Body of nursing student found on a University of Georgia campus

Athens, Ga. — A woman was found dead Thursday in a wooded area on the Athens campus of the University of Georgia after a friend told police she hadn’t returned from a morning run, authorities said.

The woman was a nursing student at the Athens campus of Augusta University, according to that school’s president, Dr. Brooks Keel.

Her name hasn’t been released.

Both schools cited police when saying in letters to their communities that foul play was suspected in the woman’s death.

At a Thursday night news conference, University of Georgia Police Chief Jeff Clark didn’t provide details on how she died, citing the ongoing investigation. He said his department, along with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, were conducting it.

Clark noted that there hasn’t been a homicide on campus in the last 20 years. “We’re not going to leave any rock unturned in this investigation,” he said.

When asked it there was a threat to the public, he said there was no apparent immediate danger but, “When you have a suspect on the loose, there’s always a danger.”

The University of Georgia urged students to travel in groups.

Both schools cancelled Friday classes.  

Clark also asked the University of Georgia community to avoid the school’s Intramural Fields where, he said, the woman was found unconscious, not breathing and with visible injuries.

Officers searching the area found the woman’s body in an area behind Lake Herrick. That area is across a busy road from a large dorm and dining hall complex on what’s commonly called “East Campus.” Most of the students in those dorms are freshmen.

A friend had called University of Georgia police concerned about the woman’s well-being after she failed to return from a morning run at the fields, the University of Georgia said.