Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Boise, ID: Professor-student romance ends in murder-suicide

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A college professor who alternately referred to himself as a "psychopathic killer" and "the beast" killed himself after fatally shooting a graduate student he had recently dated, police said in newly revealed court documents.

The body of former University of Idaho professor Ernesto A. Bustamante, 31, was found early Tuesday at in a Moscow hotel room after he apparently shot himself in the head with a revolver, police said. Authorities found Katy Benoit, 22, dead on her front porch a day earlier. She had been shot multiple times with a .45-caliber handgun outside her home while her roommates were inside, police said.

A police affidavit filed Tuesday further details the relationship between Bustamante and Benoit, including violent encounters that were described by their friends and roommates.

Bustamante and Benoit's relationship reportedly ended in March. After the breakup, Benoit said that Bustamante had pointed a handgun at her on multiple occasions and at one point put a gun in her mouth, according to the police statement.

Benoit's roommates told police they had been concerned for her well-being because Bustamante had weapons and multiple personalities.

Rowdy J. Hope, who calls himself a close friend of Bustamante, "confirmed that Bustamante had multiple handguns and multiple personality disorders to include one Bustamante calls a 'psychopathic killer' and another Bustamante calls 'the beast.'" Moscow Police Sgt. Bruce Fager said in the affidavit filed Tuesday.

Benoit filed a complaint with the university in June over Bustamante's behavior and he was either fired or forced to resign as a result, according to the affidavit. Fager said it is unclear how the university handled the complaint because it was treated as a personnel matter and was confidential.

The university has said Bustamante resigned effective Friday, but declined to comment on any specifics related to his employment, including saying whether Benoit was one of his students, citing public records laws and the ongoing investigation.

"I want to assure you that if any questions were raised, they were investigated and dealt within the bounds of law and university policy," said Duane Nellis, the school's president, in a statement Tuesday.

The university hired Bustamante in August 2007 and he had been an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Communication.

Benoit had earned her undergraduate degree from the university in 2010 and started her first year as a graduate student in the psychology department this fall.

Her parents, Janet and Gary Benoit, released a statement Tuesday.

"Katy was a beautiful, intelligent and musically talented woman and we are so saddened by her tragic death," the family said.

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