Slain Woman Found in San Diego College Restroom
Updated at 6:33 p.m. ET
A 19-year-old woman found slain in a men's bathroom at San Diego City College may have been the victim of domestic violence, school officials said Wednesday.
(Scroll down to watch a report from CBS News affiliate KFMB-TV in San Diego)
A student found the body shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday and notified a teacher, police said. Investigators Wednesday morning were retracing the woman's steps on campus and would not say how she was killed. They also were withholding her name.
An official told CBS News affiliate KFMB-TV in San Diego that the killing appears to be a case of domestic violence that slipped onto the campus.
The woman's parents reported her missing when she did not return home after a Tuesday night class, homicide detective Kevin Rooney told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Jasmin Perez told the newspaper that the woman was her cousin Diana Gonzalez, of National City, and that she has an 8-month-old daughter. Perez said Gonzalez wanted to be a nurse and was taking general education classes.
School officials tried to calm students and said they do not believe the death was the result of a random killer who came on campus.
Still, students who walked past the yellow police tape and crime scene investigators said the killing made them feel uneasy. Several classes were moved to other buildings.
"I'll now be using the buddy system to go to the bathroom because you just don't know," said Joelle Williams, a student. "You don't know if that person was in the women's bathroom waiting for her, grabbed her, and took her in to the men's bathroom, or what happened. Truly, I just think it's all a little bit crazy. I've been walking around the campus looking at people today, like, is it him, did he do it? You know? It's just kinda weird."
City College President Terrence Burgess said in a statement released Wednesday morning that college officials extended their condolences to the woman's family and asked students to remember the victim in their prayers.