By ROBB FREDERICK
robb.frederick@timesnews.com
and GERRY WEISS
CLAY, N.Y. -- A former boyfriend has been charged with the murder of Mercyhurst College student Jenni-Lyn Watson, whose body was found near a park in central New York on Saturday.
A prosecutor said her body had been dumped "like garbage."
Watson, a 20-year-old dance major, was a junior at Mercyhurst. She had gone to her parents' home for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Watson had been missing since Nov. 19, a day after she arrived at the house. Investigators said she likely was killed in the home and then taken to a wooded area near Clay Central Park.
"We do not believe she left that house alive," Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said.
Searchers found Watson's body in a swampy area behind a storage shed at about 10:30 a.m., Fitzpatrick said. It was covered with debris but had not been buried, he said.
More than 100 law enforcement officers had combed the woods Saturday, covering more than 1,200 acres, according to the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office. They were led to the area, which is north of Syracuse, by tracing call records from Watson's cell phone.
Watson's former boyfriend, 21-year-old Steven Pieper, of Liverpool, N.Y., was arrested on a second-degree murder charge.
Pieper was arraigned in Clay Town Court at about 8 p.m. Saturday. He pleaded not guilty to the charge, police said, and is being held at the Onondaga County Justice Center without bail.
Pieper is not a Mercyhurst College student, officials at the school said.
Watson had tried to end their on-again-off-again, 18-month relationship in early October, Fitzpatrick said.
The Onondaga County Medical Examiner's Office is scheduled to perform an autopsy today. As of late Saturday night, the cause of Watson's death had not been determined.
Mercyhurst College will hold a prayer service tonight at 8:30 at Old Main's Christ the King Chapel. A service originally scheduled for Monday night has been canceled.
"Our Mercyhurst family poured their hearts and souls into finding Jenni-Lyn in a genuine outpouring of humanity," Mercyhurst College President Tom Gamble said during a brief news conference held at Old Main on Saturday night. "Her death is devastating to our entire college community. We continue to pray for her family and extend our deepest sympathies."
The school's counseling and campus ministry staff will be available at the ministry office in the Carolyn Herrmann Student Union after today's Mass at 11 a.m. until tonight's prayer service begins.
A memorial space will be established today at Zurn Hall outside of the school's dance department for the college community to pay their respects.
"It will serve as a gathering spot for students to share their feelings and thoughts about Jenni-Lyn and about what has happened," Gamble said. "Mercyhurst is a family, and we want to make sure we're here to support our family."
Classes resume Monday for the school's nearly 2,500 undergraduate students returning from Thanksgiving break. Gamble said he expects many students, especially those who knew Watson, will likely find it difficult to focus on their schoolwork.
"This is a terrible, tragic, and heartbreaking time," the college's president added. "These are young people, and many of them have never experienced a tragedy like this. Many of them have a feeling of immortality."
Matt Tolbert, a technical assistant in Mercyhurst's dance department, was a good friend of Watson's, working with her in dance classes and shows. On Saturday night, the 23-year-old said he was in "disbelief."
Tolbert celebrated Halloween this year with Watson and several other Mercyhurst dance students, hosting a party at his house.
He said Watson came dressed wearing a white angel costume.
"Shock, sadness, heartache. I feel broken," Tolbert said Saturday. "You never get over something like this."
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