Here are the stories that accompany our discussion re: "Be Careful in College"!!
First is the UT student who went from national merit scholar finalist to drug dealer to convicted murderer.
Photo 1: UT on-campus apartment/crime scene
Photo 2: former National Merit Scholar finalist/convicted murderer Colin Pitonyak
Photo 3: Victim Jennifer Cave (far right), former UT student who was struggling with drugs and according to friends and family was finally turning her life around.
Police arrest UT student for West Campus murder
Pitonyak to return to Austin
Police arrest UT student for West Campus murder
Pitonyak to return to Austin
Media Credit: Shaun Stewart
Colton Pitonyak´s apartment door is sealed by Austin Police. Pitonyak, a finance junior, was arrested in Eagle Pass after he was delivered to U.S. Marshalls by Mexican authorities.
Pitonyak, Colton A.A UT student charged with murdering a young woman, dismembering her remains and fleeing to Mexico is in custody and will return to Austin.Colton Pitonyak, 22, was arrested for first-degree murder after he was found in a Mexican border town early Tuesday morning, ending a four-day manhunt.Pitonyak is charged with killing Jennifer Cave, 21, who was found dead last Thursday in Pitonyak's apartment at the Orange Tree Condominiums in West Campus. Austin police found Cave with a gunshot wound and multiple limbs dismembered. Pitonyak's bail has been set at $1 million, and his parents have hired Samuel E. Bassett, an Austin lawyer who represented Colton on a previous cocaine possession charge.Bassett said he had not yet spoken to Pitonyak, but said a colleague had visited him in Eagle Pass, where he has been held for two days. Pitonyak, a finance junior, fled to Mexico with a female "acquaintance," Laura Hall, in her Cadillac, U.S. Marshals say. Authorities tracked the Cadillac to a hotel in Piedras Negras, Mexico, just across the border from Eagle Pass."We didn't know whether she had gone to Mexico willingly or unwillingly, so we focused on finding that vehicle," said Hector Gomez, a deputy U.S. Marshal. Mexican authorities detained Pitonyak and Hall, and brought them to Eagle Pass for immigration violations at about 2 a.m. Tuesday. Hall was not arrested, Gomez said, and Pitonyak was still being held at the Maverick County Jail Wednesday night.Pitonyak served 20 days in jail this June for a cocaine charge, and his lawyer, David Hughes, said he spent a month in rehab in the fall. Crucial questions remained unanswered Wednesday night.No motive is clear, for instance, and several Orange Tree residents who live near Pitonyak said they did not hear gunfire or other noises in the early morning last Wednesday, when it appears Cave was killed.Pitonyak's neighbors say they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, no gunshot especially.West Campus has been filled with people moving in all week, and clearly minds are focused on the area's most brutal crime in recent memory. Orange Tree residents said they'd been following the crime since Friday, but most said they were not worried for their own safety.The Austin Police Department has been reassuring people that West Campus is safe; the crime was not stranger-on-victim.Still, details of the case seem to be straight out of a crime drama:Jennifer Cave told her mother, Sharon, Tuesday afternoon that she got a job at a law firm and was going to dinner with "Colton," according to an arrest affidavit.Michael Rodriguez, a friend of Cave's and a UT petroleum engineering junior, told police later that Cave called him at 1:35 a.m., early Wednesday morning. Cave told him Pitonyak had lost his cell phone and was angry, Rodriguez said.Cave said Pitonyak tried to break into what he thought was her car. Then, Cave told her friend, Pitonyak was "pissing on somebody's car." Cave told Rodriguez she was OK, according to the affidavit, and said she'd call him back.She never did.Later on Wednesday, the law firm that hired Jennifer called her mother, Sharon Cave, because Jennifer did not show up to work. Sharon Cave then called her daughter's roommate, who said Jennifer did not return home after going out with Pitonyak the night before. Sharon Cave filed a missing person's report with APD.The same day Sharon Cave learned her daughter was missing, police say Pitonyak used a hacksaw to sever some of Jennifer's limbs. Video surveillance shows Pitonyak bought a hacksaw and cleaning