Collegiate Times

Virginia Tech, indeed, is safe. That's all.

OakRaidFan: Are you not going to let your girls visit New York City or Washington, D.C.? or drive a car? or ride in a plane? As a recent graduate who was here for the shooting on April 16, I can say that I never felt unsafe during my 4 years at Tech and wish I could be back in Blacksburg. Violence is certainly not limited to Virginia Tech, and despite the recent tragedies it has a much lower crime rate than most colleges. You can't live your life in a bubble out of fear.

Anonymous: You are a complete fool. The murders did not happen on campus so there was no reason to lock it down. What do you want Dr. Stegar to do? You are obviously are not a student or a student that lacks the capacity to make an informed statement. Virginia Tech is safe and Dr.Stegar is doing what he can do.

pretty sure this didn't happen AT tech. it happened NEAR tech. meaning Steger was not the first person responsible, merely someone to be informed along the way during the investigation. so chill out asking him to resign.

Pray for the students at VT and the families of these beautiful young people.

lay off of steger! who knows when it was actually clear that these two were students at virginia tech. this did not happen on campus or anywhere near - in my opinion there was no need for a vt alert. family would have to be notified before names were released. give the guy a break. bad things happen everywhere. not stegers fault. geesh!

I was shocked to see this linked from CNN this evening. Here at U.Va. we also made CNN today for having two students attacked by a (probably rabid) fox. I'm sure Blacksburg is a very low-crime area overall but I do sympathize with you Hokies for what looks like a string of murdered students. And especially with the poor parents--it's hard to imagine their shock and grief. Let's hope the killer is brought to justice quickly.

Simply alerting students via the VT alerts system that a murder of two students happened off campus overnight and the murderer is still at large would not be asking too much. I would guess at least one of the students had a hokie passport on them, I mean most students I know carry those with them everywhere. You don't have to identify names to let people know to be on the lookout. For goodness sake they let you all know that some guy was masturbating in AJ today before they let you know two of your colleagues were killed. Is that the VT police dept you trust for your safety? I certainly hope none of you posting here are the next victim of the next crazy incident in Blacksburg. That place is going down hill fast. I was there a long time as an undergrad and grad student. I used to think I was safe too. May God keep you all safe during your time there. Yes it happened near Tech, no Steger was not the first one to know, but if the police had done their work in a reasonable time VT officials should have known well sooner than they did and warnings should have been issued in my opinion.

It floors me to this day how people will defend Steger. As a VT student, I have no faith in the administration and would have attended a different institution had I known what would go on during my time at VT. I am embarrassed to say that I go to VT as it usually invokes sympathy from the listener. Why do VT students insist on standing behind a president that is, in my opinion, incompetent? I realize that other schools have violent crime, but it is VT's reaction to such incidents that to this amazes me.

Purely protocol and common courtesy. As President, Dt. Steger has to do a lot of things that he doesn't like to do. The same protocol (confirming the details via the authorities/police, contacting the parents, and THEN alerting the VT community) would have occurred if these events happened anywhere in the world. This just happened to occur at Caldwell Fields. Any leader from any other school/organization/group would have done the same thing.

It floors me that people think the University should inform students every time something happens when it's not even on campus. Do the cops send you an email every time something happens in your city? Get real. The job of the University is to protect students while on campus. If you don't want your precious children to be in danger, lock them up inside and don't let them out.

It is no surprise that this type of incident has occurred. The bad guys have the guns and the students are not allowed to carry weapons of self-defense. I think we will see more of this in the future unless students have the right of self-defense returned to them. Yes, Steger and his policies are a big part of the problem.

I will never forget what happened on 2007. But this has nothing in common with that tragedy. The thing is that those memories are still fresh in all of us. This killing happened off campus and tihs happens, so get over it. I know that no killing is justify but, no one knows what really happened yesterday, so please do not make assumptions about it. In my opinion, cops are making a terrible job arround this area. So we should blame them. I will never forget how on 2007, while the killing was still going arround Norris Hall, cops were watching the situation without knowing what to do. All they care about is speeding tickets and, alcohol and drugs tolerance, but no about security. About Dt. Steger, he just wrote on that letter what parents and family want to hear, but he knows that VT has nothing to do about it becuase is out of its jurisdiction.

