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Student Arrested After Classmate Found With Butcher Knife 'Sticking Out Of Her Mouth'
A bloodied Luisa Cutting was taken into police custody after allegedly telling officers "I killed her," after they found the body of Alexa Cannon with multiple stab wounds.
A Radford University student has been accused in the grisly stabbing death of a classmate at an off-campus facility in Virginia.
Luisa Cutting, 21, from Jeffersonton, Virginia was taken into police custody Thursday. Officers had been responding to a call at about 7:45 a.m. when they encountered a bloodied Cutting before discovering the body of a deceased female who had suffered multiple stab wounds: a butcher knife was found "sticking out of her mouth," according to a search warrant cited by Virginia First.com. Cutting reportedly told the arriving officer "arrest me," later adding "I killed her."
The victim was identified as Alexa Cannon, 20, a fellow Radford student.
A campus-wide email announcing the availability of grief counselors was released shortly after the arrest.
"Please be advised that this morning there was an isolated incident that occurred at an off-campus location," read the email, according to VirginiaFirst.com. "There was no immediate threat to campus or the broader community. This incident is under the jurisdiction of the City of Radford Police Department and is being handled accordingly. ... This is a tragic moment for our campus community and the Radford family. During this difficult time, we ask that you provide support to your fellow Highlanders."
Caitlyn Scaggs, Radford University’s associate vice president for university relations, told Roanoke.com in an email that Cutting now is on interim suspension at the university. The school's privacy policy prevented Scaggs from saying whether the suspension pre-dated her arrest.
Radford University President Brian Hemphill mourned the loss of Cannon in an email to students.
"Alexa was pursuing a degree in psychology and was planning to graduate next May," Hemphill wrote on Friday. "She was very involved on campus and was a proud member of several organizations. Like every Highlander, Alexa had a full life ahead of her, a life poised to make a great impact on those she would have encountered, the career she was pursuing and the communities in which she would have lived. Please join me in expressing the Radford family’s deepest sympathies and lasting condolences to the Cannon family and all of those impacted by Alexa’s passing and this inexcusable and heinous act."
Cutting has been charged with murder in the second degree, according to a Facebook post from the Radford City Police Department.
A motivation for the alleged crime remains unclear.
The Radord City Police Department are asking anyone with more information on the crime to contact them at (540)-731-3624, or by email crimestoppers@radfordva.gov.
