A memorial stands on the campus of Rowan University in Glassboro, Gloucester County, New Jersey in honor Donnie Farrell, who was beaten to death in 2007.
Four years later, the 19-year-old's murder remains unsolved. Now journalism professor Kathy Quigley and her students are hoping to change that.
"There was an entirely new crop of students who didn't know anything about this young man," Quigley said. "This lacrosse player that had a loving family and was just on his way to a couple of Halloween parties."
Farrell was robbed and beaten as he walked across campus homecoming weekend. When he died, police believed his murderer was a man in a designer sweatshirt seen in surveillance video at the X-Press Mart next door. But a $100,000 reward failed to generate enough clues for an arrest.
"This was such a sad event at Rowan," Quigley said. And that's why Quigley and colleague Amy Quinn have made Donnie Farrell's murder the project for the Investigative reporting class.
Ashley Super is one of 10 students re-interviewing witnesses, family and friends and using Facebook and Twitter to generate leads.
"The more I learn about the case, the more I'm surprised that there's not more information on it and that it hasn't been solved," Super said.
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The class took on the case with the blessings of Donnie's family, the county prosecutor and the university, even thought it was a painful chapter in the school's history.
"It's something that needs to be done, particularly since it's an open case," said Joe Cardona, a spokesman for Rowan.
For more information on the Donnie Farrell Project:
- Facebook: The Donnie Project
- Twitter: @Donnie Project
- Email: TheDonnieProject@gmail.com
