20/20 - Death in the Dorms Season 1: Episode 3: Yeardley Love

Episode Date: October 15, 2024

When police find UVA lacrosse player Yeardley Love’s brutally beaten body, their investigation shockingly points to another student athlete.  Originally Aired 1/5/23 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there, 2020 listeners. This is Deborah Roberts. You're about to listen to the third episode of Death in the Dorms, a true crime series from ABC News Studios. Today, you're going to hear the story of Yardley Love, a lacrosse player at the University of Virginia, whose death begins an investigation that throws suspicion onto one of her fellow athletes. College recruitment for lacrosse is very competitive. And she was incredible. She was such a good lacrosse player. The UVA coach called her and told her that she had been recruited to the team.

That was like every holiday you can think of rolled into one for her. Yardley Love was 22 and just weeks from graduating from UVA. I woke up to a policeman ringing my door. Her body was discovered in her bedroom. Really was a mystery. Her friends had just seen her. Everything seemed fine. It really was a mystery. Her friends had just seen her. Everything seemed fine. Why did you guys break up exactly?

They want to know what he knows. I can remember, like, the room spinning and thinking, was there some kind of, like, crime walking home last night? I've told you guys everything. I'm not hiding anything. Right. I've told you literally everything. She had just been at a bar hanging out,

and she chose to walk home alone. The detectives found it really strange that a girl Yardley's age would be without her cell phone or her laptop. In the back of my mind was thinking, this is a dream, a nightmare. Remembered from a dream You You will float out to the sea when the rain comes.

Yardley had a determination from the beginning. She has so much potential. I was so proud of her. This was Yardley when she was three years old and she was an angel in the Christmas play and she's a real angel now. I met my husband many moons ago. We were married and we had a child in 1984, Lexi Love. And then in 1987, I had Yardley Love. They were extremely close and Lexi always looked out for Yardley and Yardley always looked up to Lexi. Let's see if we can find, maybe this one.

this one. Okay. So this is a picture with a little note that Yardley wrote me from probably honestly the year 1999 or maybe 2000. It's the two of us. We are dressed up on Halloween as Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. So we thought we were twins, even though we looked nothing alike. Anything I have from her is extremely special and sacred to me because I miss her and I feel so lucky that I had such an amazing best friend. Lexi and Yardley had two entirely different personalities. Lexi likes sports like tennis and golf where it was dependent on her. She didn't really like someone coming at her with a lacrosse stick and hitting her arm. Where Yardley loved it. Yardley loved to get in the mix and fight for each goal.

When you the goal, they don't want to smoke. I'm Tiger Woods in the hood, know I'm good. I remember the first time I saw Yardley play lacrosse, I probably had to pick my jaw off the field. When you the goal. We're running a drill, and she's just out there owning it and just shining star on the field and she was incredible. She was such a good lacrosse player. She was actually very tiny, but when she got the ball, they say she could run like the

wind and she did. Her mom and her sister, they all were a very tight-knit family, but I think anyone can tell you that she was definitely a daddy's girl. Her family always came first. I think that most people were caught off guard by how bubbly and sweet she was

because she was also stunning and gorgeously beautiful. Yardley had a huge sense of humor. She most of the time was laughing at herself and just loved to be silly and happy-go-lucky and just had a smile on her face all the time. She was really easygoing. She was really fun. She was really fun. She was really funny.

When Yarley was in seventh grade, my went to all of our games. The coaches would let me drive my car onto the field because he couldn't walk that far. We knew it was inevitable. When he died, Yardley was a freshman in high school. The girls vowed that they would make him proud. After my husband died, we were practically tied at the hip, and the three of us became even closer and more dependent on one another after that happened. My husband was gone to University of Virginia, so Yardley vowed that she would go to University of Virginia and play D1 lacrosse. College recruitment for lacrosse is very competitive, and by junior year, Yardley had not heard whether or not the University of Virginia wanted her to come and play lacrosse there. So she was starting to lose a little bit of hope.

