Posted on 04/08/2016 10:24:24 AM PDT by Red Badger
A 17-year-old homeless "runaway" was arrested on a murder charge in connection with the killing of a University of Texas freshman this week, Austin police said Friday.
The suspect — identified as Meechaiel Criner — was arrested Thursday and booked in the Travis County Jail, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said at a news conference.
Student Haruka Weiser, an 18-year-old dance and theater major, was last seen alive on the Austin campus Sunday night before she was reported missing the following morning. Her body was discovered near a creek on Tuesday, and investigators declared her death a homicide — setting off a manhunt on the campus of 50,000 students.
Police asked for the public's help to catch Weiser's killer after releasing surveillance video of the suspect lurking near the school stadium with a woman's bicycle.
"We're going to bring justice to that family, and restore the sense of safety that this campus and this community has enjoyed," Acevedo told reporters Friday morning, adding that a motive for the crime remains unclear.
"There are no known relationships with UT we can determine at this time," Acevedo said of Criner. "He is not a student."
The arrest came after Austin firefighters provided a crucial tip to police after responding Monday to a small fire involving a backpack near the campus, the chief said.
Firefighters found Criner at the scene, police said, and he was taken to Lifeworks, a nonprofit shelter for youth in the city.
In addition, a witness to the fire also called in a tip after seeing the surveillance footage and believed the suspect looked like the same person involved in Monday's incident.
Police, with the help of firefighters, found Criner at LifeWorks. He was picked up with a blue duffel bag belonging to Weiser and a bike that matched the one in the surveillance video, Acevedo said.
I want to let you know that developments into the homicide investigation will come at 10:30 this morning: https://t.co/47BasRH3vb — Greg Fenves (@gregfenves) April 8, 2016
Criner had been under the care of the Texas Child Protective Services, agency spokeswoman Julie Moody told NBC News.
He last checked in with his case manager this week after he allegedly set the fire and was taken to LifeWorks. But before he was brought to the shelter, the agency did not know where he was and he was placed on "runaway status."
On the night Weiser disappeared after leaving the drama building, a suspect was seen walking around the area at about 10 p.m. and again after 11 p.m. while steering around a red or pink women's bike, police said Thursday. Authorities described him as a 6-foot-tall black male.
Police added that Weiser was "assaulted," but declined to detail the nature of the crime because the investigation is ongoing. No weapon was recovered from the scene.
The jarring killing on a campus that hasn't seen a homicide in about 50 years has left students and faculty asking questions about safety and mourning a young woman excited about her first year in college.
Weiser, a Portland, Oregon, native, was trained in ballet and became involved in the school's student-run dance group.
Her family and school officials said she was passionate about dance, and was also planning on double majoring in pre-med.
Haruka Weiser was an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Texas. Blaine Truitt Covert / Dance West
OMG, how horrible!
The victim was a also a “teen.”
The killer had a fawning article written about him only a year ago.
The (alleged) killer.
Another life of a good young person wasted by a worthless piece of human debris. No matter how horrible or "racist" it might appear, around blacks NEVER relax. If you see one coming, MOVE to the other side of the street. 34,000 white women per year are raped by black men in the US. ZERO black women were raped by white men. Think about THAT fact, which is available from DOJ statistics on crime.
Too bad he hasn’t reached 18 so they could fry him.
really?
what was the article about?
How he had “ turned his life around” and now wanted to find a cure for cancer?
Wanna bet his attorney will use mental disabled as defense
Prayers for her and her family.
I (we) made up my mind long ago that I will never send my daughter to a big college. Period.
Local radio news is describing him as homeless .
That’s fine, but irrelevant to this case.
My son went to a local college. I slept soundly every night.
His middle name is islamic.
The guy’s probably been mental since he figured out how badly his so-called mother mangled the spelling of his name. What is it with these ridiculous names? And why are the victims of their savagery always pretty White girls?
They keep statistics like that??? I would have thought Jarrett and Obama would have had them scrubbed!
Is Black on (any minority) Crime considered a Hate Crime?
Probably not...
“I (we) made up my mind long ago that I will never send my daughter to a big college. Period.”
UT is a campus of 50,000 students and it has been 50 years since there was a homicide on campus. That would be like a city of 2,500,000 people going a year without a murder.
The campus is safe.
Read the last paragraph. We now know who he is and what he is capable of now, don’t we?
When was that article published?
Odd thing is it says he was a sophomore at the time. If he is 17 now isn’t he still too young to be a college sophomore?
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