Murder of Yeardley Love

On May 3, 2010, Yeardley Love, University of Virginia women's lacrosse student-athlete, was found unresponsive in her Charlottesville apartment. Later that day, men's lacrosse player George Wesley Huguely V, originally of Chevy Chase, Maryland, was arrested by Charlottesville Police and charged with Love's murder.

Yeardley Love
Yeardley (pronounced YARD-lee) Reynolds Love was born on July 17, 1987, in Baltimore, Maryland, to John and Sharon Love. Yeardley Love had one sister, Lexie. Her uncle, Granville Swope, was an All-American lacrosse player at the University of Virginia. Yeardley attended the all-girls Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson, Maryland, and resided in Cockeysville, Maryland. At Notre Dame, Love was a member of the varsity lacrosse and field hockey teams all four years and was an All-County lacrosse player in 2006. Love was admitted to the University of Virginia, where she majored in government and minored in Spanish. She was also a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. As a member of the UVA women's lacrosse team, the Cavaliers, Love scored her first goal in her first game, playing against Virginia Tech. Love started in 9 of her 16 games in 2009 and in 3 of her 15 games in 2010.

George Huguely
George Wesley Huguely V was born on August 17, 1987, in Washington, D.C., to George Huguely IV and Marta Murphy, who subsequently divorced. George V descends from a long line of wealthy businessmen. Huguely's great-grandfather George Huguely, Sr., founded the construction supply company Galliher & Huguely in 1912. George Huguely IV is a self-employed investor. George Huguely V attended the all-boys Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland, and resided in Chevy Chase, Maryland. At Landon, Huguely was an All-American lacrosse player and played football as well. During his senior year at Landon, Huguely was the quarterback of the football team.

In 2007, Huguely was charged with underage possession of alcohol in Florida, where his family owns a vacation home. In 2008, Huguely was arrested for public drunkenness and resisting arrest outside the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity house at Washington and Lee University; police tased Huguely to subdue him. In that incident, Huguely received a suspended sentence of 60 days and 6 months of probation, was fined, and was ordered to perform community service and take a drug treatment program. He did not disclose this arrest to the University of Virginia, despite a requirement to do so. During the 2010 season, Huguely was a midfielder for the Virginia Cavaliers men's lacrosse team. He majored in anthropology at Virginia.

Murder and arrest
Around 2:15 a.m. (EDT) on May 3, police were called to Love's apartment on 14th Street in the University Corner district in Charlottesville. At the scene, Love was found unresponsive and was pronounced dead. The 911 call from Love's roommate reported that Love suffered an alcohol overdose, but detectives noticed "obvious physical injuries to her body" upon arrival. The suspect, George Huguely, was living in the building next door.

On May 4, Huguely was charged with murdering Love and is currently being held in the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail. At a May 6 court appearance, Huguely's attorney, Fran Lawrence, stated: "Ms. Love's death was not intended but an accident with a tragic outcome." Huguely appeared at the hearing via video.

Huguely and Love dated briefly, but had broken up. At the Charlottesville police station, Huguely waived his Miranda rights and narrated graphic details of his assaulting Love, stating that he kicked open Love's locked bedroom door and "shook Love, and her head repeatedly hit the wall". Evidence that police seized from Huguely's apartment included two Apple laptop computers, a spiral notebook, two white socks, bathroom and entryway rugs, and a Virginia lacrosse shirt with a red stain. Investigators are reportedly also following leads that could point to domestic violence between Huguely and Love, including: threatening e-mail and text messages that Huguely allegedly sent to Love post-breakup; a violent encounter between the couple that was broken up by several visiting lacrosse players from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and an incident in which Huguely attacked Love while drunk but did not recall having hit her. An unnamed student told the New York Daily News that Huguely and Love broke up after the drunken Huguely assaulted Love.

Impact
The Charlottesville killing—an alleged homicide of one student by another—was a rarity in the halls of academia. The crime occurred less than a month after a double-shooting at a scenic overlook on the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway and just six months after the murder of Morgan Dana Harrington, whose disappearance from a Metallica concert provoked fears that a serial killer might be living in Charlottesville.

There have been similar cases at American universities, including the 1977 Yale murder and the 2009 cafeteria beheading of a female Virginia Tech student.

Aftermath
"My hope for Yeardley, and for you," said University president John Casteen at a May 6 candlelight vigil, "is that her dying inspires an anger, a sense of outrage that engenders determination here and wherever Yeardley's name is recognized that no woman, no person in this place, this community, this state, our nation need either fear for her safety or experience violence for any reason." A funeral Mass for Love was held at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on May 8 with an attendance of around 2,000.

On May 10, UVA women's lacrosse coach Julie Myers explained why the team planned to go forward with its role in the NCAA tournament, "Let’s do it the way that Yards would want us to do it."

In their respective tournaments, the men's team advanced to the semifinal where they lost to Duke, who would go on to win the championship, and the women's team advanced to the quarterfinal.

On September 29, 2010, the family of Yeardley Love announced the creation of the Yeardley Reynolds Love Foundation, Inc., also known as the One Love Foundation, to honor the memory of this outstanding young woman. "The mission of the foundation is to encourage and develop in children and young adults four qualities of character that Yeardley exemplified … service, kindness, humility and sportsmanship … that together add up to One Love," explained Sharon Love, Yeardley’s mother. "The foundation would like to 'bring out the Yeardley' in everyone by igniting the spirit of One Love in children and young adults, encouraging them to choose a path of goodness."

Legal proceedings
A preliminary hearing for Huguely on a first degree murder charge has been set for April 11, 2011, in Charlottesville District Court. Huguely continues to be held without bond at the Charlottesville regional jail. On January 7, 2011, prosecutors added five additional charges: felony murder, robbery of a residence, burglary, entering a house with an intent to commit a felony, and grand larceny.