(CN) – The family of a girl murdered by her boyfriend in a Millersville University dorm last year has sued the university and a fraternity that supplied booze to the couple the night of the killing.
Karlie Hall was found strangled in her dorm with her 19-year-old boyfriend, Gregorio Orrostieta, performing CPR on her. Both of them were covered in dried blood, according to police reports.
Orrostieta was found guilty of third-degree murder a year later.
In a lawsuit filed in the Eastern district of Pennsylvania, Karlie’s family says the school should have seen the incident coming since incidents had already occurred between the couple on campus.
According to the complaint, Karlie started school at Millersville University in 2014 and was dating Gregorio, who is not a student, within a month. On two separate occasions in that semester, Gregorio had to be escorted out of her dorm by the police. On the second occasion Karlie suffered a broken orbital bone and missed a week of class.
Karlie’s mother called the Millersville University Police and demanded information about her daughter’s domestic abuse. She found that there were no reports filed, and therefore no investigation occurred.
Millersville receives federal funding, and therefore can be held liable under Title IX for harassment or violence occurring on their watch.
In February 2015, Hall invited Orrostieta back to her dorm where he stayed for three days. They attended a party at the Acacia fraternity house where a verbal and physical altercation occurred after drinking.
The fraternity brothers, some of whom are listed as codefendants, then allowed the couple to leave. The fraternity is named for “providing a shelter for underage drinking.”
Back at the dorm, Hall refused to have sex with Orrostieta, leading to the altercation in which he took her life, says the complaint. A hallmate heard a cry for help at 2 a.m. and alerted a resident adviser, who knocked on Hall’s door. After getting no response, the adviser walked away.
“No further action was taken by Millersville University, university police, [the resident advisor], or any other person to save decedent Hall,” the parents say in their complaint. Police, however, arrived on the scene around 5 a.m. responding Orrostieta’s call reporting a cardiac arrest.
The complaint is particularly critical of the resident adviser, who was on the scene for the first two incidents. The family says she should have known something was going on the night of the murder and done more to stop it.
The family’s claims include deliberate indifference, due process violation, wrongful death, negligence and a survival action. They are represented by Brian D. Kent.
Neither Kent nor the Millersville University communications department returned requests for comment by press time.
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