20/20 - Death in the Dorms Season 1: Episode 1: Andrea DelVesco

Episode Date: October 1, 2024

When UCLA student Andrea DelVesco’s body is found in the ashes of her apartment, the police must break through a web of lies to catch a killer. Originally Aired 1/5/23 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Deborah Roberts, co-anchor of 2020. We're bringing another true crime series from ABC News Studios into your feed. This one's called Death in the Dorms. It tells the stories of college students whose lives were tragically cut short and the investigation surrounding their untimely deaths. In episode one, we'll hear about Andrea Delvesco, a student at UCLA and a sorority member whose body is found in the ashes of her apartment, brutally murdered. Westwood is the perfect college town.

Back now to that breaking news in Westwood. It's the type of place where you can walk home by yourself late at night. And you feel comfortable. While it's wonderful to think that you can leave your doors unlocked, don't. I woke up because I heard somebody screaming. Fire department, operator 84, the address of the emergency. That's 10954, oh my God.

The whole apartment is on fire. We need an ambulance. It's a visual you don't forget. Andy, the guy that you saw run out of there, what direction did you see him running? He ran to the right. We found an adult female in the fire. I was just really scared.

This was an intentional fire. This was a violent death. We just couldn't believe that someone would have done this to her on purpose. You got a conscience. Got us there. OK. Detectives have two different stories,

so who's telling the truth? This can't be happening. We are or were a family of five. Alexis was almost four years younger than Andrea. Whatever Andrea was doing, Alexis always wanted to be with Andrea. She had like this cool essence about her that seemed to like draw people in. Andrea had a huge sense of adventure. She loved to go on hikes, loved going for bike rides. She loved to go long boarding at like 3 a.m.

Losing her, I mean, it makes me like shake. When Andrea was in high school, she loved learning. She was always reading, going to museums to learn about art, and loved to learn about people by going out in the world. She was interested in studying psychology. I thought that is like a perfect career for you. You're a natural at it. When Andrea was applying to colleges, my top choice for her was University of Chicago just because her brother was going to be there and I felt they would always look out after each other. out after each other. After she got all her applications in, one of her last acceptances was from UCLA.

She said, Mom, I chose UCLA. It will be a big change for me. So I said, okay. And then I gave her a hug and I went out to my car. And I burst out into tears and I was sobbing. I don't know why, but I was just so sad. You know, I don't know if it was some sort of premonition or what. Who knows?

After we had moved Andrea into her dorm, we were saying our final goodbyes. I looked at her and I said, Honey, you know, this is like your opportunity to grow and to be whoever you want to be. The best part of UCLA for me was the connections and like the familiarity of making some of my best friends. And I don't know them but the people say the same. I feed them but they say my fire crushes me.

I don't know how I'm gonna feel it. Silver mage and all my age will melt away UCLA was a dream school for me. Move-in day at UCLA felt like freedom. It really is the iconic college campus that you can't believe you're walking to class every day and you belong there. Westwood is also a perfect college town. It's beautiful, it feels safe, it feels small.

A lot of great things to do. It's the type of place where you can walk home by yourself late at night and you feel comfortable. I think we all felt really safe in Westwood. I think we all felt really safe in Westwood. I met Andy at our sorority bed night the first week of school. Her sense of humor was outrageous and over-the-top, very wild. When I met her, we had an instant connection. She had the craziest sense of style. She was the person that would show up in a tie-dye t-shirt, mismatched socks, and just

all of these bright colors. Don't feel like myself, thank God. Mistake me for someone else, thank God. Shea Panda was Andy's beloved dog. When she rescued Shea, that was something that gave her purpose. dog. When she rescued Shay, that was something that gave her purpose. I remember when Andy got Shay Panda and she posted the picture of Shay Panda and she was like, we have a new slut pup in the apartment. And we just like, like the dog was one of our friends. Senior year, Andy and I were just so excited. We were planning to find the spot by the beach that we could have. Andy had a lot of goals.

