard of. Walking around campus days after Karlie’s death was sad and you could see that many were affected. There were many events on campus to remember her life and support her such as a candlelight vigil and bake sales to raise money for her family. One student created a fund page online where students, faculty and other community members raised a total of over $14,000 to help Karlie’s family pay for the funeral.”
Poque attended the same high school as Hall.
“Karlie will always be remembered at Millersville University, “ Pogue said.
Over 500 people attended the vigil at the Student Memorial Center of Millersville.
