July 14, 2011

Former boyfriend charged in college student's murder

MANKATO, Minn. — The jilted boyfriend of a Minnesota State University student stabbed her to death after the two fought about their relationship, police said.

Damone Christopher Williams-Tillman, 19, was charged Tuesday with second degree murder in the slaying of Josselyn Marie Bishop, 19. She was found stabbed last Friday afternoon in the median of a road closed for construction.

Police said Bishop had broken off her relationship with Tillman and was seeing someone else. Tillman told police he picked up Bishop in his father's car on Friday, and they were driving around Mankato when they got into an argument, according to the criminal complaint against him.

Tillman stabbed Bishop once in the car, police said, then chased her down when she fled and stabbed her enough times to kill her. His bail was set at $400,000 during a Tuesday court appearance.

Bishop was from Henderson, Minn., a southern Minnesota hamlet about 50 miles from Minneapolis. She was described as having a zest for life that made her hard to forget.

Tillman’s family and friends said they are in shock and cannot believe he would do something so cruel.

Bishop's body was discovered by construction workers Friday afternoon. Police and paramedics unsuccessfully tried reviving her.

Police did not learn the college student's identity until getting a call from her roommate, who was concerned when she did not show up for her shift at McDonald's.

Police began looking for Tillman upon learning that he and Bishop had broken up, he had thrown her cellphone into a pond and he had slashed the tires on her car last spring, according to court documents.

Police found Tillman late that night at his father's home in suburban Minneapolis. He agreed to return to Mankato, where he later described for police how he had stabbed his former girlfriend, according to court documents.

http://effinghamdailynews.com/cnhins/x1475585379/Former-boyfriend-charged-in-college-students-murder