I think number one was the traveling. Andy just wanted to help people. We thought she was going to join the Peace Corps. Andy was a firm believer in that you have to be uncomfortable to really grow and you have to put yourself in situations that force you to grow and develop as a person and she was not afraid of that. One word I think of when I think of her is fearless and she truly was. Senior year, Andy moved into the senior apartment with Jessica and some other girls from another sorority.

And they were really happy living together until the night before school started. So Sunday night we had a couple of our sorority sisters come over to help us. We were working on something for Sorority Rush. I was stopping by quickly to pick up something. It was going to be recruitment, and we had a skit, and they had some of the props for the skit. I didn't really even talk to her. It was just a quick, like, hey, hey guys, see you tomorrow.

And I obviously had no idea that would be the last time I saw her. I ended up staying up until 3.30 in the morning. So I went to bed and I always slept with two fans on. It was noisy outside. I woke up to my roommate banging on my door and screaming. I opened my door and screaming. I opened my door, and I saw the fire. I ran to Andy's bedroom,

and my roommate opened the door. Me and my roommate were screaming and screaming her name over and over again. And a part of me didn't want to believe that she was in there but I knew she was. The girls were running out of the complex and I had all these thoughts running through my mind like how can I get her out but the fire was overwhelming. It's a visual you don't forget. Nothing can prepare hair for recruitment. One of the girls across the hall from me said, I heard there's a fire at senior apartments. And I tried to stay calm. I was like, I'm sure someone left their straightener on. They probably put it out with a towel. It's probably no big deal.

My name is Victor Avila. I'm a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles County. Firefighters enter Andrea DelVesco's apartment, and they're making attempts to extinguish the fire. The fire department told us to go on the sidewalk, so we did. I had no idea why this was happening I did not want to believe that she was in there On I Was Prey, the podcast To be continued... water, and how a hiker in Alaska survives a 1,000-pound moose attack after the animal crushes her limbs. I Was Prey features audio from hit shows like This Came Out of Me, Nature's Deadliest, and Still Alive, and Monsters Inside Me.

Listen to I Was Prey wherever you get your podcasts. Once the fire is out, firefighters were able to see the body of a young woman who was on the bed. Her body was charred. Based on the condition of the body, it was difficult to do an identification. It was almost unrecognizable. They also noticed that there was a dog. The dog had belabored breathing. He was burnt. They immediately took the dog and rendered first aid.

It is obvious that Andrea is missing. That is her room. At this point, detectives believe that is Andrea Del Vesco. One of the girls across the hall from me said someone was found dead at senior apartments. Everyone is accounted for except for Andy. I didn't know what to do. I felt frozen. Within about two hours, arson experts

are of the opinion that this is an intentional fire that was set by someone placing the trash can on the bed and igniting the debris within that trash can. So this now becomes a homicide investigation. To determine the cause of death, the coroner will take the body back to the coroner's office and conduct a full autopsy. In 2015, I was starting my junior year at UCLA.

I was an assistant news editor at the Daily Bruin. That morning, I was walking to the gym on Gailey Avenue, and there's just this swarm of police activity. Police said that they found a student's body. It made my stomach drop because I wasn't just a reporter coming from the outside, like this is my community, this is my neighborhood, this happened around the corner from my apartment. I was definitely very young in my career and very shy. This is the first time I had to approach people in crisis.

One of the first things we learn is that there is a 911 call made early that morning. And that's a 911 call made by Sarah Muir. Sir, 101, take two. Mark. My name is Sarah, and I am a fellow sorority sister of Andrea Del Vasco. I am a fellow sorority sister of Andrea DelVesco.

