Subscribe
Jobs
Cars
Real Estate
Apts
Classifieds
Shop
Policies related to IPFW's campus housing are under review after the brutal slaying of a student, who police say was killed in her room by a roommate's mother who had been staying in the same suite.
Tina Loraine Morris, 36, with a listed address on the 5100 block of Plaza Drive, had been staying in her daughter's on-campus apartment, unbeknownst to Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne officials, for about two weeks.
Police believe Morris stabbed Liette “Lola” Martinez, 22, one of her daughter's two roommates, late Friday morning. According to court documents, Morris took Martinez's car after she stabbed Martinez and left the area.
Martinez's other roommate returned to the apartment in Building H about 11:40 a.m. Friday and saw blood on the walls. Martinez's bedroom door stood partly open and her roommate saw her lying on the floor, covered in blood. Martinez was pronounced dead at the scene.
The death is likely the only violent crime to occur on campus in the school's 40-year history, IPFW Chancellor Michael Wartell said, stressing that parents and students should not be afraid to send their children to the university.
“I don't think that you can look at life anywhere in this country and say that anywhere is totally secure. We take a risk virtually anywhere we go. This campus is one of the safest in the country,” Wartell said Monday. “The best thing that you can say to parents, whatever campus their child is on, is that college campuses, despite all of the things that we hear and the sensational sorts of reports, are among the safest environments in the country.”
The Allen County Coroner's Office ruled Martinez's death a homicide, the county's 13th of the year, and determined the cause of death to be loss of blood from a stab wound. Morris appeared in Allen Superior Court's Misdemeanor and Traffic Division on Monday morning on the preliminary charges. She remains in the Allen County Jail.
IPFW officials intend to study policies related to the on-campus housing in response to the slaying. They will look at the guest policy for the nine-building complex, which does not allow any overnight guests of the opposite sex and only allows same-sex guests to stay in a unit for 72 hours, said Walt Branson, vice chancellor for financial affairs.
University officials will also discuss whether to add more resident advisers, or placing a monitor at the entrance to each of the buildings, Branson said. There are currently 21 advisers within the nine buildings.
Security patrols by campus police will also increase, along with a review of the 303 security cameras placed inside and outside the buildings, eight of which were not working when checked Saturday, Branson said.
“They do have problems from time to time,” Branson said.
There are also plans to do away with the recently purchased emergency alert system, which has not performed well during several tests and while alerting students Friday, Branson said.
“Quite frankly, it didn't go out as quickly as we wanted it to,” he said.
University officials were notified of the crime scene at 11:50 a.m, and an e-mail was sent to the campus community just after 1 p.m. alerting the students and staff that a person had been found dead in a residence hall and that the death was being investigated by the university police.
Branson and Michael Joyner, spokesman for the Fort Wayne Police Department, defended the timing and vagueness of the response, saying they released limited information because it was an active investigation and there was no reason to believe students were in danger.
After Fort Wayne police issued a bulletin Friday asking other law enforcement agencies to look out for Martinez's blue 2006 Mazda, Morris was arrested in Indianapolis.
Video cameras in the building's hallways showed both Martinez's roommates left the apartment Friday morning, with one returning about 11:40 a.m. A video camera captures Tina Morris leaving the building at 10:25 a.m., according to court documents.
When she was arrested, Morris told police she “confronted” Martinez about how the younger woman had spoken to her daughter the night before. The two argued, according to Morris. The older woman saw a knife on Martinez's desk, grabbed it and the two fought over the knife. Morris said she got the knife away from Martinez and stabbed her, according to court documents.
Morris then took a pan of hot water off the kitchen table, threw it on Martinez and hit her in the face with the pan. Morris then continued to stab Martinez, the documents said.
She then changed her clothes, saw Martinez's car keys on the table and took off in the victim's car, according to court documents.
Morris has a 1998 misdemeanor conviction for criminal recklessness. She was given a suspended 180-day jail sentence as long as she received a complete psychological assessment and counseling at Park Center, according to Allen Superior Court records.
ksoderlund@jg.net
rgreen@jg.net
