The body of 19-year-old Indian-American freshman student of the University of Illinois, Chicago, was found inside of a family-owned car in the campus parking garage and a 26-year-old man, identified as Donald Thurman, has been charged with first-degree murder and criminal sexual assault of the girl.

The victim, identified as Ruth George, was an honours student majoring in kinesiology at the UIC and originally hailed from Hyderabad. She was reported missing by her family over the weekend. CCTV footage reportedly showed Donald follow Ruth into the garage at 1.30 am on Saturday. He was also caught walking out of the garage alone less than an hour later. Donald was taken into custody Sunday morning and following brief interrogation, the 26-year-old confessed to murdering Ruth.

Ester George, Ruth's older sister, called Ruth the light of their family and the best of all of them. "She was wise beyond her years and now she is gone too soon," her Facebook post read. UIC's Chancellor, Michael Amiridis, reportedly mentioned in a statement, "George had dreams and aspirations to become a health professional and help others. The traumatic loss of life of one of our community members is very difficult to comprehend and surely invokes a range of emotions for all of us."

An autopsy revealed that Ruth had been strangled. The accused reportedly has a criminal record and is currently on parole for armed robbery, after serving two years of a six-year sentence. He was released from prison in December 2018.