One of the first times that I met Andy was kind of like a themed fraternity party. And everyone's dressing all these cute, tight outfits, right? And Andy comes in this one that's this huge skirt. And that was just her personality in general like she just always wanted to have a good time wanted everyone else to have a good time an unidentified female student fire department responded to a 9-1-1 call investigators determined it was arson

determined it was arson. That weekend, I turned 21. My boyfriend came down to visit me, and he was leaving for the airport that Monday, September 21st. So we get up, and I think it's like 5.30 in the morning. Taken to the airport, come back to go to my apartment. I had work in the morning, so I set my alarm and went back to sleep for an hour. And then I woke up because I heard somebody screaming.

And I heard a dog barking. Andy has a dog, and she lives below me. I don't know if it's her. Because Shay never barked. Like, I had never heard her bark a single time. The dog was just going absolutely crazy. I called Andy's phone a couple times. She didn't answer. And I immediately just dialed 911.

Just a couple minutes ago, And I immediately just dialed 911. We have officers on the way. Let me know when you hear the sirens, okay? Okay. So I kind of just stood on my balcony, just freaking out, you know, wondering if everything was going to be okay. I just had this terrible feeling. At about 6.23 a.m., police officers arrived at Sarah Muir's apartment complex. They made contact with her, then went into the courtyard and began to look at the various apartments, including Andrea Del Vesco's. I saw them shining, like, flashlights in a couple windows.

They did not notice any damage or any signs of breaking and entering. They could not hear anything, did not see anything. And given what they had, they didn't feel at the time that it was necessary for them to knock on any doors. And so at that point, they left the location. After the police left, like, I didn't feel any better. Just left me, like, anxious and thinking, like, well, what am I gonna do now? My other roommate comes out and is getting a glass of water.

And I tell her that I'm, you know, kind of freaking out, just sitting here kind of spiraling by myself, wondering what's going on, you know, like... She kind of was just, you know, trying to make me feel better. I think it's fine. You know, it's probably okay if the police came, and then that was right when she was walking back into her room that I hear this loud...

coming from downstairs. So I run to my balcony and then saw Andy's room on fire. And then this guy running out of Andy's room and he's like got like a blanket over himself. And I don't know why, I guess I just chased after him. I ran out to the street and saw this red car driving away from across the street.

What she was able to pick up at that moment were some Greek letters in the rear window of that red vehicle. And because she's part of a sorority, she's able to recognize those Greek letters as part of a fraternity, the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Then all the other girls started to wake up because the fire alarms were going off. And then everyone's like, where's Andy? Police interviewed members of fraternity houses,

but nobody seemed to recognize the red car. that nobody seemed to recognize the red car.. We went to the police station where they questioned us separately. It was one after the other. Detectives are trying to find out what were the roommates and what was Andrea doing the night before leading up to this incident. And what they get from the roommates is that the night before, it was rush week, all the roommates were together.

They were having wine, drinks, out in a balcony that faces Roebling Avenue. Later, they went inside Andrea Del Vesco's apartment, and they stayed late into the early morning working on this up until about 3 a.m. So the next step is, who may have committed this crime? Did Andrea have anyone that did not like her? And the answer was no. She didn't have any enemies. Everyone loved her.

She did not have a boyfriend at the time, so we thought, could it have been a Tinder date gone wrong? Could it have been? What would have happened here? Just like thinking about the fear she must have gone through and I was just really scared. And I don't think I had, I didn't believe it yet even. Greek life is such a tight-knit community, so when something as big as this happens, news spreads really fast. It was a beautiful sunny day in September and my husband and I woke up,

fixed Alexis breakfast, she went to school. I was sitting in my math class. All of a sudden my phone started ringing. It was my sister's best friend. And when I got on the phone with her, she was like, do you know? I immediately called Andrea's friend and I said, what's going on? And she said there was a fire at her apartment. And everybody made it out, but not Andy. Every fiber of my being wanted to believe that Andrea is OK and that they were mistaken. The police spoke to my husband, and they said, we can't tell you anything until you come to L.A.

