University of Utah student and standout track runner Lauren McCluskey, 21, was brutally murdered on October 22, 2018. After night class, the communications major was returning to her dorm when her ex-boyfriend kidnapped her, pulled her away, and shot her dead in the rear of the car he had driven to campus. The ex-boyfriend, Melvin Rowland, had previously been harassing and stalking Lauren with what appeared to be the assistance of his pals. Both ESPN’s “Listen” and NBC’s “Dateline: Lauren’s Promise” feature profiles on all this and much more, so let’s just concentrate on Melvin and how he passed away.
Who Was Melvin Rowland?
On September 2, 2018, Melvin Shawn Rowland met Lauren McCluskey at the London Belle, a pub in Salt Lake City where he was a bouncer. When they initially met, Melvin gave her a false name and age and omitted the information that he was a parolee serving a sentence for sex offences. After that, the two of them started dating, and Melvin frequently went to see his girlfriend in her dorm room to get to know her and her friends better. Jill and Matt, Lauren’s parents, claim that Melvin had Lauren completely won over with his old-fashioned charm before things went south.
The controlling conduct came first. Lauren’s identity, what she was wearing, and who she was with had to be known to Melvin at all times. A quarrel would ensue if he disapproved of any of it. Later, on October 9, Lauren learned the truth about her lover. Melvin misrepresented his age, claiming to be 28 years old when he was actually over 37. Lauren broke their relationship right away because he kept secret from her his long criminal history, which included time spent for sexual assault. The extortion, harassment, and threats then began. Surveillance footage from the subsequent two weeks showed that Melvin again stalked Lauren.