The University of Virginia is in shock over the killing of a co-ed lacrosse player who's boyfriend has been arrested as a suspect. INSIDE EDITION has the details.
The nation is horrified by the killing of a beautiful lacrosse player. Under arrest, her on-again-off-again boyfriend, also a star player at the prestigious University of Virginia.
George Huguely's mother, stepfather and father left the Virginia jail where their son is being held on a charge of first-degree murder.
Huguely's lawyer called the death of 22-year-old senior Yeardley Love an accident, saying, "We are confident that Ms. Love's death was not intended, but an accident with a tragic outcome."
But a just released police affidavet states Huguely admitted that he "shook love and her head repeatedly hit the wall."
On the University of Virginia's historic campus, designed by Thomas Jefferson himself, it's the last day of classes before final exams, and students are in a state of shock. The victim and the accused looked like the perfect all-American couple.
University executive vice president Leonard Sandridge said, "Our shock and disappointment and concern, of course, is magnified by fact that she was murdered by one of our own."
22-year-old George Huguely was a popular and handsome senior on the lacrosse team that's ranked number one in the country. Team stats list him as six feet tall, 209 pounds, and an anthropology major.
But Huguely has a dark side and a bad temper. In 2008 he pled guilty to public intoxication and resisting arrest. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail.
INSIDE EDITION's Les Trent reports from Maryland where George Huguely grew up in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Chevy Chase, Maryland. He was an honors student at Landon, an exclusive private boys school where he was also the quarterback on the football team and an all-American lacrosse player.
Yeardley Love grew up just an hour away in Cockeysville, Maryland. She graduated from Notre Dame Prep, a catholic girls school where she had a stellar reputation. Her high school lacrosse coach is mourning her death.
"There was not a mean cell in her body. She was goodness epitomized. I don't think I'll ever have the pleasure of teaching or coaching another child anywhere close to that," said Yeardley's lacrosse coach Mary Bartel.
Attending University of Virginia, she said, was "like a dream come true."
Friends at the University called her an "angel." She pledged Kapa Alpha Theta sorority, where her sorority sisters are known for beauty and smarts.
Yeardley became a standout on the lacrosse team. And for the past year-and-a-half, she dated George Huguely. At times, their relationship was volatile.
Yeardley was found dead in her apartment, just three blocks from campus. Her door had been forced open by Huguely kicking "his right foot through the door." Police quoted Huguely as saying he had been dating Yeardley, but "the relationship had ended." Her roommate found her in bed at 2:15 a.m. Monday and thought she was suffering from alcohol poisoning.
Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo said, "Patrol officers arrived on the scene and it was quickly apparent to them that this young lady was the victim of something far worse."
Huguely was literally the boy next door. They found him at his apartment, right next door to where Yeardley lived.
Today, George Huguely withdrew as a student from the University of Virginia. He's due in court for a bond hearing on June 10th. Both students would have received their diplomas at graduation in just three weeks.