And then she got a phone call from the coach and the UVA coach called her and told her that she had been recruited to the team. That was like every holiday you can think of rolled into one for her. My name's Michelle Davis. From 2010 to 2014, I was the news editor of the Cavalier Daily, the University of Virginia's student-run newspaper. UVA was a really magical place. It has a lot of traditions that the students there really pride themselves on. At the football games, it's guys and ties, girls and pearls. You know, sociable, but also really smart. In some ways, it was a bit of a bubble because we were surrounded by students mostly,

and so I never felt unsafe. Yardley majored in political science. She wanted to be a lawyer. She joined sorority. She joined Theta Sorority at Virginia. Yeah. On I Was Prey, the podcast, listen to the life-or-death experiences of people who have survived animal attacks, natural disasters, and deadly parasites alike. Hear how a triathlete is attacked by a shark while training and manages to escape after being pulled underwater. 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. When I visited Yardley, I could tell that she just adored Charlottesville. When I visited Yardley, I could tell that she just adored Charlottesville. She made some amazing close friends. She was really happy and confident and dating. Sophomore year, she started going out with George Eakley. George had a similar dynamic in his upbringing that like played sports, went to a private school, and was recruited to play lacrosse at the University of Virginia. The women's and men's teams have a very tight-knit relationship because they're on the same schedule.

So Yardley and George were good friends long before they started dating and I think that George always had an eye for Yardley and was basically trying to woo her and win her over from the moment that they met. You could just tell that she absolutely loved her life there. Yardley played lacrosse all four years, which a lot of people end up quitting, a ton of practicing, mandatory study hours. She really took pride in being a member of that team and wanted to make sure that she put her all into it, whether that was on the field, off the field, just in general, she really gave it her all. Spring 2010 was an exciting time. She was very focused on finishing out

her lacrosse season strong. Yardley and George had broken up, but they would see each other out all the time because they were in such a tight social circle. And so in her mind, she just thought, I just have to kind of keep it together. And she was looking forward to graduation. She was getting really excited about that. She just had to grab her diploma, finish up the year, and she was headed to New York.

She had already set her sights on her next step, law school. And she wanted to have a family, and she wanted to always stay close with her own family. The sky was going to be the limit for Yardley. She would have ended up getting a great job somewhere, probably in a big city, living out that next phase of her life happily ever after. She didn't know it at the time, but those were the last couple days

that she would be with us. They had their last games, which are always bittersweet. You're so close with your team, so they all go out together one or two less times. Yardley had been out with her roommate drinking, but she didn't want to continue going out, so she went home. I should've known long ago. What you wanted from me, I should've known long ago. Her roommate came home after having been out. Her roommate came home after having been out, and she wanted to talk to Yardley.

So she went into her room, and she realized that there was blood on the bed, and so she tried to wake her up. She shook her. She was starting to get concerned, to wake her up. She shook her. She was starting to get concerned. And when she pushed her hair aside, there was blood everywhere. Just after 2 a.m., Charlottesville police

responded to a 911 call from a student's apartment. The apartment is just blocks from the campus. All these signs of physical trauma. Battered and bruised body. Notified investigators and we began that investigation. Her roommate tries to wake Yardley up and fails, so she calls 911. At the time, the dispatcher understands that this is a drunk college student who's passed out. My name is Warner Davies Chapman. I became Charlottesville's prosecutor in 1994.

During the time period of the call to 911, Yardley Love's roommate could see there was a hole in the door to Yardley's bedroom. Her reaction was of course one of horror. The police came in and immediately began the administration of CPR. But Yardley Love had passed away. The officer can see obvious injuries to her face, principally the right side of her face. The officer immediately recognized that this was a crime scene. This was not an accidental death. It was murder.

