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American Morning

Bizarre Incidents in New Hampshire Terrifying Female Students

Aired August 12, 2003 - 08:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A series of bizarre incidents in New Hampshire terrifying female students and mystifying investigators. An intruder has been entering the bedrooms of female students near the University of New Hampshire and cutting off parts of their clothing while they sleep. No one has been harmed so far. It all started back in June. But students and their parents understandably worried as they get ready for the start of classes this fall.
From Durham, the town's police chief, Dave Kurz, is here, the university provost and executive vice president, Bruce Mallory, is with us, as well.

Good morning to both of you gentlemen.

Thanks for your time today.

CHIEF DAVE KURZ, DURHAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE POLICE: Good morning, Bill.

BRUCE MALLORY, PROVOST, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE: Good morning.

HEMMER: All right, I want to start with the chief.

Chief Kurz, can you give us a better idea about the suspect you're looking for, descriptions, anything you're getting from students?

KURZ: Well, a lot of the information we're getting is minimal at best. People are waking up in the middle of the night, if they're waking up at all, to his presence and then when confronted, he's been fleeing. We've had eight, six instances at different locations in the downtown Durham area with eight different victims.

HEMMER: Can you give us a better idea about how this is happening? Common sense tells me if you're cutting someone's clothes off while they sleep, they're going to wake up.

KURZ: Well, we're not going to confirm the cutting of clothes. What we are saying is that there's been an attempt to disrobe the women. In some cases, that's been successful. The challenge for us, obviously, is to balance the investigation and trying to keep some things close to the vest so that we can run a viable investigation and at the same time alert our community to some issues.

What we are finding as a commonality, however, is that all of the doors that have been entered have been unlocked. And so certain -- it's certain that the person is an opportunist and it may be as simple to protect yourself to just simply lock your door.

HEMMER: Yes, Mr. Mallory, what are you telling students right now? You're coming back to the end of August right now. Classes are going to be back in session. All these incidents apparently taking place off campus in the town, not on the university grounds. But you're advice to students and parents is what?

MALLORY: Well, first of all, as Chief Kurz just said, lock your doors at night. I have a daughter here at the university. She'll be a senior in the fall. She lives off campus. And I'm telling her the same thing I'd ask all of our parents who are sending their kids to campus this fall, the same thing, and that is be careful. Pay attention to your surroundings. If you go out in the evening, pay attention to who's there and who might be following you and when you get home at night, lock your doors, lock any other entrances you have to your home.

Luckily none of these incidents have taken place on campus itself. But we're also following heightened security procedures in our residence halls, as well.

HEMMER: How about increasing that security off campus? Cost a factor here?

MALLORY: We don't think so. Most apartments in off campus housing have locks and students should use them. This is a fairly rural, quiet environment here and I think a lot of people come here not expecting to have to think about personal security issues. But this is part of the big world, as well, and so they have to pay attention.

HEMMER: Are you getting the support from the police that you think you need?

MALLORY: Absolutely. We have fantastic cooperation from the town police and our own campus security is working with the town police, as well.

HEMMER: No shortage of resources, then, is that what you're saying?

MALLORY: Oh, no shortage of resources. We have now already a statewide task force that's helping us conduct the investigation and bring this to closure.

HEMMER: All right, Chief, in a word or two here, have you noted a progression in these incidents? You mentioned between half a dozen, maybe eight. Have you noticed that the behavior or the break-ins or the incidents have progressed to a level that you did not see early on?

KURZ: Part of that's true. Obviously, we are doing everything we can to alert everyone to the violent potential that's here. While we have not had any of the women who have confronted the person entering the house resort to violence, the very nature of burglarizing a residence where people are sleeping in it obviously escalates the potential for an encounter. And so again, you know, echoing what Dr. Mallory indicated, it's very important just to lock your doors, be aware of the surroundings and report anything suspicious to the university police or the Durham police.

HEMMER: Chief Dave Kurz, Bruce Mallory, thanks, in New Hampshire.

