2 Virginia Tech students arrested in connection with death of 13-year-old girl


Two Virginia Tech engineering students have been arrested and charged in connection with the abduction and murder of a 13-year-old girl from Blacksburg, Virginia.
Authorities arrested David Eisenhauer, 18, of Columbia, Maryland, at his dorm on Saturday. He was first charged with abduction, and hours later charged with first-degree murder after police found the remains of Nicole Madison Lovell on Route 89 in Surry County, North Carolina, The Washington Post reports. On Sunday, Natalie Marie Keepers, 19, of Laurel, Maryland, was arrested off campus on felony charges for allegedly assisting with disposal of the body and a misdemeanor for her alleged role as an accessory after the fact, police said. Blacksburg Police Lt. Mike Albert said Eisenhauer knew Lovell, and "used this relationship to his advantage to abduct the 13-year-old and then kill her."
Lovell went missing on Wednesday around midnight, and her mother, Tammy Weeks, told the Post she found a nightstand against her bedroom door and the window ajar. Lovell, the youngest of four children, survived a liver transplant, MRSA, and lymphoma when she was 5, and was bullied by classmates because of her transplant scars, Weeks said. Police told Weeks her daughter may have recently met Eisenhauer on social media, on some "off-the-wall site I never heard of." Both Eisenhauer and Keepers are being held without bond.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Film reviews: The Phoenician Scheme, Bring Her Back, and Jane Austen Wrecked My Life
Feature A despised mogul seeks a fresh triumph, orphaned siblings land with a nightmare foster mother, and a Jane fan finds herself in a love triangle
-
Music reviews: Tune-Yards and PinkPantheress
Feature "Better Dreaming" and "Fancy That"
-
Withdrawing 529 plan funds for college? Here's what to know.
the explainer Maximize the amount you have stashed away for your education
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside home
speed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confession
speed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulder
speed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC parade
speed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack
-
2 Israel Embassy staff shot dead at DC Jewish museum
speed read The suspected gunman chanted 'free, free Palestine'
-
Bombing of fertility clinic blamed on 'antinatalist'
speed read A car bombing injured four people and damaged a fertility clinic and nearby buildings in Palm Springs, California
-
Suspect charged after 11 die in Vancouver car attack
Speed Read Kai-Ji Adam Lo drove an SUV into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Day festival
-
Kenya arrests alleged ant smugglers
speed read Two young Belgians have been charged for attempting to smuggle ants out of the country to exotic pet buyers