Katy Benoit
The University of Idaho has reached a settlement with the family of slain graduate student Katy Benoit, a 22-year-old who was gunned down last August by a former professor she had dated.
The state Board of Education was expected to consider the agreement at a meeting later this week in Moscow. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that a settlement had been reached.
Benoit died Aug. 22 after being shot 11 times by former psychology professor Ernesto Bustamante, who then checked into a Moscow hotel before turning a gun on himself. Bustamante had resigned from his position at the university days earlier. Police found six guns and medications for bipolar disorder and severe anxiety in Bustamante’s hotel room.
Benoit’s family filed a $3 million tort claim in December, saying the university “negligently and recklessly” hired Bustamante and knew that he engaged in abusive sexual relationships with female students.
Benoit complained to the university last June that Bustamante had pointed a loaded gun at her head on three separate occasions and detailed the manner in which he would use it. The university urged Benoit to take safety precautions and go to police. (AP)
