LISTEN: How the University of Utah failed McCluskey

Apr. 1—Pullman High School graduate and former University of Utah track standout Lauren McCluskey didn't deserve to have her story end the way it did.

McCluskey was murdered on Oct. 22, 2018, by a man she briefly dated. Her situation could've been prevented and could be summed up as a series of fumblings and mishandlings by the University of Utah and the justice system.

ESPN released a 90-minute documentary titled 'LISTEN' telling McCluskey's story, which debuted on March 26.

The documentary includes never before seen footage and interviews with those connected to the case, including family members and more. The doc is hosted by ESPN journalists TJ Quinn and Nicole Noren.

Here is what we learned during the 90 minutes:

The first meeting

It was revealed within the first 10 minutes of the documentary that McCluskey first met Marvin Rowland, whom she knew at the time as Sean Fields, at a bar where he worked as a bouncer. He was physical almost right away, immediately putting his hands on her shoulders when they met. From there, the two made plans to go on a date the next day.

The pair's relationship started off as any does in the early stages, with Rowland buying her flowers and asking her to be his girlfriend. It didn't take long before things started to take a turn.

McCluskey's friend Alex told her that Rowland said McCluskey could invite some friends over. The phrasing was one of the first red flags anyone noticed from Rowland. From there, the red flags began to appear more often.

Continued red flags

As the doc continued, friends referenced more red flags Rowland had demonstrated during the short relationship.

Such as when he gave McCluskey pepper spray. Rowland said she needed it for when she'd go around town.

After that, he invited McCluskey to go shooting. He also began to push her to get a gun. This is when McCluskey's friends first contacted the University of Utah police about their concerns about the month-old relationship.

Diamond Jackson, McCluskey's housing advisor, and friend took her concerns via email to her immediate supervisor, who was new to the position. She didn't want to take the wrong steps and showed very little to no urgency.

A couple of days later, McCluskey made a discovery, Rowland's I.D. She was shocked to see that the name on his I.D. didn't say Sean Fields, but instead, Melvin Rowland. Not only was the name different, but so was the age. He was 37, not 28.

When McCluskey went back home to Pullman for fall break, they looked his name up and found a picture that resembled Rowland on a sex offenders list. It was Rowland. He had been convicted of two sex crimes in 2004.

Later on in the documentary, it is learned that Rowland was sentenced to one to fifteen years in prison on charges of trying to entice a minor on the internet and attempting forcible sexual abuse.

Breakup

Once she found out this information, McCluskey planned on breaking up with Rowland once she returned to campus.

When she came back, she wasn't able to escape the relationship. Rowland denied the claims, saying that he was at a frat party and she lied about her age.

Even worse, Rowland had McCluskey's car. This worried her mother, Jill McCluskey, so she called the university's police.

The police were present in the parking lot as Rowland dropped off the car.

New information/final day

One of the most bone-chilling videos of the documentary came 10 days after Rowland and McCluskey broke up.

Rowland was seen walking through the University of Utah's parking lot, outside of McCluskey's dorm building, dressed up as the comic book character Deadpool.

At this point in the film, it was learned that Rowland knew about McCluskey's contact with the police. She had logged into her email on Rowland's phone when they were together.

With the lack of help McCluskey was receiving from the campus police, she reached out to the Salt Lake City Police. She expressed concerns about Rowland contacting her, saying that he knows everything about the police, and she doesn't know anything. She feared that there might be an insider who was letting him know about the case. SLC police told her to call the campus police again.

It was two weeks later when McCluskey finally talked to a detective. She had called the police 15 times in two weeks.

12 days later, Rowland traveled to campus at 6:22 a.m. in a silver Buick Lancer that he borrowed from his neighbor.

On the same day, she got a text from a number claiming to be Deputy Chief McLenon with the University of Utah Police. The message urged McCluskey to come down to the police station. But she noticed the text had several grammatical errors that put her on edge.

She reported the information to the police, and they said that it wasn't the chief's number and to ignore it, that was it.

On the same day, Rowland was let in and out of McCluskey's locked dorm building multiple times. He left McCluskey's dorm building at 8:10 p.m., the same time she was leaving her night class.

On the way home from class, McCluskey was talking to her mother. McCluskey's father, Matt, recalled hearing the phone conversation as Lauren was on speakerphone. The conversation was lively, and suddenly, he heard Lauren let out the words no, no, no.." which were followed by her phone dropping and the noise of her being dragged away. Matt immediately called 911.

The police responded immediately, for the first time. As the police were investigating, they found shell casings.

Utah issued a shelter-in-place alert at 9:56 p.m., which was soon followed by a suspect description at 10:10 p.m.

Minutes later, police found McCluskey bleeding from the mouth and ear inside the Buick Lancer.

Rowland forced McCluskey into the backseat of his neighbor's car and shot her seven times.

The information about how Rowland kidnapped McCluskey was released, but not the surveillance video for obvious reasons. She approached the west entrance to her dorm building. She stood several feet from where the card reader is located, while Rowland's feet can be seen standing several feet behind her. After approximately 25 seconds, Rowland steps toward McCluskey and grabs her. At 8:18, he can be seen carrying her away from the door.

Within minutes of the murder, Rowland was picked up by another woman, whom he had arranged a date with on a dating app. That same woman he went out with, contacted the police that night.

She had heard that he might've been picked up in a silver Sonta, which was the description of her car, but the name of the guy wasn't the same, or the age.

Around 2 a.m., Rowland was caught in a foot pursuit after he made a forced entry into a local church. While in the church, Rowland shot himself, leaving him deceased at the scene.

Pixley may be contacted at (208) 848-2290, tpixley@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @TreebTalks.