How 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 mishandlings by the University of Utah and the justice system.

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

The documentary includes never before seen footage and interviews with those connected to the case, including family members. The doc is hosted by ESPNs 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 that McCluskey first met Melvin 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 many do in the early stages, with Rowland buying her flowers and asking her to be his girlfriend. But it didn't take long before things started to turn.

A female friend of McCluskey's, Alex (no last name was given) 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 often.

Continued red flags

Friends referenced more red flags Rowland had demonstrated during their short relationship.

One was when he gave McCluskey some pepper spray. Rowland said she would need it for when she'd go around town.

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

Diamond Jackson, McCluskey's housing adviser, and a friend emailed their concerns to Jackson's immediate supervisor, who was new to the position. The supervisor didn't want to take the wrong steps and showed little to no urgency about the matter.

A couple of days later, McCluskey discovered Rowland's identification. 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 home to Pullman for fall break, the family looked his name up and found a picture that resembled Rowland on a sex offenders list. It indeed was Rowland. Apparently, he had been convicted of two sex crimes in 2004.

Rowland was sentenced to one to 15 years in prison on charges of trying to entice a minor on the internet and attempting forcible sexual abuse.

Breakup

Once she found out, McCluskey planned on breaking up with Rowland when she returned to Salt Lake City.

However, she wasn't able to escape the relationship upon returning. Rowland denied the claims, saying he was at a frat party and she lied about her age.

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

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

New information/final day

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

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

At this point, 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 campus police, she reached out to Salt Lake City Police. She expressed concerns about Rowland contacting her. McCluskey feared that there might be an insider who was letting Rowland know what was going on with 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 that span.

On the day of the murder, Rowland traveled to campus at 6:22 a.m. in a silver Buick Lancer he borrowed from his neighbor.

She got a text from a number claiming to be Deputy Chief McLenon of the campus 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.

The same day, Rowland was let in and out of McCluskey's locked dorm building multiple times. He left McCluskey's dorm building for the final time 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 conversation with Lauren on speaker. 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 McCluskey immediately called 911.

Police responded, 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 Lauren McCluskey bleeding from the mouth and ear inside the 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. She approached the west entrance to her dorm building. She stood several feet from where the card reader was located, while Rowland's feet can be seen standing several feet behind her. After approximately 25 seconds, Rowland stepped toward McCluskey and grabbed her. At 8:18 p.m., 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 contacted the police later that night.

She had heard 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.