Murder of Yngve Raustein

Yngve Koehler Raustein (17 October 1970-18 September 1992) was a Norwegian undergraduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a resident of Baker House. On the evening of 18 September 1992 he was walking down the Memorial Drive by Hayden Library when he and his companion were attacked by three students of Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School. Shon McHugh, aged 15, Joseph D. Donovan, aged 17, and Alfredo Velez, aged 18 robbed Raustein and his companion of $33, and McHugh stabbed Raustein, who was fatally injured. A memorial service for Raustein was held on 9 October 1992.

Raustein's murder was the first of an MIT student for over a decade and sparked a Town and gown debate centering on the tension between the wealthy universities in Cambridge, MIT and Harvard University, and the poorer permanent Cambridge population. A vigil held the week after his death drew representatives from both communities. A permanent memorial award, the Yngve Raustein Award for scholarship, teamwork and community, was established at MIT in 1993. Raustein has been memorialized in the Garden of Peace memorial in Boston, Massachusetts.

McHugh was tried as a juvenile, and was released from prison less than 11 years. Velez testified against Donovan and sentenced to less than 10 years in prison. Donovan was charged with Felony Murder and was sentenced Life Without Parole.

Joseph Donovan, aged 33 in 2009, is appealing against his sentence of life without parole for felony murder on the grounds that although he punched Raustein he had no knowledge of a knife or planned robbery, and Raustein's family have said that "the life without parole sentence was way too harsh". The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court declined an appeal in 1996. Shon McHugh, who stabbed Raustein, spent 10 years in jail and Alfredo Valez was released within 10 years after a plea bargain against Donovan at the trial.