Parents of murdered Lauren McCluskey, 21, recall harrowing final phone call with Utah athlete

The parents of murdered University of Utah athlete Lauren McCluskey revealed they heard her being dragged to her death at the end of their last phone call the night she was tragically killed by a former boyfriend.

Authorities said McCluskey, a 21-year-old track star from Pullman, Washington, was fatally shot by Melvin Rowland, 37, on October 22, 2018. McCluskey was being blackmailed by her ex-boyfriend, Rowland, when she confided in campus police earlier that month. 

Jill and Matt McCluskey, Lauren's parents, detailed their last shared phone call with their beloved daughter before she was taken from them in an ABC News special. The call took place at 8:10 p.m. the night she was murdered, as she was leaving class.

'Lauren was looking forward to things, she was proud that she was making progress on an assignment that was not due for a few days,' Matt McCluskey recounted of the speakerphone chat. 'It was a wonderful conversation. She was so happy and then... she said no, no, no and I knew something was wrong.' 

'I hear her yell no, no, no and then I sort of hear her being dragged away and her phone fell and then no one answered the phone,' added Jill McCluskey. 'I knew her life was in danger at that time.' 

Jill and Matt McCluskey, Lauren's parents, detailed their last shared phone call with their beloved daughter before she was taken from them in an ABC News special. The call took place at 8:10 p.m. the night she was murdered, as she was leaving class

Matt McCluskey added that they were yelling her name, unsure of what was going on. 

The documentary, titled 'Listen,' aired on ESPN earlier this week, with a 20/20 special focusing on the McCluskey investigation airing Friday night on ABC. 

The film details how 'the people and the institutions responsible for protecting her failed at every turn.'

'What struck me was how many opportunities there were, where one different decision might have been the thing that saved her life,' T.J. Quinn, one of the investigative reporters on the documentary, told KUER. 

McCluskey told authorities that she was being extorted by her sex-offender ex who said he had access to some of her personal images and was threatening to release them if she didn't pay him $1,000.

The ESPN documentary reveals that Rowland had told multiple co-workers and a supervisor he was extorting her. 

'That's just another thing that could have been brought to my attention that could have changed everything,' Meagan Thomson, Rowland's last parole officer, says in the documentary. 'Right then and there I would have gone to pick him up. I would [have] put him in handcuffs.' 

Authorities said McCluskey (pictured), a 21-year-old track star from Pullman, Washington, was fatally shot by Melvin Rowland, 37, on October 22, 2018

Authorities identified Melvin Rowland (left and right) as McCluskey's killer. He killed himself hours later inside a church 

The student athlete had called the police six times in the 10 days before her horrific murder in the backseat of a car in her dorm's parking lot

Terrified by the demand, McCluskey paid Rowland the money, and then sent copies of his threatening messages and the pictures in question to police as evidence.

In 2020, it was revealed that Deras saved the compromising photos of the young track star onto his phone, before showing them to his colleagues and bragging about being able to ogle at them any time he wanted, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

Deras spoke publicly for the first time in the documentary, apologizing McCluskey and her family for how they handled the investigation. 

Just nine days after filing the report, McCluskey was shot dead by Rowland on campus, who then turned the gun on himself inside a church hours later. 

The promising athlete had ended the relationship a month earlier after discovering Rowland was a registered sex offender who had lied about his name, age and criminal history.

It was also revealed that McCluskey called the police six times in the 10 days leading up to her horrific murder in the backseat of a car in her dorm's parking lot. 

Two years to the day after student-athlete Lauren McCluskey was brutally murdered by her abusive ex-boyfriend, the University of Utah announced that it would pay the victim's family a total of $13.5million to settle two separate lawsuits. 

Less than two weeks after she first contacted campus police about the 'sextortion' plot, Rowland fatally shot her in a university parking lot, before turning the gun on himself. 

Ex-university of Utah Police Chief Dale Brophy (left) and Miguel Deras (right), a former university officer who reportedly showed his male co-workers explicit images of Lauren McCluskey, are demanding $10m from the college because they say they were mistreated 

Authorities said Lauren McCluskey (pictured), a 21-year-old track star from Pullman, Washington, was fatally shot by Melvin Rowland, 37, on October 22, 2018

In the weeks before her death, McCluskey repeatedly called the police with her concerns about Rowland and revealed she was being blackmailed with their intimate photos 

District Attorney Sim Gill said last week that the former officer’s actions were 'definitely reckless,' but there is no state law addressing the misconduct.

'We’re incensed like everyone else by the behavior. It was inappropriate,' Gill said. 'But if there’s not a statute, there’s nothing we can do.'

Gill's decision to not charge Deras sparked protests in Salt Lake City and earned criticism from McCluskey's mother, who warned that it could create a chilling effect for women in similar situations.

Matthew and Jill McCluskey, Lauren's parents, had filed two separate lawsuits against University of Utah and related entities, with their first complaint brought last year seeking $56million and alleging that officials could have done more to protect their daughter after claiming she contacted campus police multiple times in the weeks leading up to her death saying her ex-boyfriend was harassing her. 

The family's second lawsuit, filed in June of this year, accused the University of Utah of discriminating against McCluskey based on her gender by ignoring her pleas for protection. 

'The University of Utah acknowledges that the murder of Lauren McCluskey was a brutal, senseless, and preventable tragedy and acknowledges the unspeakable loss the McCluskey family has suffered and continues to suffer,' Thursday's settlement reads, reported The Salt Lake Tribune.

As part of the agreement, the university will pay $10.5million to the student's parents and donate an additional $3million to the Lauren McCluskey Foundation dedicated to improving safety on college campuses across the country. 

University of Utah also will build an indoor track for McCluskey's former track and field team by 2030 and name it after her.  

In this October 21, 2019 file photo, University of Utah students gather after walking out of classes during a demonstration over McCluskey's death

Rowland murdered Lauren at her dorm, the South Tower Medical Plaza Student Housing, before going on a date with a woman and visiting the State Capitol. Hours later, he killed himself at Trinity AME Church 

McCluskey, a senior and track-and-field athlete from Pullman, Washington, met Rowland at a local bar where he was working as a bouncer and began a relationship with him in September 2018. A friend said the 37-year-old man presented himself as a 28-year-old community college student named Shawn.

According to one of the lawsuits, some of Lauren's closest friends sounded the alarm about her boyfriend, saying that he was possessive, controlling, manipulative and prone to jealous rages and stalking behavior, and raising concerns that the senior was in 'an unhealthy and potentially harmful relationship.' 

A month later, McCluskey learned Rowland's true identity, including his actual age and the fact that he was a registered sex offender. At that point she decided to end the relationship. 

'There were numerous opportunities to protect her during the almost two weeks between the time when our daughter began expressing repeated, elevating and persistent concerns about her situation and the time of her murder,' they added. 

McCluskey was an accomplished student athlete and a star on the University of Utah's track and field team.

Rowland was a resident of Salt Lake City and in 2004 was convicted of attempted forcible sex abuse and enticing a minor over the internet, according to court records. 

He was released from Utah State Prison in 2013 after nine years behind bars.