supplies at the Ace Hardware on West 29th Street, a few blocks from his apartment, according to the arrest affidavit.Investigators found an Ace Hardware receipt near Jennifer's body for a hacksaw, latex gloves, ammonia, Febreeze and other supplies.Pitonyak's cell phone records indicate he fled to Mexico Wednesday. A car registered to Pitonyak's parents was still at the apartment complex Thursday, the affidavit says, but APD later received a tip that he could be with the acquaintance. Officers also found Jennifer's car at the apartments.Sharon told police she was on the phone with Rodriguez, the last known person to talk to Jennifer, at about 8 p.m. Wednesday when she received another call.It was Pitonyak.He told her he and Jennifer had a fight and that he had not seen her daughter since midnight, the night before.When Sharon clicked back over, the affidavit says, Rodriguez told her that was impossible. He had talked to Jennifer an hour after midnight, and she was still with Pitonyak.An APD officer investigating the missing person's report knocked on Pitonyak's door Thursday, after finding that Cave had called him Tuesday night.Sharon and her boyfriend, Jim Sedwick, drove to the apartment complex themselves Thursday evening, after the officer told them she'd received no answer. Sedwick and Sharon Cave are both Corpus Christi residents.The two say they banged on the door repeatedly, with no answer, and Sedwick called APD.The responding officers told the mother and her boyfriend that there wasn't enough evidence for a forced entry and left. Sedwick broke into Pitonyak's apartment through the window.He smelled something awful and found Jennifer in the bathtub.The affidavit says Sedwick called APD a second time, saying he had seen a possible overdose.Detectives found a bloody hacksaw, machete and knife. The hacksaw was on Caves chest.APD found a fired shell under the body and a shell casing on a coffee table in the living room. The medical examiner later confirmed she'd been stabbed multiple times and shot.Officers also found packaging for a hacksaw in a bag with the Ace Hardware receipt, which contained the last four digits of Pitonyak's credit card number.The owner of the hardware store, Jeff Breed, told detectives Friday that Pitonyak asked him what type of hacksaw to buy. Breed told police that when he asked Pitonyak what he would use the hacksaw for, Pitonyak told him he needed to cut a turkey. A clerk at the store told police Pitonyak smelled like alcohol.
Colton Pitonyak´s apartment door is sealed by Austin Police. Pitonyak, a finance junior, was arrested in Eagle Pass after he was delivered to U.S. Marshalls by Mexican authorities.
Pitonyak, Colton A.A UT student charged with murdering a young woman, dismembering her remains and fleeing to Mexico is in custody and will return to Austin.Colton Pitonyak, 22, was arrested for first-degree murder after he was found in a Mexican border town early Tuesday morning, ending a four-day manhunt.Pitonyak is charged with killing Jennifer Cave, 21, who was found dead last Thursday in Pitonyak's apartment at the Orange Tree Condominiums in West Campus. Austin police found Cave with a gunshot wound and multiple limbs dismembered. Pitonyak's bail has been set at $1 million, and his parents have hired Samuel E. Bassett, an Austin lawyer who represented Colton on a previous cocaine possession charge.Bassett said he had not yet spoken to Pitonyak, but said a colleague had visited him in Eagle Pass, where he has been held for two days. Pitonyak, a finance junior, fled to Mexico with a female "acquaintance," Laura Hall, in her Cadillac, U.S. Marshals say. Authorities tracked the Cadillac to a hotel in Piedras Negras, Mexico, just across the border from Eagle Pass."We didn't know whether she had gone to Mexico willingly or unwillingly, so we focused on finding that vehicle," said Hector Gomez, a deputy U.S. Marshal. Mexican authorities detained Pitonyak and Hall, and brought them to Eagle Pass for immigration violations at about 2 a.m. Tuesday. Hall was not arrested, Gomez said, and Pitonyak was still being held at the Maverick County Jail Wednesday night.Pitonyak served 20 days in jail this June for a cocaine charge, and his lawyer, David Hughes, said he spent a month in rehab in the fall. Crucial questions remained unanswered Wednesday night.No motive is clear, for instance, and several Orange Tree residents who