Free Republic

A Utah cop kept explicit photos of a terrified college track star who was being sextorted by her ex — and showed them off to a colleague just days before the young athlete was murdered, according to his force and a damning report Sunday. University of Utah student Lauren McCluskey, 21, went to campus cops in October 2018 because she was so scared of her blackmailer — twisted ex Melvin Rowland, 37, a registered sex offender — she had already paid an initial $1,000 demand, the Salt Lake Tribune said. Officer Miguel Deras then saved the explicit images onto his...

Before she was gunned down on campus by a bitter ex-boyfriend, the man's manipulations had led Lauren McCluskey to believe that despite his lies, harassing text messages and efforts to extort money from her, she wasn't in danger. And even after receiving multiple reports about what was going on, University of Utah police determined that while they would investigate the harassment, Melvin Rowland, a convicted sex offender, didn't appear to pose a physical threat to the student who was almost two decades his junior. That's according to a shocking timeline of moments leading up to McCluskey's murder, presented Thursday by...