By the time we got on the plane, we still hadn't heard, and I just remember just praying the whole time, please let her be alive. This can't be happening. Sometime around 9 PM, police officers that are still securing the crime scene out on Roebling Avenue are approached by two individuals that attend UCLA, who live right across the street from Andrea Del Vesco's apartment complex.

And they tell the officer that their apartment had been burglarized earlier that morning. So this was the same morning as the murder at around the time when Sarah Muir had reported an individual out in front of her apartment. So this burglary could be connected to the murder of Andrea Del Vesco. had reported an individual out in front of her apartment. So this burglary could be connected to the murder of Andrea Del Vesco. The items stolen from their apartment included laptops and Sonos speakers, which you'd have to register online in order to use.

LAPD officer Hunt contacts the Sono Speakers Company and asks them for any IP information or any information related to the stolen Sono Speakers. So in case someone tries to use them with a new email address, he would like them to report back to him if possible. He would like them to report back to him if possible. We arrived at LAX. I think it was like midnight or 1 o'clock in the morning. The chief of the LAPD said a crime was committed.

At this point, I knew she was dead, but part of me didn't want to accept it. Until I had seen her. I said, well, I would like to see my daughter. I just wanted to hold her one last time. And they said, well, we cannot allow that until the autopsy has been completed. As we're in the car, on the way to the hotel, two of Andrea's friends text us. They said, your daughter's dog is in distressed condition. We arrived at the animal hospital and we saw Shay Panda. She was in kind of like a glass crate. The doctor came over and he said, she is suffering.

We all agreed that it was better if we just let Shay Panda go to join Andrea. if we just let Shay Panda go to join Andrea. Alexis had Shay Panda in her lap. The doctor gave her a shot to put her to sleep. We said goodbye to Shay Panda and said to kiss Andrea for us. And then it hit me, if Andrea was involved in that same fire, what her body must have looked like and I thought this is just the worst thing that we have ever experienced. At the autopsy, the deputy medical examiner noticed when they looked at Andrea's body,

Andrea was wearing what appeared to be a sports bra, but did not have any bottom underwear. They noticed multiple stab wounds. The stab wounds are throughout her body, front, back. This was a violent death. The victim had been stabbed 19 times throughout her body. And there are two stab wounds cutting each side of her neck. Those are lethal injuries because those are to her carotid arteries. Those are the arteries that send blood and oxygen to the brain.

If those are cut, according to the deputy medical examiner, someone would die within minutes. It's the deputy medical examiner's opinion that the cause of death is multiple stab wounds to Andrea's body. They did not find any smoke in her lungs or any other airways. And from that, you can infer that she had already died at the time of the fire. At this point, LAPD detectives believe the killer tried to cover up his crime by setting her and her room on fire. Andrea Del Vesco was a 21-year-old fourth-year student at UCLA. She was originally from Austin, Texas.

She was found after firefighters put out flames in her... At that point, I had spoken with police a few times. And I just wanted to know what had happened and who would do this. Representatives at the school tell us they are saddened and shocked by what happened. I think the circumstances of her death were so out of the ordinary that there was a sense that, you know, there had to be some connection. Like, maybe she knew the killer. We just learned that four days after she was killed,

Delvesco was scheduled to appear in court. Court records show Delvesco was arrested three months ago and charged with four counts of drug possession, including methamphetamine and MDMA, also known as ecstasy. Those things are very hard to read. That's not who we were friends with. That's not who she was..

. It was so disappointing to see that she was reduced to a blonde sorority girl with a bunch of drugs on her. Court records show Delvesco was arrested three months ago. They were making out that Andrea was a drug dealer and that she had gotten murdered because she was going to give evidence against this group of people. That just is totally untrue. The true story was she had gathered some drugs with some friends. She never was a drug dealer.

She certainly wasn't making any money off of it. Even some of the headlines would say that she was caught with methamphetamines. She had Adderall, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a UCLA student that didn't have Adderall at some point. The media around Andy's murder was so mishandled and so... did not respect her as a person.

