Lauren Burk and Auburn University

First, I am glad that largely by luck the murderer of Lauren Ashley Burk was apprehended.

That is about the last nice thing I have to say on her murder, Auburn campus security or the handling of her case by local authorities in Alabama.

First, let me address Auburn University. Auburn has two responsibilities, one, keep its students safe when on campus and two, educate them. It is hard to educate students when they are kidnapped on campus, robbed, humiliated and then murdered when they try to escape. Lauren Burk was taken from a university dorm parking lot. From what I understand, this parking lot is actually one of the better parking lots on campus. It makes me wonder what would happen in one of the bad parking lots. The reality is Auburn is busy worrying about building new gyms for the basketball team with fancy suites or how many games its football team will win. Hey Auburn, here's a crazy idea put a damn guard in these parking lots after dark. Or if money is an issue, have a student at a front desk in the dorm lobby to escort these young women out to their cars. Auburn does not even have campus security. How does a university the size of Auburn not employ a campus security? Through Auburn's inattentiveness to security, Lauren Burk will never again call home, walk through her front door in Marietta, kiss her boyfriend or talk to her friends again. Her younger brother will never benefit from her advice, her older sister never share sisterly moments, her parents never enjoy her infectious smile and personality.

As far as local authorities, early in the case, they said the student body and local community were not in danger. On what did they base this hypothesis? The fact someone was shot and left to die in the street like an animal? Auburn says early on they had a photo of the suspect? What good did this photo do sitting on someone's desk? Get it out to the damn media. You think the suspect didn't hear within a day Lauren died. Would he have been more dangerous with her picture released? Of course not. The public was left defenseless to a murderer in its midst. So the question to me is were the local authorities lying when they said the public was not in danger or just ignorant? Was Auburn pulling an Aruba and trying to protect future student enrollment just like Aruba tried to protect tourism in the Natalee Holloway case? When Auburn said the public at large was safe was their theory a member of Lauren's circle had done this? To me it is clear you can not tell the public they are safe and at the same time know Lauren was robbed, almost raped and murdered. So which is it? Were you lying or just incompetent?

On the suspect, Courtney Lockhart and I call him a suspect only because the case has not been tried that supposedly a confession exists. He must be put to death for the heinousnous of the crime. He had every opportunity to simply rob Lauren Burk if that was his intention. He had gotten her ipod and debit card, why didn't he walk away? Most likely his intention was more sinister. Later he would force her to undress and humilate her only to murder her in cold blood when she tried to get away. And when he did shoot her, did he call an ambulance? Of course not. For the totality of his crime, he must die.

Auburn University, you failed Lauren Burk in every way the night of March 4, 2008. Local authorities you too failed Ms. Burk and the community at large.

It was disgusting to hear you at the press conference on Saturday, March 8, 2008 pats yourselves on the back for what great work you all had done. You failed Lauren Burk. Someone should never have been able to come into and most likely stalk a parking lot on campus, waiting for a victim, kidnap them, murder them, bring their car back and set in on fire without any campus or community law enforcement seeing anything.

It would seem maybe it was Lauren's time given that nothing in a chain of events that night saved her life. I understand life flight couldn't come to the scene as the weather was too bad to get the helicopter up. Regardless, it was much to soon for an 18 year old girl with a jubilent personality to lose her life.

I hope the Auburn administration rather than having secret meetings to oust a football coach instead focuses it's attention on a severly lacking on campus security situation. I hope the local authorities have learned valuable lessons as well as to how to properly run a murder investigation.

I also wish that rather than cover something salacious like a Governor having sex, I wish the media would use their resources to ask the same questions I have asked in this blog.

Even over a week later in this day and age of ADD/ADHD, this case and the loss of Lauren Burk deeply saddens me.