LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A student at the University of Arkansas was killed at her off-campus apartment and a former student she knew was arrested in Oklahoma, police and the university said.
Katharine Wood, 24, a senior English major from Greenbrier, was found dead Sunday morning by police investigating a caller’s report that a woman in her apartment complex seemed to be arguing with someone, police and the university said. The apartment complex is a few blocks off campus.
University Chancellor John White said the campus community grieved with Wood’s family and friends. “The loss of any student is a loss for the entire campus,” White said in a state. “But a death under these circumstances is such a tragic waste.”
Police did not say how Wood died. Her body was being sent to the Arkansas State Medical Examiner’s Office, said police Sgt. Shannon Gabbard.
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Almost 10 hours after her body was discovered, Oklahoma State Highway Police officers arrested Zachariah Marcyniuk, 28, of Fayetteville, on a first-degree murder charge in western Oklahoma.
University spokesman Steve Voorhies said Monday that Marcyniuk was a junior at Arkansas but withdrew last month.
Gabbard said Marcyniuk and Wood had been acquainted or had been romantically involved at some point, the Northwest Arkansas Times reported.
The officer said investigators began looking for Marcyniuk for questioning on the basis of that relationship with Wood and a criminal history that Gabbard said included charges in 2005 of first-degree false imprisonment, aggravated assault, violation of a protection order, burglary, theft of property and first-degree criminal mischief.
Arkansas police obtained a warrant for Marcyniuk’s arrest and issued a description of his car. Marcyniuk was arrested by an Oklahoma trooper who stopped a car matching that description for speeding on Interstate 40, authorities said.
Marcyniuk was being held at the Beckham County Jail in Sayre, Okla., about 300 miles west of Fayetteville.