It was clear to us when we arrived on the scene, the medics were already present, the body was turned over. And there were injuries to her body, which led the primary units that responded to believe that, in fact, we had a crime scene to secure. And they immediately notified investigators, and we began that investigation. My name is Erica Kelly. I have a podcast called Southern Fried True Crime. I research and write crimes basically focused in the South. focused in the South. The first time I ever heard the name Yardley Love, I had gotten an email from a listener who preferred to remain anonymous. She felt very strongly that Yardley's story needed to be heard, that people needed to understand what happened. As soon as the detectives arrived on the scene,

at first glance, within the apartment, it didn't seem like anything was wrong. Nothing appeared to be disturbed. There's no evidence that there was any assaultive behavior that took place outside of Yardley Love's bedroom. One of the first things noticed was that there was a hole in the door to Yardley's bedroom. And in fact, on the floor at the end of the bed is a blood spot. at the end of the bed is a blood spot.

Things were knocked around. It really looked as though there had been a struggle. It became apparent very quickly that, you know, someone had been in this room with her. One of the first things that detectives on scene noticed was that Yardley's laptop and her cell phone were missing. The detectives found it really strange that a girl Yardley's age would be without her cell phone or her laptop.

This looked like a burglary that went wrong. The detectives on scene immediately call in a CSI for fingerprints, DNA tests. They immediately start questioning her roommate, finding out a little bit about Yardley's life and what could have happened in the hours leading up to this. Her friends had just seen her. Everything seemed fine. While it did appear to be a struggle, there was no murder weapon. There was no obvious motive.

And they weren't even sure yet exactly how Yardley had died. I woke up to a policeman ringing my door. I couldn't understand why police would be at my house at 6 a.m. I thought maybe they had the wrong house. I didn't know and I opened the door and the policeman asked me are you Yardley Love's mother and then I don't know what happened after that. Your mind doesn't allow it to sink in. Yarlou's gone. But in my mind, I was still thinking she would be there. When police got to the scene, they found that Yardley Love was dead, and there was obvious signs of physical trauma.

Her battered and bruised body was found early Monday morning. Yardley Love was a well-liked student and an accomplished athlete. Very early this morning Charlottesville police were called to her apartment for what was reported as a possible... It was really early in the morning and my phone rang and when I answered the phone it was Yardley's roommate at UVA. I just can remember the room spinning and thinking, how can this be? Something like this could have never happened. And I remember asking her a little, what happened? Was there a car accident? Was there some kind of crime walking home last night? Did someone, like, break into your apartment?

Detectives learned from her roommate and her friends that, you know, she had just been at a bar hanging out, having a couple of drinks, and she chose to walk home alone. couple of drinks and she chose to walk home alone. As police were canvassing the area, they talked to Yardley's downstairs neighbor. She was awake, alert, was sitting in her living room on a couch using the computer the night before. She does recall a person climbing the steps up to the floor above where Yardley Love's apartment was located. A short time after hearing that, she describes a great crashing noise. The most likely

thing that would have been a person breaking through Yardley Love's door and also she was able to hear the person exiting from a window in her living area could see a male leaving from the building. She said that she didn't see the young man's face, but she did see that he was a tall male figure wearing blue shorts and a white t-shirt. Investigators needed to find out who may have been with Yardley Love the night she died. It was inside this campus bar at a post-exam party where 22-year-old Yardley Love would spend her final hour Sunday. would spend her final hour Sunday. Students woke up seeing blue lights.

They heard sirens, fire trucks in their neighborhood. But pretty quickly, they were texting each other, they were calling each other, and word was really spreading like wildfire. Yardley Love was 22 and just weeks from graduating from UVA when she was found dead in her apartment. The death of Yardley Love rocked the campus, rocked the community. The close-knit campus here is stunned.

Losing a member of our community is really hard, just knowing that someone from our family isn't here anymore. The fact of the matter was, there was somebody responsible for Yardley's death and they were still out there. Two investigators were involved. They were able to talk to the roommate outside of the apartment on the balcony. The first question as a detective is that, you know, did she have any enemies? Did she have any problems with anybody, you know, no matter how big or small?

As police are talking to Yardley's friends, it becomes more and more apparent that Yardley had an ex-boyfriend named George. Yardley and George, you know, had a serious relationship, but a few months before all of this, they had broken up. Almost immediately, the people in your lives are going to be the first suspects.

