Murder of Michelle Gardner-Quinn
Encyclopedia
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...
who was kidnapped on October 7, 2006. Her body was later found along a road in the neighboring town of Richmond
Richmond, Vermont
Richmond is a town in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. The 2000 census revealed a population of 4,090.Local students attend Mount Mansfield Union High School, Camel's Hump Middle School, And Richmond Elementary School. Mount Mansfield Union High is in the neighboring town of Jericho...
on October 13.
Disappearance and murder
In the early morning hours of October 7, Gardner-Quinn was walking home to her campus dormitory after a night out with friends. She borrowed a cell phoneMobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
from a passerby, Brian Rooney, to call an acquaintance. A jewelry store surveillance camera captured Gardner-Quinn walking north with Rooney at approximately 2:34 am. Six days later, her body was found by hikers near Huntington Gorge in Richmond, Vermont. An autopsy revealed she had been sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled.
Assailant
At a press conference on October 13, police announced that they had found Gardner-Quinn's body and arrested Brian Rooney on separate charges unrelated to the case. Rooney, a construction worker with several prior arrests, is facing charges from neighboring Caledonia CountyCaledonia County, Vermont
Caledonia County is a county located in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of 2010, the population was 31,227. Its shire town is St. Johnsbury.The county was given the Latin name for Scotland, in honor of the many settlers who claimed ancestry there....
that pertain to sexual assault
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
and lewd conduct with a child. In addition to being the person who last saw Gardner-Quinn, Rooney was reportedly seen with cuts on his hands when he stopped at a business in Winooski
Winooski, Vermont
Winooski is a city in Chittenden County, Vermont, in the United States. Located at the mouth of the Winooski River, as of the 2010 census the city population was 7,267...
several days later. On October 25, police announced that they had charged Rooney with aggravated homicide in the death of Gardner-Quinn. He pleaded innocent.
At a press meeting, Rooney's lawyer accidentally revealed confidential information about DNA evidence, which resulted in the trial going under lock-and-key.
On May 22, 2008, Brian Rooney was convicted of aggravated murder in Rutland, Vermont, by a twelve member jury. On October 17, 2008, Rooney was sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
without the possibility of parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
. Judge Michael Kupersmith admonished him, stating that: "You are the lowest of the low." Rooney expressed condolences to Quinn's family but maintained he is innocent.
In her memory
CosmopolitanCosmopolitan (magazine)
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...
magazine featured Gardner-Quinn's story, "The Murder of a Beautiful Girl", in its February 2007 issue.
A non-profit organization, Michelle's Earth Foundation (MEF) has been founded in her memory. It is devoted to promoting youth involvement and awareness in environmentalism, about which Gardner-Quinn cared deeply.
Her parents are creating a scholarship in her name at UVM (WPTZ)
An essay she wrote (just days before her abduction) about her environmental beliefs was featured at Live Earth concerts in July 2007 and on an August 5 National Public Radio broadcast. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12444698
Her essay, "A Reverence For All Life", has also been published in the book, This I Believe II: More Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women.