She was just a juicy gossip headline. ¶¶ Detectives looked into Andrea's background and discovered that she was by no intents or purposes any type of experienced drug dealer. She was selling low-level amounts of drugs to her friends who were attending music festivals. That immediately became a non-avenue for investigators

as further evidence developed as to who the possible suspect was on this case. Two days after Andrea DelVesco's murder, a representative from Sono Speakers tells a police officer someone did try to register those stolen Sono Speakers online using a new email address. With the email address provided by Sono Speakers, detectives have the name of someone in Fresno

who is connected to the speakers that were stolen right across the street from Andrea DelVesco's apartment complex. He may be the individual who caused the fire. It was definitely like a haunting kind of moment for the campus community. You just feel different walking on campus. You feel on edge. Going back to school right after everything happened,

I like barely was, you know, there as a person just trying to like go to my classes and hopefully pass. Get more than an hour of sleep without having a nightmare. LAPD detectives drive all the way to Fresno to interview an individual about the Sonos speakers that were stolen the morning of the fire. Police officers arrive. That individual appeared to be nervous. The detectives immediately ask him,

how did you come about having these Sonos speakers? He tells the detectives, these are not my Sonos speakers. I borrowed them from my roommate, Albert Medina. Alberto Medina has no criminal record. He was a 22-year-old student at Fresno State University studying social work and pre-psychology. Medina's roommate tells them that Albert Medina was down in Los Angeles tells them that Alvar Medina was down in Los Angeles

visiting a friend at UCLA that weekend, and that when he came back, he had these Sonos speakers. So at this point, detectives have the name of an individual who's admitted to his roommate that he was down in Los Angeles that weekend, near UCLA, and that he was in possession of speakers that were stolen right across the street from Andrea Della Vesco's home the morning of her murder. Detectives found this individual credible

and he was willing to tell them where they could find Albert Medina. Once Medina's arrested, LAPD detectives then start questioning Medina. They wanted to see if there was any connection to Andy. Becoma, becoma, becoma, becoma Becoma Steve What were you doing? Explain to me what was going on. Okay. I went to UCLA. I went out there and I stayed with my friend, Eric.

Eric Marquez is a 22-year-old UCLA student, pre-med. Marquez did not have any criminal background. So we went to a Chris Brown concert. We got out of a concert and then we started going to a party and that's about it. That's it? Yeah, that's it. Did you or him grab some speakers from somebody? Some portable speakers? Yeah, I know of none.

These speakers that were down in Los Angeles. They somehow got to your house. I'm sorry. I took a lot of guilt in that. I went to the engineer party. There would be. I took the speakers. And I got a laptop and a bottle. I took a bottle. I took a lot of things. Bottled booze? Yeah, yeah, I took a bottle of booze. Yeah took a bottle. I took a lot of things. Bottles of booze?

Yeah, yeah, I took a bottle of booze. Yeah, I know. I was drunk. I know. And we left. We left. We left the spot. It was like around, it was like 5, 5, 5.30 in the morning, 5, 5.30 in the morning.

Okay. Officers are picking up on the fact that Medina was right across the street from Andrea DelVesco's apartment at the time of the fire. You got a conscience. Okay. All right. All right, so this is what, okay.

All right. Just give us, tell us everything. Okay, this is what happened. We went into a party, me and Eric did. This goes across the street with this girl that he met there. As the investigation goes on, police realize that Medina is continuing to change his story

and kind of slowly remembering certain details that he wasn't, you know, upfront about before. This girl across the street, what was she like? White. She's a white girl. Skinny. Black hair, brown hair, blonde hair? Blonde.

Blonde hair. She had blonde hair. Blonde hair? Yeah, she had blonde hair. Do you know what her name was? What was she? Her name... You know what to call her?

