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Police Seek Search Warrant in Student Stabbing Death: Neighboring Students Still in Shock Over Weekend Incident

Posted on: Thursday, 16 February 2006, 09:01 CST

By Eric Slagle, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.

Feb. 16--Morgantown Police plan to apply for a search warrant as part of their investigation into the stabbing death of 21-year-old WVU student Ryan Robert Johnston of Washington, Pa. Morgantown Police Sgt. H.W. Sperringer would not discuss how or when police intended to use the warrant. The stabbing occurred early Sunday morning on the porch of an apartment house at 131 Beechurst Ave. On Wednesday, a white ribbon and three yellow flowers were on the porch of the apartment house. On the ribbon, someone had written "RIP RJ â€"â€" We'll Miss You!" Attempts to find anyone at home at the multi-unit dwelling were unsuccessful. Sperringer said investigators are still waiting to receive findings from an autopsy on Johnston by the state medical examiner's office in Charleston. He said police would like to have those findings by the end of the week, but there was no guarantee police would have them that soon. Police said the stabbing took place after two groups of young adults encountered each other in front of the apartment house and began arguing. Johnston's group was walking past the house when the argument ensued. The other group was already at the house. The argument escalated into a fistfight involving members of both groups, police said, and the fistfight ended with Johnston being stabbed one time in the upper abdomen. Johnston was transported to Ruby Memorial Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Police investigators said earlier this week that they'd interviewed 10 to 12 college-age individuals involved with events leading up to the stabbing and that they had identified some "people of interest." Students at WVU say the university is still in shock over Johnston's death. "I live on Beechurst too, so it's like, 'Oh my god, it happened on my street,' " said graduate student Amrita Rajkhowa. "It's scary." Rajkhowa, an international student from India, said she would not want her parents to hear about the news of the stabbing because they would worry about her safety, an issue the graduate student has begun to worry about herself. "Is it safe to walk on my street late at night?" she asked. WVU student Naomi Tauger, who lives two blocks away from the scene of the stabbing, said news of the incident surprised her, but she viewed it as an out-of-the-ordinary occurrence and was not letting it affect her daily routine. "It seems like something that happened out of the blue," Tauger said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.

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Source: The Dominion Post (Morgantown, W.Va.)

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