Boulder – If authorities are going to catch the person who sent a racist and threatening e-mail to a University of Colorado student leader last week, they will need to catch a break.
While they know which computer the author of the e-mail used at the University Memorial Center, video cameras did not record in that area, dashing hopes of capturing a suspect on tape.
“That has not proved fruitful,” Campus Police Chief Joe Roy said.
Roy spoke about the case at a gathering of students who were concerned about the racist message in the e-mail threat. The chief described the difficulties his staff faces in solving the crime.
“There are some types of crimes that are … difficult to investigate forensically,” he said Friday. “It is very important for us to get help in this cause.”
About 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, someone sent a profane e-mail to Mebraht Gebre-Michael, a black CU student who is one of three elected heads of the student government. The note said that she would die if she ran for student government again. The e-mailer used a student’s account on a computer.
As the latest in a series of racial incidents on campus, it has ignited calls for action. On Friday, about 300 students and faculty members met with administrators to voice their concern.
“We were patient last semester,” Black Student Alliance president Imam Ekiko said, through tears. “But we are tired.”
But finding the culprit will be difficult. The student whose account was used adamantly denies sending the e-mail. Roy said she was “quite emotional” after learning her account was used.
It’s not the first time investigators have faced this challenge.
From August 2004 through last March, CU football defensive back Stephone Robinson received four similar e-mails, each one sent from a different student account.
Campus police said they took the incidents seriously – Roy himself met with Robinson and his family. The case is unsolved, but still open.
Elliot Ritter’s account was used in November 2004 to send one of those e-mails.
“I felt awful about it,” he said. “They came after me like I was the one that did it. … I said, ‘I had nothing to do with that. I have no idea what you are talking about.”‘
Ritter said if students do not click on a specific “log out” icon when they exit the e-mail account, it is easy for someone to use their account afterward.
“All they would have to do is hang out and wait for you to leave,” he said
Ritter said he has accidentally accessed another student’s account using campus machines.
“Theoretically, if I wanted to, I could have composed a message with their … address,” Ritter said. “I think the school needs to do something about the safety of those public computers.”
Police Lt. John Kish said investigators are looking at who logged onto the computer just before and just after Tuesday’s e-mail was sent in hopes of talking to students who were in the area at the time.
Staff writer George Merritt can be reached at 720-929-0893 or gmerritt@denverpost.com.
