MILLERSVILLE, Pa. — The boyfriend of a college freshman found dead inside her dormitory room was covered in blood and performing CPR on her when campus police arrived, according to an arrest affidavit.
Gregorio Orrostieta, 19, told officers early Sunday that he shoved Millersville University student Karlie Hall, causing her to fall and hit her head on a chair, and then gave her a “back hand” to the face, the affidavit said.
Orrostieta, who doesn’t attend the university, was arraigned Monday on an aggravated assault charge and is jailed on $1.5 million bail. He did not have a lawyer at the hearing. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 19.
Orrostieta told police he and Hall, 18, had argued at a party Saturday night and she had hit him, the affidavit said. They made up before returning to the dorm at around 1:30 a.m. and arguing again, the affidavit said.
Police responding to a cardiac arrest call to the Bard Hall dormitory found Hall unresponsive around 5:20 a.m. Sunday, according to the affidavit and a university statement.
Orrostieta, said police, had blood smeared on his face and a dried cut on his forehead. His shirt was ripped, exposing scratch marks on his chest, and he had blood on his hands and jeans, the affidavit said.
The Lancaster County district attorney scheduled a press conference with the university’s police chief and administrators for Monday afternoon.
In a note to students, Millersville president John Anderson called Hall’s death “unfathomable.”
The university’s communications director, Janet Kacskos, said Hall’s death had shaken the 8,000-student state-owned university near Lancaster.
“We’ve never had this happen. We’re a pretty bucolic, rural campus. Very safe,” Kacskos said.
Friends said Hall was a finance major who always appeared happy and often spent her free time going to the gym or feeding ducks at a campus pond.
“I knew that the relationship wasn’t that great,” said Hall’s friend, Trisha Faust, 19, of Emmaus. “It was on-again, off-again.”
Molly Gaetano, 19, of Pittsburgh, who lives two doors down from Hall on the second floor of the three-story dormitory, said she last spoke to her Friday.
“She never talked bad about anyone. She was always smiling and cheerful,” Gaetano said.
A memorial with flowers and cards was set up at Hall’s dorm room, she said.
Orrostieta and Hall were from neighboring Philadelphia suburbs: Orrostieta from Kennett Square and Hall from Chadds Ford.
Hall and her twin sister, Kristin, graduated from Unionville High School last June and went to Millersville together, Principal Paula Massanari said. The girls also have an older sister.
Hall was a member of the school rugby club and gay-straight alliance, and she volunteered at a local animal shelter, Massanari said. She was described in a college recommendation letter as a “hard-working” student, who was working a part-time job to help offset the cost of college.
“This has certainly hit our school community very hard,” Massanari said. “We are devastated by the loss.”
