UW student killed, police still searching for suspect 13%
By Anna Boiko-Weyrauch0% Katie Campbell0%
5/13/2026, 12:24:46 AM
Topics: Crime
BS Summary: This article contains 21 faulty reasoning types, including Anecdotal, Anchoring Bias, and Framing Effect, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 22.7% saturation with 123 hits. Analysis detected 973 faulty-reasoning hits from 542 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 29.7% and a BS Rank of 13% (14,697 of 16,813 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 87.40% of the article peer group.
Updated, Tuesday, May 12 at 5:20 p.m.: Vigil plans are underway to mourn the recent murder of a University of Washington student in off-campus housing.
The identity of the 19-year-old was not public as of Tuesday evening.
The Seattle Police Department is still looking for a suspect in the murder, which was reported Sunday night.
Officials believe the suspect is a man between the ages of 25 and 30 with black hair and a beard.
He was described as having a slim build and about five and a half feet tall.
He was wearing a button-up shirt under a dark blue vest and blue jeans.
SPD is asking anyone with information to call the violent crimes tip line at 206-233-5000.
The victim was reportedly a 19-year-old transgender woman who was in a laundry room at the Nordheim Court off-campus apartments when they were attacked.
Residents of Nordheim Court said the door to the laundry room where the student was found had been broken for months.
According to UW spokesperson Victor Balta, Nordheim Court is part of a public-private partnership system and is managed by a company called Greystar.
Greystar manages the facility and all maintenance requests associated within the community.
The company did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
In a statement, SPD said the circumstances leading up to the murder are still under investigation.
Still, UW President Robert Jones called attention to acts of violence against "a member of our LGBTQIA+ community."
"While investigators have not yet identified a suspect or a motive, I want to recognize that when violence affects a member of our LGBTQIA+ community, it can cause additional distress," Jones wrote in a statement Monday evening.
"Our Division of Student Life is reaching out to students and communities who are affected and providing support and resources to help them through this very difficult ordeal."
On campus Tuesday, first-year nursing student Tihitna Behonegne said her friends are scared to walk around at night now.
"We’ve all collectively decided that we're just not going to leave our dorm at night anymore until this whole situation is resolved," she said.
Like many students, she wants more information, like how police are responding, how the university is working to keep students safe, and more specific information about the suspect, apart from the description police have already shared.
Student Samantha Morales said she’s feeling anxious, too, and wants a more visible police presence on campus.
"Being from out of state, the campus should be my central safety zone, my central community," she said, "and right now, it’s not feeling like that."
First-year computer science student Nick Silveira said dorm security should be better.
"I've personally seen, at least twice, people being escorted out of my dorm hall by security who shouldn’t be in there," Silveira said.
In a statement, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson said her office is working with UW and the UW Q Center "to provide support to the communities who surrounded this young trans woman."
"Every young person deserves not just to feel, but to be safe, supported, and surrounded by a community that believes in them and in their future," Wilson wrote.
This is a developing story.
Check back for updates.
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.