Philadelphia

‘It Feels Like a Broken Heart': Friends Grieve Over Death of Temple Student Jenna Burleigh

Temple University students are on devastated and nervous after 22-year-old Jenna Burleigh’s remains were found Saturday night inside a storage bin near the Poconos.

Temple University students are devastated and nervous after 22-year-old Jenna Burleigh’s remains were found Saturday night inside a storage bin near the Poconos.

The junior had barely finished her first week at Temple when she went out with friends Thursday night to popular college bar Pub Webb on North 15th Street and Cecil B Moore Avenue. She was last seen leaving the bar with 29-year-old Joshua Hupperterz, police said.

Her remains were recovered Saturday from a home in Paupack Township, Wayne County, in the Poconos. Officials said was killed in North Philadelphia and then her body transferred to Jenkintown before making her final journey north.

She died from blunt trauma and strangulation, according to the Wayne County Coroner's Office.

Close friends said the news has left them shattered.

Photos: The Life of Jenna Burleigh

“She touched everyone’s soul in her own way. It was really beautiful,” Danielle Halteman said hiccuping through tears. “It feels like a broken heart. It’s hard to imagine a world without someone who has been so close.”

On the night Burleigh died, she and a group of friends sang karaoke at Pub Webb. It was a party like any other, classmate and friend Peyton Rutz said.

“It’s hard to put into words how much she impacted each and every one of us,” she said. “We were all just really excited to see her.”

Burleigh had recently transferred from Montgomery County Community College to Temple and was majoring in film and media studies. She met Hupperterz at Pub Webb, and police have no reason to think they knew each other outside of that encounter, officials said.

Other classmates and fellow Temple Owls remained in shock following news of Burleigh’s death.

"A lot of people are in constant fear now that it's real,” first-year student Ana Olivera said. Her mother came to visit Sunday questioned whether Olivera should remain on campus given the murder investigation.

Another first-year student told NBC10 school officials are encouraging students to walk in groups and remain aware of their surroundings at all time.

Senior Ahmad Goode, who took a class with Hupperterz, said the 29-year-old lied about his past and even claimed to have been on the Temple football team.

“Sitting with someone for that period of time and now knowing what they could be capable of, it’s terrifying,” he said.

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