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Volume CXXXIII, Number 2 |
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Murder stuns Colby campus
JOHN W. CLAGHORN IV
ORIENT STAFF
The flag flies at half-mast 40 miles north of Brunswick, where Colby College mourns the death of Dawn Rossignol '04, whose body was discovered by local authorities yesterday morning after a search of the Waterville area.
Rossignol had been reported missing by her mother on Tuesday morning, having missed a doctor's appointment in Bangor, ME. A search party located her body at 10:24 a.m. on Wednesday, 300 yards from her 1993 Mercury Sable in Oakland, ME.
"We have concluded that this death is a homicide," said Lieutenant Tom Doyle of the Maine State Police at a press conference yesterday. Additional information about Rossignol's death was released at the conference, held at Oakland police headquarters.
After police found her car on a gravel sideway of Rice Rips road, the 21-year-old's body was found in the nearby Messalonskee stream. The area surrounding the Rice Rips Hydroplant where the body was found has been investigated thoroughly, with cadets of the MCJA having "comb[ed] the area," Doyle reported.
Due to the location of the body, the police have concluded that the homicide was a result of an abduction sometime between 7:20 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning. "She would have no reason to go to the area where her car or body was found on her own accord," said Doyle.
At this time, police are giving no further details. Doyle stated, "We are not going to talk about her cause of death or any of the details. We feel that those are things that are appropriate to be kept to us as we conduct this investigation." Authorities are still unsure of the identity of the assailant and whether that person was know to the victim. Doyle commented, "All things are open to us right now."
Rossignol's disappearance and the subsequent murder have lead to a multilateral effort by authorities-including Maine State Police, the Waterville Police Department, the Oakland Police Department, the Department of Public Safety, and the Maine Criminal Justice Academy-all of which are working together to bring closure to these unsettling events and reduce the unease that now permeates the campus.
"I know some people who are scared out of their minds," said Kaitlin McCafferty '04, Editor-in-Chief of the Colby Echo. Although this is not the case for the entire community, an apprehension and tangible heaviness fill the dining halls, the classrooms, and the dorms on the eve of these tragic events.
While the shock of the event has far from subsided on campus, people are attempting to return to normality. "Today, everyone tried to get on with their everyday lives," Susannah Magrane '04 said. "Because, what else can you do? I think it's a very personal thing: how you react to something so tragic. It really hits close to home."
Students' reactions are as varied as the students themselves. Some have taken the events in stride, merely taking slightly more notice of "sketchy" characters on the campus, while others have been more deeply affected, planning no trips to their parking lot anytime soon. "I think that this was a rude awakening for Colby," said McCafferty.
The Bowdoin "bubble" is not a far reach from that of our northern neighbors. To have such a barrier to the outside world destroyed makes the disheartening truth cut even deeper. "[The events] are really making an impact, because Waterville is not a scary town. No one locked their doors. And now everyone is locking their doors," said McCafferty.
The problem of safety in Waterville is compounded for students who live off-campus, where security personnel is not omnipresent as it is now on campus. While the College has stepped up campus security, students living in town or just off-campus are not benefiting from it, leaving one student to admit that they were "petrified to go to bed."
Back on the campus, however, security and police saturate the grounds. An armed police officer stationed outside the library augmented the new blanket of security on the campus. "Colby security has responded amazingly," said McCafferty.
Colby has 13 full-time and reserve security officers. Although slightly less than Bowdoin's force of 20 full- and part-time officers, the campus has always felt safe to Colby students. "I cannot think of any time when I've felt particularly unsafe," said Magrane.
In an ironic twist of fate, the Presidents' Council put forward a motion last year to install security cameras in the Hillside parking lot from which authorities believe Rossignol was abducted. However, at the time, it was deemed that the security budget lacked room for the project, and the cameras were never installed. Said Tim Lancaster '05 of Colby: "It takes something like this to happen to make you realize there might not be enough security."
Following the tragedy, the Colby community has united. President William D. Adams has been eating dinner with students in the College's dining halls. The various college deans can be seen around campus, Chaplin Phil Tracy is readily available, and professors are raising the issues surrounding this difficult time in class.
"Everyone has really come together on campus," McCafferty noted. On Wednesday evening, there was a gathering in Colby's Lorimer Chapel for students, faculty, and community members. It was a solemn get-together with President Adams, biology professor Russell Johnson, and Father Tracy speaking about Rossignol and her time in Waterville.
While the security is essentially omnipresent on campus, students and
faculty members anxiously await more news from authorities. For now, the
Colby community remebers one of their own and tries to move forward in
this difficult time.
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