Murder Victim Lauren McCluskey Had Nude Photos Showed Off By An Ex-Cop, And He Was Cleared Of Any Criminal Charges

New York Daily News

Sometimes some people do despicable acts and get away with it. Life is not fair, really. A student at the University of Utah, Lauren McCluskey, was murdered by a stalker in 2018 after police officers ignored her pleas for help. It was not the murderer, Melvin Shawn Rowland, who got away with the loathsome crime. He took his own life after murdering Mccluskey, police said. Surprisingly, it was a police officer then, who got away with a despicable act.

Officer Miguel Dera acquired nude photos of the murdered college student, and shared it with other police officers. Truly unbecoming of a police officer, not to mention really disrespectful and shameless. Yet, two years after the incident, ex-police officer Dera, who spread the nude photos of the dead 21-year old, has been cleared of any criminal charges.


Just recently, Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office announced that the former cop would not be prosecuted, despite the obvious misconduct of acquiring and sharing the photos of McCluskey. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill admitted that Dera’s actions were indeed “definitely reckless,” however no state laws exist on the books that address such offenses.

Gill explained, We realized there was no real statute we could use for this case. We’re incensed like everyone else by the behavior. It was inappropriate. But if there’s not a statute, there’s nothing we can do.”

Insider

McCluskey actually dated her killer, Rowland, before ending the relationship after finding out he had lied about his age and criminal past. Rowland was a convicted sex offender, who stalked, harassed, and blackmailed the young girl weeks prior to her murder. The distraught college student reached out to campus police for their help, and Deras was assigned to the case. McCluskey provided explicit photos to the officer in the hope it would help the investigation and stop the harassment and blackmail.

But instead, Deras shared the photos with at least three other male co-workers without any work-related reason. This was according to the investigation by the Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS). The office also found lewd comments made about the images. In the days before her killing, Mccluskey complained that the campus police failed to follow-up or update her regarding the investigation, 911 transcripts revealed.

The thing is, while the district attorney claims that “no real statute” could have been used to pursue justice, it seemed he “conveniently” waited exactly one day after the state could have filed misdemeanor charges against the ex-cop for abusing evidence, But, the statute of limitations had then already expired. “We just got it so late and were limited in what options we had,” Gill said. Yeah right.

Dreamstime

Attorney Jim McConkie, the McCluskey family lawyer, said that Lauren was also abused by the officer while she was still alive. He shared her photos and bragged about them, clearly without her consent, just a few days before she was murdered. McConkie stated, what Gill is saying to women with this decision is ‘We can’t help you. Don’t come to us’.” McCluskey’s parents, Jill and Matt McCluskey, expressed their outrage about the decision not to file any charges, obviously.


“Instead of helping her, Deras showed her images to other male officers and bragged about it,” the parents angrily stated. “ A consequence of Gill’s decision is that women will hesitate to report extortion and harassment for fear that the private information they provide will be compromised, or even leered at, by officers for reasons unrelated to her case.”

 Jill McCluskey tweeted some comments regarding the case and the decision of Gill. It is unfortunate that our justice system is at times flawed, and worse, the officials involved are shameless and dishonorable.

 

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