Texas Student Identified as Victim in Homicide Investigation

A woman found dead on a college campus in Austin, Texas on Tuesday was identified Thursday as University of Texas at Austin student Haruka Weiser.

Police are are investigating the 18-year-old freshman’s death as a homicide and have asked for help identifying a person of interest in video footage taken near the place where her body was found, the Austin Statesman reported.

Weiser, a dance major, was interested in a career in medicine and had plans to visit family in Japan this summer, according to a statement released by her family on Thursday.

“Although Haruka loved to perform on stage she never sought the spotlight in her daily life. Perhaps the last thing she would want it to be the poster child for any cause,” her family said in the statement. “And yet, as we struggle to understand why she was killed, if her death can somehow make it safer for a young woman to walk home, if it will prevent another assault or murder, then at least we could find some meaning behind an otherwise senseless and tragic death.”

Weiser was last seen leaving a building on campus on Sunday night. Campus police learned she was missing on Monday morning, when a roommate reported she hadn’t arrived home, according to the Statesman.