Police arrest 17-year-old in slaying of first-year University of Texas student
Police have arrested a 17-year-old suspect in the slaying of a University of Texas dance student, law enforcement officials said Friday.
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said at a news conference that Meechaiel Criner has been booked into the county jail on a first-degree murder charge in the slaying of Haruka Weiser, a first-year student from Portland, Ore. Weiser, 18, was last seen Sunday night leaving the university’s drama building en route to her dorm, police said. Roommates reported her missing the next morning.
Weiser’s body was found on campus Tuesday in Waller Creek by the university’s alumni center, a short walk from the drama building.
A December 2014 issue of a student publication, the Tiger Times, of Texas High School in Texarkana, Tex., contains an article about Criner headlined “Voice of hope.” The article, on page 12 and accompanied by a photograph of Criner, says the teenager was the victim of schoolyard taunts at an early age because of a “thick, African-like” accent.
“I’ve been bullied almost my whole life,” Criner was quoted as saying. “In elementary school, I would come home crying almost every day. It was because of my accent, you see. People couldn’t understand me.”
Criner told the Tiger Times that he had spent several months in foster care and later lived with a grandmother. The article portrays Criner as a victim of violence and bullying who wants to work to help others.
“I like to stand up for people,” Criner was quoted as saying. “I like to help others. … What I want to leave behind is my name – I want them to know who Meechaiel Criner is.”