And detectives, while of course they are going to be interested in the ex-boyfriend, you know, they still have to explore every avenue. As police are talking to Yardley's friends, they're still looking at security footage from businesses that are nearby. You know, they're really canvassing the area for any possibility.

Police found surveillance footage from a bar. Police found surveillance footage from a bar. You can clearly see George there. And Yardley walks up, and George puts his arm around her, and she turns around and puts her arm around him only for a few seconds before she walks off. They really needed to understand the nature of their relationship to find out if George was a viable suspect. Yardley Love's roommate was able to describe to police who George Hughley was to Yardley

Love. George Hughley was a member of the men's lacrosse team. He was a fourth-year student at the university. George Hughley is actually George Hughley V. He came from a long line of Georges who hail from Chevy Chase, Maryland. At a very young age, his parents divorced. George's father was a businessman and he was successful with handed down generational wealth. George went to a pretty elite, you know, all boys private school that was known for churning out

college athletes and he ended up, you know, following that path and becoming a lacrosse player at UVA. She met two or two of the freshman year in Spanish class. When Yardley first told me about George, it was more like, there's this really funny guy that I've been hanging out with. He's in our group of guy friends and he's hilarious and would tell funny stories about things that they would do when they were all out together. When she started dating George, we all went out to dinner and talked about UVA and lacrosse.

He seemed extremely happy-go-lucky. It seemed like nothing really bothered him. And Yardley seemed happy. I did meet him when I visited UVA. I definitely understood why Yardley thought he was funny. George had a very playful and kind of loud personality and she of course liked to laugh. That was probably what originally sort of drew Yardley to George and he could be really fun to be around and you know get into a good conversation and ask the right questions

and definitely have that charismatic side to him. You know, when you look at George, you know, smart kid that had everything going for him, but honestly, if you peel back the curtain, that's not exactly what his life was like. There was definitely a pretty big difference between sober George and drunk George. I 1,000% think that once he would start drinking, he had a side to him that I had no interest

in being around. He could come off as a little bit obnoxious and a little bit full of himself. Some people think that UVA is a big drinking school, but according to his friends, George seemed to take it to another level where he wouldn't remember anything the next day, but he would do things that were regrettable. If Yardley wasn't answering the phone

when we were together and he was out somewhere else drinking, he was very jealous and he wanted to know exactly where she was and who she was with and would get mad about silly things like being out to dinner with girls. He would question who she was really out with. He would call her repeatedly and repeatedly and repeatedly even though she wouldn't answer or would text her and text her and text her. And she would usually just kind of like laugh and try to sort of say,

that's just George being George. George had heard a rumor that Yardley had been walked home by one of George's lacrosse teammates. And after a night out, he thought that something had happened between them. Maybe they'd kissed. We don't know what really happened, but this was enough to infuriate George. George Hughley, in the nighttime, broke into that teammate's apartment and struck him repeatedly while he was in his bed. And the teammate was significantly injured, but that event was never reported to police. As investigators are talking to her friends,

the only thing every person kept talking about was her ex-boyfriend George because it had been a very tumultuous relationship. During those early morning hours, detectives were searching Yardley's room, because it had been a very tumultuous relationship. During those early morning hours, detectives were searching Yardley's room, looking for any clue as to what might have happened. Among the things that were found in Yardley Love's apartment was a handwritten letter from George Hughley. It was an apology. I'm horrified to think that I was using physical force to keep you in my room.

I'm so sorry. The letter concludes, I'm so sorry again and hope to talk with you when you feel you can. I can assure you though that I will never act as I did that Saturday night. I'm sorry again. Love, George. Police really needed to get to the bottom of this. As a result, it was quickly learned that George Hughley was a person that investigators needed to follow up with. The investigators went to the Hughley residence. They knocked on the door.

He had just woke up. George Hughley was told they were investigating an assault, but it wasn't given with any greater description from that. And George Hughley agreed to accompany them to the Charlottesville Police Department. He did so without asking any questions or at least seeking any information. Just so you know, I don't have any arrest warrants for you, okay? Tell me about your day yesterday. Played golf with our parents.

