Meechaiel Criner Arrested For Murder Of UT-Austin Student

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Meechaiel Criner (mih-kah-EEL’ KRY’-nur) has been arrested in UT – Austin freshman dance major Haruka Weiser’s death, according to a press conference by the Austin Police Department. He has been identified as a 17-year-old black male who is homeless in the area. He was arrested yesterday, April 7.

Here’s the mug shot.

Police released CCTV footage of a suspect yesterday afternoon. The video showed a black man walking with a red or pink woman’s bicycle carrying two bags (one of which looks like a purse). He had a small blue duffle bag that resembled the victim’s on him at the time of the arrest.

Haruka Weiser: Photos Of UT-Austin Homicide Victim

Sources told KVUE that Austin firefighters provided an important tip to police after they responded to a small fire involving a backpack and that they may have recovered some of Weiser’s belongings.

The investigation is still ongoing, but the police are confident they have their man.

Meechaiel Criner was interviewed in his high school where he revealed he had issues with bullying.

“I’ve been bullied almost my whole life,” Criner said. “In elementary school, I would come home crying almost every day. It was because of my accent, you see. People couldn’t understand me.”

He reveals that he was living with his grandmother at that time because his mother was not a responsible parent to him and his four siblings.

The article ended with a quote: “What I want to leave behind is my name – I want them to know who Meechaiel Criner is.”

Haruka Weiser was an 18-year-old freshman student at The University of Texas-Austin who was found dead on Tuesday. Austin Police Department Assistant Chief Troy Gay said during a press conference that Weiser was “assaulted” prior to death.

This was the first on-campus homicide investigation at the University of Texas since the Charles Whitman shootings in 1966.

 

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