The man charged with killing and sexually assaulting 19-year-old Indian-American student Ruth George in Chicago said he had gotten “angry” after she ignored his attempts to talk to her, prosecutors said.
George, who originally hailed from Hyderabad and was an honours student at the University of Illinois, was followed by her attacker Donald Thurman to a campus parking garage.
A prosecutor told a local court on Tuesday that Thurman had thought George was pretty and had tried talking to her. She ignored him.
He kept following George as she walked on and even “catcalled” her, the prosecutor said, according to Chicago Tribune.
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“The defendant was angry that he was being ignored. The defendant came up behind the victim, grabbed her around the neck from behind, and put her into a chokehold... With his arms still wrapped around the victim’s neck the defendant dragged the victim from the ground and he opened her back seat car door,” the prosecutor said, ABC7Chicago quoted.
Police said Thurman, 26, confessed to attacking and assaulting George. He is charged with first-degree murder and sexual assault.
George was found dead in the back seat of a family-owned vehicle in a campus garage. The Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled that she died from strangulation, Chicago Tribune reported.
The court on Tuesday denied Thurman bail.
In a statement released by George’s family, her mother said, “She was the beloved baby of our family. We grieve with hope. We hold no hatred towards the perpetrator, but our hope is no other girl would be harmed in this way and for a mother to never experience this type of heartache.”