A female Kentucky college student found mysteriously injured and unable to breathe on her own in her dorm room is credited with surviving the ordeal in a bid to raise awareness about schools’ negligent student protections.
said Isabella Willingham, 21, now a former student at Asbury University. NBC News Neither she nor police have looked into what happened Monday when November’s roommate found her unresponsive in her room with deep lacerations and bruises.
“I believe God saved me because my mission is to shine a light on safety issues on campus. Students definitely need more protection than they are getting.”Willingham he told the same media.
“I want what happened to me to draw attention to the fact that Asbury needs more cameras at every entrance and exit.”
Willingham told the magazine that she could not remember what happened to her on November 27, although her injuries were so severe that she had only fragmented memories of most of the past semester at the university. said he believed he never left his dorm room. About the incident.
Willingham’s room was in Glide Crawford Residence Hall. The dormitory was a women-only dormitory with strict rules regarding men’s access to the building, and all visits from men were recorded.
A rape kit and toxicology report from that night showed Willingham had not been sexually assaulted and “nothing of concern was found,” the outlet reported.
The former student said it could have been a “group” easily allowed to roam the building, no questions asked, while narrowing down who would be attacked if he were attacked.
“I think it was a group of girls. I hardly spoke to anyone. I only knew about three people on campus. I never left my room,” she said. . “I felt like it was a girl because I only knew girls.”
The 21-year-old felt “betrayed” by Asbury’s slow response and had no intention of returning to school.
“I don’t want to go back unless the person who did this is caught,” Willingham said.
“All I can do in this case is expose what the school is doing and try to protect others on campus.”
The incident embarrassed Willingham and his family, but police also changed their tune about what happened to the young college student that night.
The Jessamine County Sheriff’s Office had argued that Willingham’s injuries were most likely caused by a fall from a bunk bed or a medical episode, but the department has invalidated that theory.
Sheriff Kevin Grimes told the department Monday that he was taking the investigation seriously, saying a department official “spoke out of turn.”
“What happened to this young woman is 100% incomprehensible,” Grimes said. “In some way, shape, form, fashion, she’s a victim just like anyone else. … We believe 100% that something happened. We just don’t know what it is.” yeah.”
Since then, his department has spent hundreds of hours trying to piece together what happened that night, reviewing hours of camera footage and talking to dorm residents. The case is made serious by the lack of evidence and the fact that no one has come forward and reported anything. Challenge.
Grimes also said that when officers were called that night, they reported a possible overdose.
However, when Willingham arrived at the hospital, injuries to her lower body were discovered and she was recalled. Ms. Willingham’s representatives did not see her when she arrived on campus because she was covered.
“The only frustration for us is that we weren’t told about her leg injury until probably five or six hours later. … I would say we were late to the eight ball as far as the injury side of things,” Grimes said. he told the magazine.
Nevertheless, Willingham expressed a huge amount of gratitude to the first responders who helped that night.
“I survived the attack and I am very grateful to the first responders who did not abandon me. I am alive because of them,” she told the media.
Asbury University said in a statement last week that “the safety and health of our students, faculty and staff remains our top priority” and that all future questions should be directed to the sheriff’s office.
At a gathering Sunday night in the Glide Crawford Residence Hall, Willingham, his mother Jennifer Willingham, and more than 100 others heard Asbury University President Kevin Brown’s threat to students on campus. I was told that there was no.
Brown told concerned attendees that the sheriff’s office has “publicly acknowledged that.” I want to share that with you, and I want to reiterate that,” according to a meeting transcript provided by his family. NBC News.
“It was as if Bella was the perpetrator. Bella was the victim who was being demonized,” Jennifer Willingham said.
“If they believe my daughter was attacked, I have no doubt they’ll say, ‘Guys, there’s someone on this campus.’ We need to find out who did this.”
