Craige Residents Find Dead Animal In Suite Bathroom

According to police reports, the animal was about 2 feet long and 14 inches tall. There was no evidence of breaking and entering into the suite.

Authorities believe the animal is a skinned fox, and police had no suspects as of Monday afternoon.

Police reports state that freshman Elizabeth Makrides, a resident of the suite, found the animal in the shower at about 12:45 a.m. Monday. Makrides said she informed her suitemates of the matter and immediately called the police.

"I stepped into the shower a little before 1 a.m. Monday morning, and I saw a dead, skinned animal lying on the floor," Makrides said. "I was shocked."

Freshman Pamela Lambeth, another resident of the suite, said she noticed some suspicious conditions in the bathroom more than an hour prior to the discovery of the animal.

"(Sunday) night at about 11 p.m., I found that the bathroom door was locked, and I thought that was strange because we don't usually lock the door," Lambeth said. "A couple of minutes later, I went in to the bathroom and saw a bag with blood on it in the trash, but I just assumed someone had cut themselves."

Lt. Archie Daniel, who investigated the scene with Lt. H. L. Bryant, said he is not sure of the motive for the incident.

"We haven't seen anything exactly like this at UNC before," Daniel said. "Since it is so unusual, we plan on touching all bases during our investigation."

Daniel said that the animal carcass was collected, refrigerated at the Department of Public Safety and examined by a veterinary team to determine what kind of animal it was. "The vet believes it was a fox and that it was potentially killed in the road and skinned for its pelt," Daniel said. "It is fox-trapping season, but we don't think it was trapped."

Daniel also said the animal carcass was sent to a lab to be tested for disease. "There is no reason for us to believe that the animal has any disease, but we felt we have an obligation to rule it out for the safety of the school," Daniel said.

Residents of the fourth-floor suite said they have no idea why the incident occurred. "The police asked us if we had any enemies or if we were really into saving animals or a member of the humane society, but no one could think of any reason why someone would do this," Lambeth said.

Makrides and Lambert said they now plan to take added precautions to deter any further incidents.

"We decided to start locking the suite door at night, but it is kind of hard to prevent something like this from happening again," said freshman Mona Gupta, another resident of the suite. "This incident just reminds me how scary it is that people can come in and out of the dorms and rooms so easily."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.