Andy? Andy? Something happened with this girl. And it's important... From here on out... It's Eric. What happened? Eric goes over there and he tries, he's having sex or whatever he's doing. He comes goes over there, and he's having sex

or whatever he's doing. He comes back running to me. He's like, I'm going to. We've got to go, bro. We've got to leave. I just get the out of this ground. And it's at that point that he tells the detectives that Eric Marcus admitted that he killed Andrea Del Vesco.

After the detectives interview Medina, they take the long drive back to Los Angeles, and Medina points out for the detectives Eric Marquez's apartment. Eric Marquez is a 22-year-old UCLA student, pre-med. Marquez did not have any criminal background. Later that morning, police officers approach Marquez at his apartment. They ask him if he knows anything about what happened, anything about what he and Medina were doing that weekend. And Marquez's story is that he and Medina were out on Roebling Avenue looking for parties.

When they came back to his apartment, they fell asleep from 3 a.m. until 8 a.m. Thus, they could not have been out there at the time of the murder, which occurred somewhere around 7 a.m. At this point, detectives have two different stories. They have Marcus' story, and they have Medina's story blaming Marcus. So who's telling the truth?

Police are able to look at security footage from Marquez's apartment to see what happened that morning. Surveillance video from Marquez's apartment reveals both Eric Marquez and Albert Medina leaving Marquez's apartment around 4.30 in the morning. And this is the time that they're gonna be going to Roebling Avenue looking for more parties. Sarah Muir made the 911 call about the fire and about the suspect fleeing the scene sometime around 7.01 a.m.

Sarah sees this individual jumping over Andrea's balcony onto the courtyard, and his back is covered with a red blanket. Surveillance video from Marcus' apartment also shows that they returned back to Marcus' apartment at around 7.06 a.m. The footage showed Medina wearing this red blanket. The red Snuggie belonged to Andy. This implicates it was Medina who was in Andy's apartment. Detectives give Eric Marcus a second opportunity

to tell them the truth about what happened. Detectives place down right in front of him some surveillance videos showing Medina with the red blanket and him just two steps in front of him. At that point, Marcus indicates that he was heavily intoxicated. He doesn't remember what's been shown to him on the surveillance video, and he can't remember the details of shown to him on the surveillance video, and he can't remember the details of the critical hour when the murder happened. Eric Marcus and Albert Medina are being held at the Van Nuys County Jail.

Officers are going to have someone examine them for any potential evidence on their body, including scratches, abrasions. And what they find is that Marcus has none of those. But Medina has several scratches and abrasions consisting with being in a fight or in a struggle with someone else. Police are able to obtain a search warrant for Medina's home and they find several pieces of evidence. His red Nissan vehicle, which has a Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity sticker, which matches

the description given by Sarah Muir. They learned that he was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity up in Fresno State University, and that he had been suspended from the fraternity for violating the standard of conduct. Investigators find Andrea DelVesco's DNA on blood smears on the door handle and inside the car. Investigators go into Medina's room, and in his closet, they find a black bag,

and inside that black bag, you have the red Snuggie and a bloody tank top. The black tank top matches the tank top Medina was wearing on the surveillance video. We have a bloody knife. The bloody knife matches a knife set at Andrea Del Vesco's apartment. So now we're involved in the case,

and we're prosecuting the case. In my opinion, Marquez helped with the burglary. When police officers came to check up after that first 911 call, Eric Marcus remained in all likelihood in the car waiting for Medina to return. And he provided a place where Medina could clean himself up. He provided a trash bag to place the murder weapon and the Nike tank top. He participated in those burglaries that led

to Andres Del Vasco's murder. But it became clear that there was insufficient evidence to show that Marcus knew exactly what happened inside Andres Del Vasco's apartment. knew exactly what happened inside Andrea Del Vesco's apartment. We believed that it was best to settle the case with Marcus for something that was more appropriate to his conduct. Marcus pled guilty to aiding and abetting the burglary of Andrea Del Vesco an accessory after the fact.

