Parolee Charged In Death UIC Student Ruth George

CHICAGO — First-degree murder and sexual assault charges have been filed after a 19-year-old University of Illinois at Chicago who was reported missing was found strangled in her vehicle in a campus parking garage. On Monday, UIC police announced that 26-year-old Donald Thurman, who lives near the campus, has been charged in her death.

Ruth George's family reportedly contacted police early Saturday morning after not hearing from her.

Investigators traced her phone to a campus garage and found her body in the back seat of her vehicle, according to ABC Chicago. An autopsy revealed George had been strangled.

Police told WGN that surveillance video showed George walk into the parking garage alone around 1:35 a.m. Saturday. A man who was not affiliated with UIC entered the garage just after she did.

Police said Thurman was taken into custody around 2 a.m. Sunday near the Blue Line and confessed to George's murder, according to WGN.

George was a Naperville Central graduate and an honors student majoring in kinesiology, ABC reported.

Thurman has a criminal record and was recently paroled after serving part of a six-year sentence for a 2016 armed robbery. Illinois Department of Corrections records indicate Thurman was released Dec. 28, 2018. His parole was scheduled to end in 2021.