Jon: The Virginia Tech and Blacksburg police were at the barricaded doors of Norris Hall trying to force entry within THREE minutes of 9-1-1 receiving Emily Haas' emergency call from inside the building on April 16, 2007. They got in the building within another three minutes -- Cho's chained doors did pose a challenge, they had to find a door they could breach with a shotgun and open. The Virginia Tech police department is a fully accredited state law enforcement agency and it does among other things, have a SWAT unit which trains tactically for emergency situations. They did fine on April 16, 2007 -- the blame lies with the screwups in handling Cho _before_ that fateful day. No cop was just looking around not knowing what to do if they were in earshot of Norris that day.

Jane, these murders took place more than 20 miles off campus, near a shooting range that is popular with students. Weapons are not otherwise allowed on national forest lands outside of hunting seasons. If you think that law should be changed, take it up with the feds. It doesn't have anything to do with being a student.

While it's not on the campus, the proximity of Caldwell Fields to VT, along with the fact that students frequent the area, make an alert worthwhile. Also, where the heck does the mention of the nearby shooting range fit in? This bears no relevance to the story unless the shooter was there. The last place someone would be murdered is at a range where everyone has guns, and since carrying guns in VA is legal (with certain restrictions, of course), proximity to the range has little to do with the case as it is currently understood.

what intrigues me about this is what were they doing there on a school week nite that late when the parking area was closed sunrise to sunset? didnt they both live off campus? i am sure there is someone who knows why they went out there that late at night when it was closed...it is just tragic, everything about it...why was she outside of the car and he inside? Terrible, God help the families!

This event, while off-campus and not directly related to Tech (at least as far as we know right now), demonstrates the rawness that is still present in our community. As a VT employee, I don't feel that it was the university's responsibility to notify me about this incident. However, I do feel they let me down and did not protect me on April 16, 2007. I am reminded of this every time our administration sends out one of its emotionless e-mails trying to reassure us all that everything is okay. Truth is, we're not okay. We still need to heal and I wish that our leaders could see that. It's time to stop thinking about legacies and start caring about your community. It's time for a change at Virginia Tech.

It's maddening to try to read these comments, filtering to find a gem among the fool's gold. The university informed the community within minutes of the information being released to the public. These investigations take time. CSI and its spawn have given the impression that it takes mere minutes to determine identity and clean up a crime scene, but in the words of our Sheriff, [it was a] "very brutal crime scene." Also, perhaps educate yourselves about the timeline of public reporting. The original press release, notifying the public of this heinous crime, was sent around noon. By 1700, full details were made available and the families were notified. This crime was not within the jurisdiction of either the Virginia Tech Police nor the Blacksburg Police. The crime occurred 15 miles (by road, 9 miles straight line distance) from the campus, and is being investigated by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. If you truly feel that notification to the campus community should have been made sooner, express that to the Montco Sheriff's Office and to the university. However, if you expect a VT Alert for every violent crime in a ten mile radius, you'll quickly turn off your phone from the volume of SMS spam.

Anonymous, the police followed every process perfectly in the investigation of Karl Thornhill. I guess you feel the police should have assumed that a person of interest in the murder of a female and a male wouldnt be a boyfriend who wasn't there with a knowledge of firearms, but in fact that an apt person of interest would be a mass-murdering psychopath. They obtained warrants, it's not like they just broke down his door without any due process. Don't be ignorant.

They needed to inform the families first before they sent out an e-mail. It happened off campus, so an alert didn't need to issued or school didn't need to shut down. If these two teenagers had not been VT students, would you still think that?

Handcuffing him and making him and his parents lay prone on the floor of his apartment while they ransacked his apt is following the process perfectly? The police desperately wanted Karl to be the killer, they wanted it to be that simple. The families of 30+ other people wish it was that simple too. Assuming that Karl was the killer just because he owned a gun and had "a knowledge of firearms" is about as ignorant as assuming that the person I saw using a steak knife at Outback is likely to stab someone. I mean that person had a knowledge of the use of knives right? Hate to break it to you, but a lot of people in southwest VA know how to use firearms and the vast majority of them are the most law abiding citizens you would ever want to meet.

He was a legitimate person of interest because of their relationship. There is a huge gap in information between serving the warrant and them being on the floor because the writer of the article you reference clearly plays for the drama. They could have easily been resisting the entrance of the police. They never "assumed he was the killer". They named him as a person of interest and investigated accordingly. If the person from outback is known to have practiced using knives and has a relationship to someone who was murdered with a knife, I'd say that makes them a person of interest. Based on your logic, there would be no such thing as a "suspect" in any case unless you already had 100% of the evidence. Just because someone in southwest VA gets shot, doesn't mean everyone there is a person of interest because they have fired a gun. But, if they are closely connected to the victim and have potential motive, they should be a person of interest.

