UT remains shaken by Haruka Weiser’s killing on eve of suspect’s trial

As she was settling in for her first semester at the University of Texas in the fall of 2017, graduate student Sarah Camburn learned from a friend about the strangulation and sexual assault of freshman Haruka Weiser on campus the year before.

Concerned about her own safety, Camburn acquired an item that in the past two years has become a common accessory among women at UT: pepper spray.

As details about Weiser’s shocking death emerge over the next two weeks during the trial of Meechaiel Criner, the man accused of killing Weiser, students like Camburn say the incident has made them more alert.

“It creates a sense of awareness that things do happen,” Camburn said, adding that she’s more likely to take advantage of university safety services, such as assisted walks and rides.

Janelle Dean, a senior studying biology, said she’s reminded to be vigilant whenever she goes past Waller Creek, where Weiser was found dead the morning of April 5, 2016.

RELATED: Interactive timeline of Haruka Weiser murder case

Danielle Eke, a UT junior who was about to graduate from high school when Weiser was killed, said the incident triggered fear in her about living on campus when she arrived for freshman orientation.

“I was scared to stay alone,” Eke said.

Stories like these reveal how Weiser’s death and an unrelated fatal stabbing attack 13 months later — which killed student Harrison Brown and injured three others — shook the historically safe campus to its core.

The homicides were the first and second on UT’s campus since Charles Whitman, armed with an array of guns, fired from atop the UT Tower in 1966 in a rampage that left a total of 16 people dead.

The suspect in the May 2017 stabbing, biology student Kendrex White, has filed court documents through his attorneys stating that he was suffering from a mental health breakdown and could not discern right from wrong at the time of the attack. If the case goes to trial, his side is prepared to argue White is not guilty by reason of insanity.

In Criner’s case, court documents filed by his attorneys show he suffers from mental health issues of his own, but nothing that reaches a level that would reduce his legal culpability in Weiser’s death.

Criner, who turned 20 on June 30, has pleaded not guilty to capital murder in a Travis County state District Court and remains behind bars with bail set at $1 million. His lawyers say police arrested the wrong person and made too much of a video that authorities believe shows Criner following Weiser on the night of her death.

If convicted, Criner faces an automatic life sentence in prison. The death penalty is not on the table because of a state law that shields from execution teenage defendants like Criner, who was 17 at the time of the Weiser’s killing.

Jury selection begins Monday. Wide media exposure to the case could taint the views of potential jurors, so it might take lawyers two or three days to work their way through the list before they begin presenting evidence.

Some relatives of Criner, a foster care runaway from Texarkana, say they want to attend the trial, according to his defense lawyer, Ariel Payan. His grandmother and siblings might be there, but his parents are not expected to attend.

Both sides are under orders from state District Judge David Wahlberg to finish the trial in no more than two weeks, with a July 20 deadline.

Weiser’s father, a medical doctor who has dedicated his practice to treating Native Americans, is expected to testify at the trial, according to District Attorney Margaret Moore.

“I think I speak for all of us when I say I’ll be glad when there’s some sort of culmination to this,” said Brant Pope, chairman of UT’s Department of Theatre and Dance.

‘Magnificent talent’

Weiser, an 18-year-old from Portland, Ore., was enticed to UT with one of the largest scholarships the department makes available to undergraduate students.

Pope said that as a freshman Weiser already was one of the most talented dancers in the school. He likened her hip-hop dancing skills to a baseball pitcher who throws in the mid-90s while also maintaining control of his pitches.

“Energy that flowed out to her fingertips,” he said. “Magnificent talent.”

On the night she was killed, police said, Weiser was walking to her dormitory after leaving a rehearsal for a production at the Winship Drama Building. She was last heard from by a friend she called at about 9:30 p.m.

Around that time, surveillance footage from UT cameras recorded a male figure, who authorities think was Criner, near the Patton Hall liberal arts building, across from Winship on 23rd Street, police said. Video also captures a woman, believed to be Weiser, walking past him. The man watched her and then put down the kickstand of a bike he was riding, an arrest affidavit said.

In the video, the man reaches into the back of his pants and pulls out a “shiny rigid object,” the affidavit said.

Police think Criner followed Weiser behind the Etter-Harbin Alumni Center, which is adjacent to the west bank of Waller Creek. Her remains were found nearby on April 5 — two days after police believe she was killed.

In video footage taken about two hours later, the male figure is seen walking east on 23rd Street with a slight limp, the affidavit said. This time, the footage shows the figure carrying a small duffel bag resembling one that belonged to Weiser, the affidavit said.

The big break in the case came after firefighters say they found Criner in an abandoned building near campus, burning items the morning after Weiser was last seen. Items he had — a shoe, college coursework and a laptop with a Portland sticker — probably belonged to Weiser, police said.

The prosecutors tasked with presenting Criner’s case to a jury believe those details help form a strong circumstantial case that will offset a recent setback: Judge Wahlberg last month tossed out DNA evidence that investigators have said ties Criner to Weiser. Wahlberg determined that a forensic analyst with the Texas Department of Public Safety did not follow the department’s standard operating procedures when testing samples in the case.

Walk With Me for safety

After Weiser’s death, the Department of Theatre and Dance implemented Walk With Me, an after-hours buddy system to enhance student safety. Before leaving rehearsals, students are required to check in with the stage manager and confirm their transportation arrangements.

During peak times of the year, rehearsals go past 10 p.m. and are held up to six nights a week.

“Haruka’s death and the way that she died was obviously not only a tragedy, but a wake-up call for the Department of Theatre and Dance in the way we take care of our students as they leave late-night rehearsals,” Pope said.

More broadly, the university introduced additional safety measures after UT President Gregory L. Fenves commissioned a DPS review of campus safety. The changes included increasing the university’s police force from 67 to 104 officers. Foliage in the area where Weiser was found was removed and additional lighting was added. New security systems have been placed in buildings.

The Winship building has no memorials or photos of Weiser, but that’s not to say she’s been forgotten. This spring, renowned choreographer and faculty member Rennie Harris put together a hip-hop set that students performed in honor of Weiser at their spring dance concert. Its title: “Resurrection.” The show ended with the audience staring at a photo of Weiser dancing.

The department plans to do something similar every spring and raise money for the production, Pope said.

“Rather than looking backward, we want to capture her spirit,” he said.