I went to dinner with my dad and my two buddies. Then went home, drank a few beers. Went to the bar for a little while. Went to Boylan Heights. Well, okay. Then I went over to talk to Yardley and... Who's Yardley? As detectives are questioning George, they want to know what he knows without ever telling

him that Yardley is dead. Yardley is my former girlfriend. One of the aspects of an investigation in a case like this is to look back in time and try and discover events, facts, and circumstances that might help explain what happened. Why did you guys break up exactly? Why? So we've been talking about this. She found a text message in my phone from another girl

who broke up because of that. Is there another reason why you two broke up? Three months earlier there was a party at his residence in which there were a number of people in attendance. George was under the influence of alcohol and agitated. He had physically restrained Yardley Love in his bedroom, keeping her from leaving by having his arm around her neck. Someone heard someone shouting for help, and when they opened the door, Hughley had her pinned to the bed and his hands were around her.

He was choking her. It was seen by multiple people. George did actually physically harm her and essentially had to be like pulled off of her. She had told her mom and her sister and all of her friends and roommates at college what had happened and that she planned to truly never speak to him again. So I went and picked her up and brought her home. And she wrote him a letter and said it's over. We discussed whether we had to call for a restraining order or call the police. In Virginia at the time you couldn't get a restraining order unless you were married

or lived with the person. And so she stayed with me for a day or two and she had to be at practice for lacrosse. And so I drove her back down to Charlottesville and said, should I tell the coaches about George Eagley grabbing you? And she said, no, no, it'll be, it's fine. It'll be fine. So, um... Um... They soon learned that this letter from George was actually an apology, that incident at the party

where he had strangled her. I really don't remember that night at all. Not at all? No, not at all. I don't even know. We like, like we've hung out probably a dozen times since that night. When you're in college, everyone's together all the time in this tiny little place that's hard to separate yourself

from someone who's just been in your inner circle. So we broke up, but we're still hanging out and everything. On Tuesday of the week preceding her death, George was at home. Yardley had heard rumors that George had hooked up with one of her sorority sisters, and so she went to confront him about it. According to others, while she was under the influence of alcohol and upset, Yardley Love entered George Hughley's apartment and ended up striking him several times with her purse.

I was like, listen, what you pulled last week was outrageous. And that was the reason why I was going over there to talk to her last night on Sunday. The detectives learn that, in fact, George Hughley had been to Yardley Love's apartment the night she was killed. How much did you have to drink last night? Four or five beers on the golf course. Then I had two glasses of wine at dinner and then like three more beers afterwards and like five beers combined. And I should not have gone over there when like I was drinking, but like that, when I was like that,

that's made me emotional so I wanted to go talk to her. Her front door was open, her room door was closed, I knocked like, the whole day like she heard me, opened the door and went in. All right, went in where? To her room. All right, straight to her bedroom? Straight to her bedroom, yeah, I mean.

How'd you get through the door? Her door or the front door? Her door. Actually, it might've been locked. Mm-hmm, it was. actually might have been locked it was because to put your to have put your fist through the door I'm pretty sure because that's why my life's business yeah you're right your leg yeah how'd you get all the bruising on your hand then? This is all from lacrosse. This is all...

That's pretty fresh right there, looks. This is all from my lacrosse game on Saturday. George's version of this was that they were wrestling, but that it was nothing more than that. Did you, um, did you call her and let her know you were coming or text her? No, because the week before, she came into my apartment and attacked and started striking me. Many, if not most, or nearly all the contents were recovered and given back to her, and when she left there she had

them not found was her phone she said it's my apartment but it's not so she doesn't have a phone so i did not call her or text her so from that point on yard Yardley Love used her computer to conduct her communications with him and others during the week preceding her murder. When you left her apartment, did you take anything with you? Her laptop was missing, I guess. Did you grab it for any reason?

Yeah, I did, actually. You did? Okay. No, why'd you take her computer? Because I was so pissed that she wouldn't talk to me. I was like, I don't know, I like took it almost as a collateral I guess. I don't know. Where are we gonna find the computer at? The computer is the dumpster, maybe. On the way home, I just tossed it in the air. No vinyls, right? No. No, sir. I'm not lying.

