“We didn’t know any details, and a lot of people were concerned. Was this person still out there?” said Christine Krueger, a junior who sometimes studied with Trinh.
After nearly two months of investigation, city police yesterday said they have arrested a suspect. Donta Maurice Allen, 27, of the 3000 block of Mathews St., near the city’s Waverly neighborhood, is charged with Trinh’s murder. Allen is not a student or employee at Hopkins but knew Trinh, a popular biomedical engineering major, and had access to her off-campus apartment building.
“It’s a relief,” said Hopkins President William R. Brody at a news conference yesterday. “There was a lot of concern and anxiety: Will he do it again?”
Yet still unsolved is last spring’s fatal stabbing of Johns Hopkins junior Christopher Elser, the victim of a late-night attack in his off-campus fraternity house.
The two deaths prompted an outcry of concern from students, parents and area residents, and Hopkins officials quickly moved to beef up security by hiring more security guards and adding more cameras.
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As news of the arrest spread yesterday, students said they felt reassured now that a suspect had been arrested. Police had been investigating Allen since the killing but said they had to wait for the results of DNA tests before arresting him.
Trinh visited Vietnam over the summer, where she studied breast cancer detection and AIDS-related dementia, and wanted to become a medical researcher. She was also a popular student who had been president of her sorority and was known to drag other biomedical engineering students onto the dance floor.
“She was awesome. Her smile would light up a room, and people were crushed by her death. [An arrest] will provide some initial comfort,” said Ryan Sheare, a senior biomedical engineering major from Bethesda.
“I’m glad it worked out and they caught someone,” said Jason Paluzzi, a freshman from Trenton, N.J.
Many students said they were also relieved that the suspect is not another Hopkins student. There was no sign of forced entry at Trinh’s apartment, authorities said, and many speculated that another student was the killer. In 1996, a Hopkins student was shot and killed by a classmate.
“You never want to think that a fellow student could do something so horrible,” said Krueger, a biomedical engineering major from Linthicum.
Allen and Trinh knew each other, police said, and he dated one of her sorority sisters. Police declined to say how Trinh and Allen met. He never attended or worked at Hopkins, but he worked briefly at the Rocky Run Tap and Grill, a popular bar on St. Paul Street close to campus.
Since Trinh’s death, the university has pledged $2 million to improve security. Guards have begun patrolling along Charles Street on foot and in cars, and they are on duty 24 hours a day at the school’s apartment buildings.
The university has also installed extra security phones and 32 security cameras, which should be operational this month.
Many students praised the university’s actions. “It was handled extremely well,” said Jessica Rebarber, a freshman from East Brunswick, N.J.
Beth Bullamore, president of the Charles Village Civic Association, also said Johns Hopkins has done a good job in increasing security.
“It’s a really heinous crime, and I’m just glad for her family’s sake that they found someone who was involved,” she said. “But the extra police patrols, the extra lighting, this will help the community and help prevent other crimes.”
<!– ART CREDITKENNETH K. LAM : SUN STAFF
ART CREDIT–> <!– CUTLINE TEXTStudent Jason Paluzzi reacts to news that an arrest was made in the death of Linda Trinh, killed in the building behind him.
CUTLINE TEXT–>