Student death a homicide
Police believe Colby senior abducted on campus
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
OAKLAND — Colby College senior Dawn M. Rossignol was murdered and probably abducted from a campus parking lot by her killer, investigators said Thursday.
District Game Warden Brian Tripp and his dog, Marley, search for evidence in the death of Colby College senior Dawn Rossignol along Rice Rips Road in Oakland on Thursday. Rossignol¹s body was found Wednesday near the road in the background. click to enlarge
Police ruled Rossignol's death a homicide after an autopsy was conducted at midday on the body of the 21-year-old Medway woman. The manner of her death was not released.
"We're operating under the theory that Dawn was abducted shortly after leaving her Colby College dorm room around 7:20 a.m. on Tuesday," Lt. Timothy Doyle of the Maine State Police said. "Something happened between that time and 9 a.m."
The body of the slain woman was discovered Wednesday morning about 300 yards from her 1993 Mercury Sable. The car was parked on a dirt access road leading to a small hydropower facility on Messalonskee Stream on the north side of Rice Rips Road. The wooded area is less than a mile from the college.
Police had been searching for Rossignol since Tuesday, when her mother reported she had failed to show up for a 9 a.m. doctor's appointment in Bangor.
The hunt for clues to her murder intensified Thursday as about 100 police, game wardens, and cadets from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy fanned out across a large area surrounding the crime scene.
Trained tracking and search dogs were brought in to sniff along roadsides and the banks of the stream, and a helicopter combed the area from the air.
The search appeared to be focused north of Rice Rips Road, but investigators would not say what, specifically, they were looking for in the area.
One officer said late Thursday that searchers had recovered "several pieces of important evidence" but would not elaborate.
A warden who participated in the search described the terrain as rugged and hostile, and added searchers spent most of the day probing the bushes and marshy areas working off a map dividing the area into grids.
Doyle said police believe Rossignol left her room in the Anthony Mitchell Schupf dormitory about 7:20 a.m. and went directly to her car in a nearby parking lot.
They suspect the killer abducted her there, since it is unlikely she would have traveled by way of Rice Rips Road to Bangor, when the more direct route would have led her along Washington Street and Kennedy Memorial Drive to Interstate 95, Doyle said.
"She would have no reason to go to the area her car or body was found of her own accord," Doyle said.
Rossignol's car was apparently spotted by at least one witness on the access road around 9 a.m. Tuesday. Police are seeking anyone who may have seen anything unusual around that time on Rice Rips Road, or around 7:20 a.m. in Colby's parking lots near Rossignol's dormitory.
The car was taken to the state police crime lab in Augusta on Wednesday evening, and forensic specialists there are probing it for clues, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for Maine's Department of Public Safety.
Police meanwhile restricted access to a large area north of Rice Rips Road and south of County Road, stationing academy cadets and officers around the perimeter to keep the public and media out.
Cadets were equipped with notepads, and appeared to be writing down information about passing cars, but said they had not been told details of the investigation.
"You probably know as much as I do," one cadet said.
Police have so far refused to discuss details of the case, including whether they have a suspect in the murder, in what condition Rossignol's body was found, or whether clues to what prompted her killing have been uncovered.
Police said they are concerned about the possibility of the killer remaining a threat.
"We are concerned," Doyle said.
Colby College students and faculty were shocked by Rossignol's death, and continued to mourn the slain student Thursday. The mood on campus was clearly somber and somewhat tense due to the lack of an arrest in the case.
Colby President William D. "Bro" Adams said in a brief press conference late Thursday that security at the college has been stepped up in the wake of the homicide, and students are being advised to follow basic safety rules when moving about the campus.
He said he met with Rossignol's parents Wednesday, and expressed deep sadness at their loss.
"It was a very difficult meeting," Adams said. "Our hearts go out to them in every possible way."
Rossignol was by all accounts a model student at Colby, and was valedictorian of the Class of 2000 at Schenck High School in East Millinocket.
She made the Dean's list at Colby, worked for the college's dining services, and was a biology major.
Jonathan Humphrey — 861-9252
jhumphrey@centralmaine.com