Two points everyone here is missing. ONE, this occurred 15 miles from here. TWO, had Jason Cho NOT committed his crimes, the 'link' everyone is making would not exist in any stretch of the imagination. This crime is Horrendous. It is vile. It is one reason why I support the death penalty (different topic) BuT the fact that it happened is no different than the Temple Univ. student who was shot yesterday in Philly by a robber. Or the double homicide in Roanoke, yesterday. It is not about Stegar, or Email alerts, or any of that bull. It is about people in this country feeling it is just fine to go out and shoot someone with a gun. Period.

and with these strings of comments is how these two will be remembered

As a parent of two students attending VA Tech during April 16 shooting and still there, we feel Pres Steger has done nothing wrong in any incident. People fail to see the large area that VA tech encompasses. Its more than a college campus its a town. You are talking about closing a whole city. People get killed every day in places like Roanoke, Danville, Lynchburg and you don't hear anyone being blamed for not shuting those cities down when it happens. Everyone who witnessed April 16 was devasted but we cannot keep trying to place blame. Steger did not pull the trigger. If we stop trying to place blame and stop rehashing this horendos crime we could all heal from this quicker. The media needs to stop bringing it up as a reference to everything that happens. We never felt our children were unsafe and they never felt unsafe either. And yes they were on campus when it took place.

It is wrong for people to accuse Pres. Steger or the University for what has happened here. Ranting about university gun policies as set forth by the Gen. Assembly, the governing body of VT have nothing to do with this. This happened in the woods miles from town. To make this man feel any worse than he already does as a compassionate human being is as vile as these crimes. These were two young adults out in the wilderness and none of us have any idea who they encountered that would do this to them or anyone. I don't mean to sound flippant, but Steger does not set the policy of the forest, or the town, or those in our society who are evil enough to commit this crime. Please, be kind to each other, to our town, our university and Pres. Steger. Otherwise, you may as well blame Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 on them as well...events completely out of his or the University's control.

A University of Tampa student was killed on campus during a robbery on Wednesday morning. No immediate alerts, no lockdowns, no suspects. Maybe this killer could have let loose later in the day...or maybe he fled the scene. Statistics say its an armed robbery but it could be a psychopathic student intent on mass murder...the clock is ticking.

One question from this case sticks in my mind. What were Dave Metzler and Heidi Childs doing out at Caldwell Fields in the Jefferson National Forest at such a late hour during a school day? Were they possibly meeting someone "troubled", who had come to their attention through their church work, only to have said person ambush them? Did they go for a hike, only to see or discover something they shouldn't have and were subsequently hunted down by a paranoid drug crop grower? Were they doing what a young male and young female with hormones and attraction might be inclined to do in seclusion so as not to fall out of line with their church teachings? Some things to observe here - Dave was found sitting up in the car, the driver's side window glass was found shattered in the field, this suggests he was shot first and Heidi got out and tried to flee the scene. She didn't get far in the darkness and was shot too. There aren't any indications of any attempted abduction, rape or robbery thus far. It just seems very, very odd circumstances. My heart goes out to both victims and their families.

To Thinking (Aug 28) The Colonial Parkway killings were four sets of double murders that occurred from 1989 to 1991. The theory was that someone masquerading as a law enforcement officer was able to stop the vehicles of his victimand then did his deviant business. The other case you're thinking of around Charlottesville, that didn't happen along I-64. I believe you're referring to a murder and series of attempted abductions that occurred along US 29 to some women, who were pulled over by a man in a pickup truck who was indicating their vehicles was emitting smoke from underneath. One young lady, a grad student at UVA by the name of Alicia Showalter Reynolds hopped in the truck with the man after he disabled her car and she was never seen alive again, her remains found on a construction site months later. No one has ever been charged/convicted in the crimes.