live near Pitonyak said they did not hear gunfire or other noises in the early morning last Wednesday, when it appears Cave was killed.Pitonyak's neighbors say they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, no gunshot especially.West Campus has been filled with people moving in all week, and clearly minds are focused on the area's most brutal crime in recent memory. Orange Tree residents said they'd been following the crime since Friday, but most said they were not worried for their own safety.The Austin Police Department has been reassuring people that West Campus is safe; the crime was not stranger-on-victim.Still, details of the case seem to be straight out of a crime drama:Jennifer Cave told her mother, Sharon, Tuesday afternoon that she got a job at a law firm and was going to dinner with "Colton," according to an arrest affidavit.Michael Rodriguez, a friend of Cave's and a UT petroleum engineering junior, told police later that Cave called him at 1:35 a.m., early Wednesday morning. Cave told him Pitonyak had lost his cell phone and was angry, Rodriguez said.Cave said Pitonyak tried to break into what he thought was her car. Then, Cave told her friend, Pitonyak was "pissing on somebody's car." Cave told Rodriguez she was OK, according to the affidavit, and said she'd call him back.She never did.Later on Wednesday, the law firm that hired Jennifer called her mother, Sharon Cave, because Jennifer did not show up to work. Sharon Cave then called her daughter's roommate, who said Jennifer did not return home after going out with Pitonyak the night before. Sharon Cave filed a missing person's report with APD.The same day Sharon Cave learned her daughter was missing, police say Pitonyak used a hacksaw to sever some of Jennifer's limbs. Video surveillance shows Pitonyak bought a hacksaw and cleaning supplies at the Ace Hardware on West 29th Street, a few blocks from his apartment, according to the arrest affidavit.Investigators found an Ace Hardware receipt near Jennifer's body for a hacksaw, latex gloves, ammonia, Febreeze and other supplies.Pitonyak's cell phone records indicate he fled to Mexico Wednesday. A car registered to Pitonyak's parents was still at the apartment complex Thursday, the affidavit says, but APD later received a tip that he could be with the acquaintance. Officers also found Jennifer's car at the apartments.Sharon told police she was on the phone with Rodriguez, the last known person to talk to Jennifer, at about 8 p.m. Wednesday when she received another call.It was Pitonyak.He told her he and Jennifer had a fight and that he had not seen her daughter since midnight, the night before.When Sharon clicked back over, the affidavit says, Rodriguez told her that was impossible. He had talked to Jennifer an hour after midnight, and she was still with Pitonyak.An APD officer investigating the missing person's report knocked on Pitonyak's door Thursday, after finding that Cave had called him Tuesday night.Sharon and her boyfriend, Jim Sedwick, drove to the apartment complex themselves Thursday evening, after the officer told them she'd received no answer. Sedwick and Sharon Cave are both Corpus Christi residents.The two say they banged on the door repeatedly, with no answer, and Sedwick called APD.The responding officers told the mother and her boyfriend that there wasn't enough evidence for a forced entry and left. Sedwick broke into Pitonyak's apartment through the window.He smelled something awful and found Jennifer in the bathtub.The affidavit says Sedwick called APD a second time, saying he had seen a possible overdose.Detectives found a bloody hacksaw, machete and knife. The hacksaw was on Caves chest.APD found a fired shell under the body and a shell casing on a coffee table in the living room. The medical examiner later confirmed she'd been stabbed multiple times and shot.Officers also found packaging for a hacksaw in a bag with the Ace Hardware receipt, which contained the last four digits of Pitonyak's credit card number.The owner of the hardware store, Jeff Breed, told detectives Friday that Pitonyak asked him what type of hacksaw to buy. Breed told police that when he asked Pitonyak what he would use the hacksaw for, Pitonyak told him he needed to cut a turkey. A clerk at the store told police Pitonyak smelled like alcohol.
posted by Prof. Latona at 9:32 AM
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