He received a sentence of two years and eight months in state prison. The story that Albert Medina provided to detectives was not credible. Andrea Delvesco, she had no association with Medina. She was just in her room sleeping that night when he came into her life. Completely unexpected, completely random. Albert Medina saw Andrea Del Vesco before the murder,

outside in her balcony that faces Roebling Avenue. According to one of Andrea's roommates, Andrea fell asleep at about 3 a.m. is Roebling Avenue. According to one of Andrea's roommates, Andrea fell asleep at about 3 AM. Later that morning, detectives believe Medina went inside her apartment through French doors that led out to a balcony and did something that was beyond the pale.

He stabbed her 19 times while she was screaming. Then he is able to remain in that room while police officers are investigating the disturbance for that first 911 call. He doesn't panic. He remains in the room and then thinks about how to destroy evidence. And he does so by setting her and her room on fire.

She was found after firefighters put out flames in her burning apartment. Investigators determined it was arson. Andrea Del Vesco was a 21-year-old fourth-year student at UCLA, and we're told she was originally from Boston. We learned about the DA that had been assigned to prosecute the case. Victor called and introduced himself. And he said, I will keep the criminal that murdered Andrea

off the streets and unable to ever hurt another person ever again. Three years after Andrea had been murdered, our whole family attended the trial. It was difficult for everybody. We played a recording of detectives interviewing Medina's other roommate. The statement he attributed to Medina was significant. Andrea Delvesco's body was found in her burning apartment. About three days after the murder, Medina told him the victim was probably killed

trying to fight off someone that was trying to rape her. I encourage anybody with information regarding something with this buyer to contact detectives. In my opinion, it's basically Medina talking about himself. It's talking about how smart it was for him to burn all the evidence so it wouldn't be linked back to him. That's significant. So I made these arguments, and based on the evidence presented, the jury found Albert Medina guilty of all counts,

including the murder of Andrea Del Vesco, two residential burglaries, animal cruelty. And Andrea's mother, Leslie, reminded the court of the cruel irony of this day. September 21st, 2015, a constant reminder now of her loss. This is the date that he made the choice to take my wonderful, amazing daughter's life. Now it's also the date Alberto Medina will never forget. His sentence for killing Andrea Del Vesco. Life in prison, no parole.

At the sentencing, Medina didn't display any kind of remorse, any kind of emotion. I mean, it didn't seem like he had any feelings whatsoever. It's scary to think that someone so, like, malicious exists. exists he brutally murdered a beautiful innocent person he's seriously wounded an entire community he must never walk free again there was huge relief he was finally going to be serving his punishment for killing Andrea. Westwood has always had a reputation for being a safe community.

But to come to the end and realize this was a random murder that could happen to anybody, you start to see the world differently after an event like that. While it's wonderful to think that you can leave your doors unlocked and, you know, open for your friends just to come drop by, don't. Lock your doors because unfortunately there are people in the world who are untrustworthy and do not have your best interest in their hearts. to survive this. One of my favorite quotes that I heard recently was that you're not truly dead unless you're forgotten. And to me, Andy's never going to be truly dead because we're never going to forget her.

She's going to live in all of us for the rest of our lives. I only knew her for a few short years, but the impact she made on my life is always going to be there. She was my best friend. Like, most all of you probably think that because she was. She was everyone's best friend. And that's just really amazing that she was able to touch all of us like that.

Andrea was here to show us a deeper understanding of what love is. She taught me that love is boundless and infinite. And for us all to treasure the moments that we do have with each other. Andrea, Lauren, thank you for your lessons, for your legacy of love. Isn't it so terrible? This is Debra Roberts.

Join us next week for an episode about a first-year student at the University of Florida who goes missing under mysterious circumstances. Death in the Dorms was produced by ABC News Studios with the Intellectual Property Corporation and, yes, like a River for Hulu Originals. You can find the whole series streaming on Hulu. And be sure to tune in to ABC Friday Nights at 9 for all new broadcast episodes of 2020. Thanks for listening.