I'm not hiding anything. Right. I've told you literally everything. We were, like, wrestling, and we stood up, and I tossed her, I pushed her onto the bed. I was like, go to bed. I was like, I'll talk to you later. I put, yeah, I'm like, I didn't like throw her, but like we were like standing up at this point after we were wrestling on the ground.

She had like a bloody nose. I was like, could've had. Okay, and you kind of tossed her on the bed and you left? Yeah. Okay. Did you go back and check on her at any point? No, I did not. Okay. George Hughley has implicated himself in the physical events that cause Yardley Love's death. The detectives haven't said anything about her status. He hasn't asked, which itself is remarkable, because of what he's admitting to.

Is there some question in the detectiveives mind about does he know or not? Is there some question in George Hughley's mind about how he left Yardley Love? Yardley loved. Well, I have to tell you something. She's dead. At the police station, detectives do finally tell George that Yardley is dead. She's dead. I think you knew that already. No, I did not. You're here because she's dead. The alcohol... I don't believe it. I don't believe it.

It's true. I never did anything that could do that to her. No, I don't. I refuse to believe that she's dead. Hey, no, don't wake her up. Put your hands behind your back for a little bit, turn. Relax, it's okay. Relax, you'll be all right. Tell me she's not dead. Tell me she's not dead, though, please. Please, will you tell me she's not dead?

You know what, I wish I could tell you that, George. 22-year-old. 22. And her life is done. Oh, my God. Kill me. I did not do anything that could have killed her. You do realize you're under arrest?

I realize that. All right. We're going to consult the convoy's attorney on the proper charge, but it's going to be related to her death. I'm sure you understand. She's dead. She's dead. Help.

There's no way. There's no way. There's no way, sir. There's no way she's dead. There's no way. Hughley has been arrested for first degree murder. His school lacrosse picture replaced by a jail mugshot. At the University of Virginia, accused of murdering Yardley Love, a star on the school's

women's team. Her body was discovered in her bedroom. There's an autopsy scheduled this morning. We'll learn more about the manner and cause of her death and really what the extent of the injuries are, but by sight, we're very severe. When you really care about someone, you shout it from the mountaintops.

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Lexi and I got to Charlottesville and went to Dave Chapman's office. I knew George had been arrested. The whole thing was a shock to me. The whole thing was a shock to me. The whole thing was surreal. When I was talking to Dave Chapman, I did care about what the consequences would be. I asked him what he would be charged for. He methodically explained the whole process to me. He said they were just collecting the evidence. There wasn't a clear picture in anybody's head at that moment. I still wasn't believing what

happened. I still, in the back of my mind, was thinking this is a dream, a nightmare. Administrators say the university community is devastated and harder hit because the accused is one of their own. Expressions of disbelief. How could this happen to such a wonderful person? Person that was described as an angel by teammates and friends. In the days following Yardley's death, everyone who loved her was in constant communication

with one another, just trying to process and figure out what had happened and what did we miss and how could this have happened. Once they brought George into custody, my mind started racing and I was thinking to myself, like, you know, I know that I don't necessarily like this guy and I know he's done a lot of terrible things, but in my mind, like, the fact that Yardley had been murdered by someone that I knew, like, just, it didn't seem like it could be real.

George had done a lot to minimize this fight between him and Yardley. You know, they had, you know, wrestled around, whatever. You know, maybe her nose was bloody. You know, no big deal. The autopsy told a very different story. The injury is observable beginning at the head and continuing all the way down to both legs. It took very considerable force to produce the injuries that were observable of her.

She died from internal brain injuries. were observable of her. She died from internal brain injuries. It was learned that there were respiratory or cardiovascular events occurring as long as two hours after the assault. The evidence is it wasn't long after the cessation of signs of life that Yardley's body was discovered. He had already admitted to being in the room that night. He had already admitted to an altercation with Yardley. And now they wanted to know, was it premeditated? Was there intent? Based on what George Hughley told the investigators, he had taken Yardley Love's computer and dumped it.

