After daughter killed, Pullman couple works to turn tragedy into movement
Jill McCluskey and her husband, Matt, hope that their daughter's case becomes a spur to improve the way colleges and universities nationwide respond to dating violence and sexual harassment.
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Jill McCluskey stands at the entrance to her Pullman home with a memorial cross to her daughter, Lauren, who was killed in October 2018 by a man she dated while studying at the University of Utah.
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Jill McCluskey pictured in her daughter Lauren's bedroom in Pullman with a photograph of the girl at age 3 Lauren McCluskey, who grew up in Pullman the only child of two WSU professors, would have turned 23 on Feb. 12. But she was killed in October 2018 by a man who she dated while studying at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and who then refused to let her leave him -- stalking her and threatening her for weeks until kidnapping and shooting her. Both Lauren and her mother were in contact with campus police in those weeks, to no avail. Now the McCluskeys are suing the University of Utah in a high-profile case that raises serious questions about campus security and the way that institutions deal -- and don't deal -- with dating-related threats and violence. The McCluskeys suit is moving ahead in federal court in Utah; the university has argued repeatedly that the killing was not preventable. Jill McCluskey is unequivocal: "The University of Utah failed to protect Lauren."Dan Pelle/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
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Lauren McCluskey, who grew up in Pullman the only child of two WSU professors, would have turned 23 on Feb. 12. But she was killed in October 2018 by a man who she dated while studying at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and who then refused to let her leave him -- stalking her and threatening her for weeks until kidnapping and shooting her. Both Lauren and her mother were in contact with campus police in those weeks, to no avail. Now the McCluskeys are suing the University of Utah in a high-profile case that raises serious questions about campus security and the way that institutions deal -- and don't deal -- with dating-related threats and violence. The McCluskeys suit is moving ahead in federal court in Utah; the university has argued repeatedly that the killing was not preventable. Jill McCluskey is unequivocal: "The University of Utah failed to protect Lauren."Dan Pelle/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
Dan Pelle The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
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Lauren McCluskey, who grew up in Pullman the only child of two WSU professors, would have turned 23 on Feb. 12. But she was killed in October 2018 by a man who she dated while studying at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and who then refused to let her leave him -- stalking her and threatening her for weeks until kidnapping and shooting her. Both Lauren and her mother were in contact with campus police in those weeks, to no avail. Now the McCluskeys are suing the University of Utah in a high-profile case that raises serious questions about campus security and the way that institutions deal -- and don't deal -- with dating-related threats and violence. The McCluskeys suit is moving ahead in federal court in Utah; the university has argued repeatedly that the killing was not preventable. Jill McCluskey is unequivocal: "The University of Utah failed to protect Lauren."Dan Pelle/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
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Lauren McCluskey’s National Championship track and field medals hang in her on the wall of her parent’s home in Pullman.
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Jill McCluskey has made stickers in her daughter Lauren’s memory that are intended to but put on a class syllabus. Dan Pelle/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
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A canvas print of Lauren McCluskey running track at the University of Utah hangs in her bedroom at her parent’s home in Pullman, Wash.Dan Pelle/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
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