Fred, some interesting points for sure. In response to those upset with critiques of VT alerts, I'm not blaming Steger or VTPD for what happened, nor am I suggesting that an alert was imperative. The alerts webpage states that it is for use in a campus emergency. In my opinion, you're responsible for your own safety anyway, and the whole alert system is a "nice-to-have" rather than a "need-to-have" thing, except, of course, when the university decides to lock down. The question is now that we have this alert system, are the criteria that we use for triggering it appropriate? Seems to me that in a town with little violent crime, a double homicide in an area that students frequent is worthy of, if not an alert, at least a heads-up from the police. Especially if no motive is found to make them suspect that this wasn't a random act. Not to mention, VT has property farther down 460 (the Horton Center and Mountain Lake Observatory, for instance). Granted, Steger did write a letter, but it was a condolence note, not a warning.

I sincerely hope that the people who were associated with Dave Metzler and Heidi Childs will be OPEN with investigators about ANYTHING they knew concerning their plans that fateful Wednesday. We need to find out what they were doing in such a remote location at night. Someone out there must know something. I'm not implying either victim was up to no good by any means, but their unusual timing of their trip suggests there was some purpose that perhaps could lead to solving this case.

This is so terribly sad. I have a question, a few posts have mentioned that the two students were in a remote part of the park late at night. I read that they were found in a car, I'm guessing the car was in a parking lot. I've read nothing about the time of death, only that they were found in the morning. If there is an article or news source that states this could you please provide a link? I totally agree with the poster hoping that all friends/associates give as much information as possible to the investigators so this murderer can be caught. I just read that there was a double homicide in Roanoke, hope they catch this monster very soon.

Investigators were asking the nearest neighbors (located several miles away) whether they heard anything Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. Being such a distance and several hillsides away, they wouldn't have. http://www.roanoke.com/columnists/casey/wb/217078 A rule of thumb says that a warm body that is flexible has been dead for less than three hours, is the body warm and stiff it has been dead for between 3 and 8 hrs, cold and stiff – dead for between 8 and 36 hrs, and finally cold and flexible dead for more than 36 hrs.

Just wanted to add that I mean no disrespect to the victims or their families. My sympathies are with them all. I suppose I assumed that it went without saying that this is a horrible tragedy and I am saddened by it, as I'm sure many other posters are. I suppose that's why the comments focus more on the particulars surrounding the incident. Please don't misinterpret the lack of explicit expressions of sympathy for lack of caring.

Fred, it's a camping area in a forest. The reason they were there could have been as simple as "hey, let's go to the camping area in the forest after dark." My point is that making any assumptions, one way or another, about their purpose there is unproductive.

Jason: These two individuals did not die due to exposure to the outdoors due to being in Caldwell Fields on a cold winter day. They went there under unexplained circumstances at night and were victims of capital murder, the most severe crime in the Code of Virginia, punishable by execution. In lieu of any apparent smoking gun or DNA evidence, it is important for the public to pressure investigators to backtrack on the itineraries of the two victims to try to determine - were they going to the park to MEET someone? Why did someone decide to MURDER them there, but not (apparently) take their wallets, their car or rape the female victim? I have dealt indirectly with a number of these crimes (in their aftermath) before and this one is rather unusual in that it is missing any of the common aggravating factors that occurs with such crimes.

"They went there under unexplained circumstances at night..." Where did you get this information, that they went there at night? Maybe they went there in the afternoon after classes for a hike? "...it is missing any of the common aggravating factors that occurs with such crimes." Really? Obviously there are details which have not been released. As far as the deceased body temps where has that been reported? Everyone wants to know what happened and why such a seemingly random act occurred, I wish the police department would be more forthcoming with the details but I think until they catch the person responsible they will, as in most cases, hold things back for the benefit of the investigation. I hope the cell phone records, computer files, credit card receipts, and probably traffic cameras/webcams are all being studied and whatever little evidence they can give out they will.

Fred, understood. My point is that it behooves us not to make any assumptions, that means one way or another. I didn't say not to find out what happened leading up to the incident; that's what any standard investigation would do. You just seem to be prematurely biased toward type of odd explanation, when perhaps there is a perfectly reasonable one.

The statement by Heidi Childs' father at her funeral today cleared it up for me. His daughter and her boyfriend David Metzler, were going out to Caldwell Fields that evening to have a campfire and contemplate her recent decision to switch to pre-med. Apparently, they never got the chance to build the fire, e.g. they were ambushed by person(s) unknown right there in the parking lot. My heart goes out to the victim survivors. I want to apologize if I got anyone riled up here discussing what "may" have happened. Such speculation, unfortunately, is a natural element in so many situations involving a grievous event and limited information. May God bless these two loyal and faithful servants who are now in his perpetual care. Fred