ACCORDING to police, Melvin Rowland killed Lauren McCluskey in October 2018.
A 20/20 episode about the crime will premiere on Friday, March 31, 2023, on ABC.
Who was Lauren McCluskey’s ex-boyfriend Melvin Rowland?
As reported by The Salt Lake Tribune, on Monday, October 22, 2018, 37-year-old Melvin Rowland fatally shot 21-year-old Lauren McCluskey on the University of Utah campus.
McCluskey was a student heptathlete on the school’s track team who hailed from Pullman, Washington.
After the murder, police said that Rowland left the scene before fatally shooting himself on Tuesday, October 23, 2018, at Trinity African Methodist Episcopal Church.
As the publication also reported, McCluskey’s mother, Jill McCluskey, said that her daughter broke up with Rowland on October 9 and that he started to harass the college student in the following days, prompting her to notify the university police.
McCluskey reportedly ended her relationship with Rowland after finding out that he was a registered sex offender.
Rowland was on parole at the time of McCluskey’s murder.
However, parole agents said university police did not notify them of McCluskey’s harassment claims, as The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
Rowland had an extensive history of sexual assault and had been in and out of prison.
According to The Salt Lake Tribune, while in court in 2004, he admitted to trying to sexually assault a teenage girl. At a 2012 parole hearing, he claimed to have forced the girl to have sex and also admitted to having committed the same crime against two other women.
As the publication also noted, in 2016, Rowland discussed harming a parole agent.
He had also been charged with a count of enticing a minor over the Internet in September 2003.
The outlet reported that he was later charged with a first-degree felony for the sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl. However, it was then changed to a third-degree felony charge following a plea agreement.
Was Melvin Rowland charged for Lauren McCluskey’s murder?
Due to his death, Rowland was not charged or sent to prison for killing McCluskey, as reported by Heavy.
Deseret News reported that Rowland’s co-worker, Nathan Daniel Vogel, plead guilty in June 2019 for loaning Rowland the illegally-purchased gun he used to murder McCluskey.
According to Heavy, Vogel received a three-year probation sentence.
A woman named Sarah Emily Lady was charged with purchasing the gun for Vogel. However, as the outlet noted, court records state that following the completion of a one-year diversion program, Lady’s case was dismissed in September 2020.
The New York Times reported that in October 2020, McCluskey’s parents Jill and Matt McCluskey settled a $13.5million lawsuit filed against the University of Utah.
How can I watch the 20/20 episode about Lauren McCluskey’s murder?
On Friday, March 31, 2023, a 20/20 episode about McCluskey’s murder titled Running Out Of Time will premiere at 9pm EST, 8pm CST on ABC.
It will also feature ESPN’s documentary about McCluskey, titled Listen.
The TV special will later be available for streaming on Hulu.
The 20/20 Twitter page, @ABC2020, has shared multiple previews about the upcoming television program.
On March 30, 2023, it tweeted: “A shocking murder that shook a college campus. A parent’s worst nightmare. The stunning new investigation. The all-new 20/20 “Running Out Of Time” with @DavidMuir premieres Friday at 9/8c on @ABC. Stream later on Hulu.”