Authorities in Laramie said Tuesday that they are making progress as they investigate the violent deaths of three college students and will release more details soon.
The students were killed early Sunday during a small house party about a block from War Memorial Stadium. A variety of weapons were involved, said Laramie police spokesman Dale Stalder, but investigators have declined to discuss what prompted the violent outbreak.
Police said they were meeting with the families of the victims to explain what happened before making more information public.
After that, “We should be able to release what we believe happened as well as how the victims died,” Stalder said.
The victims were Amber Carlson, 19, of Denver; Justin Geiger, 20, of South Beloit, Ill.; and 20-year-old Adam Towler of Laramie.
Anthony Klochak, 19, of Chardon, Ohio, was wounded but escaped. He has been helpful in piecing together what happened at the scene and is not considered a suspect, Stalder said.
Klochak and Geiger shared the house with three others who were not present when the killings occurred. Carlson and Towler were visiting the home, and alcohol was involved, police said.
Towler had been attending Emory University in Atlanta and was visiting family and friends in Laramie. Carlson, Klochak and Geiger were enrolled at UW. Carlson was a nursing major at the university. Geiger was a marketing major, while Klochak was studying architectural engineering.
Jacob Lee, a UW junior, lived on the same dormitory floor as Geiger and Carlson. They were good friends, and no problems existed between them, Lee said. Geiger was recently shaken by the death of a sister, Lee said. “They (his friends) don’t think he recovered from that,” Lee said.
Geiger also owned guns and kept them at his sister’s home in Fort Collins or at a locker the university had at the police department for firearms, Lee said.
“He’d tell us how safe he was, and how he wouldn’t keep bullets in them,” Lee said.
Staff writer Joel Grostephan contributed to this report.
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
