The parents of a college freshman who was found dead on campus say they found out about her death on Facebook.
Jasmine Benjamin, a 17-year-old
nursing student at Valdosta State University from Lawrenceville, Ga.,
was found dead in a study area in her dorm on Nov. 18. According to CBS Atlanta, police are treating the death as a homicide, pending the results of an autopsy.
Jasmine's parents say the school did not inform them of her death, learning about it instead through a friend's Facebook post.
"For someone to be so insensitive
not to reach out to the family, it's very, very hurtful to say the
least," James Jackson, Jasmine's stepfather, told the network.
School officials say campus police notified Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department, which then notified her parents.
Jackson said police told him that
Jasmine "had been dead for at least 12 hours before she was found,
because passers-by thought she was simply sleeping on the study room
couch," adding to the family's frustration.
"That's the most disturbing
part," Jackson said. "What kind of school is this that they know
someone's laying on the couch to go check on them after a certain amount
of hours?"
The parents told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
late last week that they were initially told their daughter died of
natural causes. "To find out it was a homicide and that somebody
actually murdered our daughter changed everything," Jackson said. "It
was like hearing the news all over again."
In a statement released Monday,
the university said it is "continuing to work with law enforcement
agencies in their ongoing investigation."
By: Dylan Stableford
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