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Students>


Aired August 12, 2003 - 08:18   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A series of bizarre incidents in New Hampshire terrifying female students and mystifying investigators. An intruder has been entering the bedrooms of female students near the University of New Hampshire and cutting off parts of their clothing while they sleep. No one has been harmed so far. It all started back in June. But students and their parents understandably worried as they get ready for the start of classes this fall.
From Durham, the town's police chief, Dave Kurz, is here, the university provost and executive vice president, Bruce Mallory, is with us, as well.

Good morning to both of you gentlemen.

Thanks for your time today.

CHIEF DAVE KURZ, DURHAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE POLICE: Good morning, Bill.

BRUCE MALLORY, PROVOST, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE: Good morning.

HEMMER: All right, I want to start with the chief.

Chief Kurz, can you give us a better idea about the suspect you're looking for, descriptions, anything you're getting from students?

KURZ: Well, a lot of the information we're getting is minimal at best. People are waking up in the middle of the night, if they're waking up at all, to his presence and then when confronted, he's been fleeing. We've had eight, six instances at different locations in the downtown Durham area with eight different victims.

HEMMER: Can you give us a better idea about how this is happening? Common sense tells me if you're cutting someone's clothes off while they sleep, they're going to wake up.

KURZ: Well, we're not going to confirm the cutting of clothes. What we are saying is that there's been an attempt to disrobe the women. In some cases, that's been successful. The challenge for us, obviously, is to balance the investigation and trying to keep some things close to the vest so that we can run a viable investigation and at the same time alert our community to some issues.

What we are finding as a commonality, however, is that all of the doors that have been entered have been unlocked. And so certain -- it's certain that the person is an opportunist and it may be as simple to protect yourself to just simply lock your door.

HEMMER: Yes, Mr. Mallory, what are you telling students right now? You're coming back to the end of August right now. Classes are going to be back in session. All these incidents apparently taking place off campus in the town, not on the university grounds. But you're advice to students and parents is what?

MALLORY: Well, first of all, as Chief Kurz just said, lock your doors at night. I have a daughter here at the university. She'll be a senior in the fall. She lives off campus. And I'm telling her the same thing I'd ask all of our parents who are sending their kids to campus this fall, the same thing, and that is be careful. Pay attention to your surroundings. If you go out in the evening, pay attention to who's there and who might be following you and when you get home at night, lock your doors, lock any other entrances you have to your home.

Luckily none of these incidents have taken place on campus itself. But we're also following heightened security procedures in our residence halls, as well.

HEMMER: How about increasing that security off campus? Cost a factor here?

MALLORY: We don't think so. Most apartments in off campus housing have locks and students should use them. This is a fairly rural, quiet environment here and I think a lot of people come here not expecting to have to think about personal security issues. But this is part of the big world, as well, and so they have to pay attention.

HEMMER: Are you getting the support from the police that you think you need?

MALLORY: Absolutely. We have fantastic cooperation from the town police and our own campus security is working with the town police, as well.

HEMMER: No shortage of resources, then, is that what you're saying?

MALLORY: Oh, no shortage of resources. We have now already a statewide task force that's helping us conduct the investigation and bring this to closure.

HEMMER: All right, Chief, in a word or two here, have you noted a progression in these incidents? You mentioned between half a dozen, maybe eight. Have you noticed that the behavior or the break-ins or the incidents have progressed to a level that you did not see early on?

KURZ: Part of that's true. Obviously, we are doing everything we can to alert everyone to the violent potential that's here. While we have not had any of the women who have confronted the person entering the house resort to violence, the very nature of burglarizing a residence where people are sleeping in it obviously escalates the potential for an encounter. And so again, you know, echoing what Dr. Mallory indicated, it's very important just to lock your doors, be aware of the surroundings and report anything suspicious to the university police or the Durham police.

HEMMER: Chief Dave Kurz, Bruce Mallory, thanks, in New Hampshire.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





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