BEYOND THE PALE

Parents Sue College Over ‘Voyeuristic’ Sharing of Murder Victim’s Explicit Photos

An officer allegedly saved the photos on his personal phone, showed them off to a male co-worker, and bragged about getting to look at them whenever he wanted.

The parents of Lauren McCluskey, who was murdered on the University of Utah Campus in 2018, have filed a second lawsuit against the school after The Salt Lake Tribune reported last month that an officer assigned to her case allegedly saved explicit photos of McCluskey on his personal phone, showed them off to a male co-worker, and bragged about getting to look at them whenever he wanted in the days leading up to her death.

The photos were initially given to police after McCluskey’s ex-boyfriend, Melvin Rowland, threatened to blackmail her with them, according to a press release issued by her family on Monday. McCluskey’s family initially filed a federal suit the university for $56 million in June 2019, claiming that Lauren and her friends reported her ex-boyfriend’s “dangerous” behavior more than 20 times before he shot her and then killed himself, and that the school did nothing.

Miguel Deras, one of the officers assigned to McCluskey’s case, showed off the photos to at least one male colleague, the Tribune reported based on accounts from fellow officers. Police have said they launched an internal affairs investigation into Deras over the Tribune’s report.