2 College Students Charged in Missing Girl's Murder

Liver transplant recipient Nichole Lovell, 13, found on North Carolina roadside
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 31, 2016 7:32 AM CST
Updated Jan 31, 2016 3:22 PM CST
Va. Tech Student Charged in Missing Girl's Murder
Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Mary Pettitt and Blacksburg Police Chief Anthony Wilson at a news conference Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016, in Blacksburg, Va.   (Matt Gentry/The Roanoke Times via AP)

A 13-year-old girl who went missing from her home in Blacksburg, Va., early Wednesday was found dead on a North Carolina roadside late Saturday, and authorities quickly added a first-degree murder charge for the 18-year-old Virginia Tech freshman already charged in her abduction, reports NBC News. Police also arrested Maryland resident Natalie Keepers for allegedly helping to dispose of the body, reports the AP. Nichole Lovell had shoved a dresser in front of her bedroom door and left through a window; the search for the child was urgent from the start because Nichole was recipient of a liver transplant and had gone missing without her medication. David Eisenhauer, an engineering student and high school track standout from Columbia, Md., was charged early Saturday in Nichole's disappearance, reports the Baltimore Sun.

"This is a sad day for the Blacksburg community. As a parent, I know that this is an unbearable loss for the Lovell family," Blacksburg's mayor says. The city's police chief notes that Eisenhauer didn't tell them where Nichole's body was, and that investigators are still trying to piece together how the two met. Because Eisenhauer is charged with a felony, Virginia Tech has placed him on immediate interim suspension, the university notes in a press release. Nichole's body was being returned to Blacksburg overnight for an autopsy. (More Virginia Tech stories.)

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