It was found in a dumpster that was nearby George's residence, but definitely was not in a straight line direction between Yardley Love's residence and George Hughley's. You had to deviate a block out of your way to the side to reach the dumpster where the computer was found. What immediately occurred was that the computer contained evidence that there's something on the laptop that he doesn't want to be found. Police found a series of emails. This story that George gave the police about this incident where she attacked him, she started

beating him with her purse and her cell phone fell out, was actually corroborated by the emails. As a result of that incident, there began a back and forth between Yardley Love and George Hughley. This was right before she was killed. She offered an apology to him electronically. He responded to her apology in a manner that was not accepting. George wrote to Yardley, quote, That is so up on so many levels. I should have killed you.

To which Yardley replied, You should have killed me? You're so up. So the more I think about it, I could care less that I attacked you. You deserved it. And we got a good laugh about it the next morning. He now knows that she's laughed about him to her friends.

And I think this possibly really could have been a trigger for George. I should have killed you. It was certainly perceived by investigators as sufficiently a threat to her. Based on all that they knew, George Hughley was charged with murder of Yardley Love. It took two years for George Hughley to come to trial.

All eyes are now on this Charlottesville courthouse where a University of Virginia co-ed family waits for justice. He was charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, and involuntary manslaughter, including burglary with intent to commit assault and battery. And that first day of trial, he stood up and he pleaded not guilty. The defense team has been trying to prove that while the University of Virginia lacrosse player may have been out of control, he never meant or even thought about killing Yardley Love.

This was an unfortunate accident. One of the last witnesses the prosecution called, Hughley's friend Ken Claussen, said Hughley came back to his apartment after midnight following the alleged incident with love and was unresponsive Klassen said he asked Hughley repeatedly what's wrong with you and he said he got no response just blank stares this was not an accidental death it was the result of intentional actions that had unintended consequences. University of Virginia La Crosse star

George Hughley V was found guilty. The jury found George guilty of second degree murder and grand larceny. The jury's view that there was no premeditation. That's why it became a second-degree murder charge. George ultimately ended up getting sentenced to 23 years. If he got 10 days or 100 years, you're never satisfied because Yardley is gone. There's no punishment for taking something like that away that justifies it. The trial ending gave closure to, you know, the UVA community, to Charlottesville.

It also was something that I think UVA learned from. There was a lot more talk, you know, on grounds around not being a bystander and speaking up if you saw things that concerned you. None of this was ever reported, not to the police, not to campus police, not to his coaches. So he didn't face any consequences for anything he had done. And it could have been anything from being kicked off the lacrosse team. And there was also an honor code at UVA. He could have been expelled.

In my mind, had that happened, Yardley Love would be alive today. I just can't think of an instance over the years where a family did a better job of making the absolute best out of what's the worst tragedy you could possibly experience. We decided we wanted to do to domestic violence what Mothers Against Drunk Drivers did to drunk driving. We wanted to stop it before it began. So after research we realized that 16 to 24 year olds were the most vulnerable group. And we picked an educational program to help prevent this from happening to anybody else.

That's how One love was born. In Charlottesville, there's a bridge called the Beta Bridge. Bridge. For the past 12 years the lacrosse team has painted the Beta Bridge in memory of Yardley. I don't know whether they know how much that means to Lexi and I but we are so touched every year that the coaches and the teams continue to remember Yardley in such a wonderful way. The fact that, you know, students at the University of Virginia know exactly who Yardley Love was is something that I don't take for granted. I want everyone to know about Yardley and if they didn't have the pleasure of meeting her to know her story and live a better life because of her. Next week, we'll hear an episode about a first-year student at Baruch College whose weekend trip to the Pocono Mountains ended in tragedy. College, whose weekend trip to the Pocono Mountains ended in tragedy.

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 series streaming on Hulu. And while you're there, you can also find more episodes of 2020. And of course, you can also find more episodes of 2020. And of course, tune in to ABC Friday Nights at 9 for all new broadcast episodes of 2020. Thanks for listening.