Cops say Kentucky student who was found unconscious in dorm with bloody scratches and her nails ripped off WAS victim of some kind of attack - but have no evidence

Police fear a Kentucky college student who was found on her dorm room floor with deep cuts and bruises and had stopped breathing for 23 minutes was the victim of an attack, but have no evidence to find out who did it.

Isabella Willingham, 21, was found unresponsive in her room at Glide-Crawford Residence Hall on the Asbury University campus on November 27 and she was rushed to hospital where she was placed in intensive care.

Initially the Jessamine County Sheriff's Office allegedly told her parents she likely got hurt from falling out of her bunk bed.

Paramedics said she stopped breathing, suffered deep gashes, swollen legs and had eight of her acrylic nails ripped off. 

'It's 100 percent baffling what happened to this young lady. In some way, shape, form or fashion, she's a victim just like anybody else. We 100 percent believe something happened; we just don't know what,' Jessamine County Sheriff Kevin Grimes told NBC News.

Isabella Willingham, 21, was found on her dorm room floor with deep cuts and bruises had stopped breathing for 23 minutes on November 27

Paramedics said she stopped breathing, suffered deep gashes, swollen legs and had her acrylic nails ripped off

Initially the Jessamine County Sheriff's Office allegedly told her parents she likely got hurt from falling out of her bunk bed

'It was a dorm room. No blood. No damage. No craziness in the room. If there's nothing in the room that showed there was an assault, that makes you think maybe this happened somewhere else. We just don't know.'

He said investigators have looked at security footage and spoked to other dorm residents, but no witnesses or leads have come forward.

'The one thing that we have going against us was that we did not get notified to the injuries to her legs until probably five or six hours later. I can say we were behind the eight ball when it comes to the injury side of it,' Grimes said. 

Willingham's family has said a rape kit determined she wasn't sexually assaulted, and toxicology tests 'found nothing of concern.' 

Her father Andy Willingham did not believe the explanation provided by authorities and told Lex18: 'There's no way these could've been caused by anything other than someone doing something to her.' 

Isabella's family did not hear from her for hours after she returned to campus after Thanksgiving and they received a worrying phone call.

'At 11 that night, we get a call from the resident director of her dorm, and she tells us that Bella is in an ambulance on her way to the emergency room, that she had been found unresponsive on the floor of her room by her roommate,' Andy said.

The student spent two weeks recovering at the University of Kentucky hospital while her father waited for Asbury to notify the student body of the potential threat.

However, he claims an email was not sent out until more than a week after the incident. 

'As a parent, I want to know if there's a possibility of someone coming into the school or campus being potentially dangerous,' he added. 

Asbury University issued a statement in December which said they were aware about the incident involving Isabella but they did not think there was a threat to campus. 

Jessamine County Sheriff Kevin Grimes said he believes she was the victim of an attack, but has no evidence to find out who did it

He said investigators have looked at security footage and spoked to other dorm residents at the Glide-Crawford Residence Hall (pictured), but no witnesses or leads have come forward

'It was probably a group of girls. I barely talked to anyone. I knew like three people on campus. Like, I never left my room,' she said. 'I just feel like it was girls because I only knew girls.' 

Her family has spoked out against the sheriff's office initial claims that Isabella's injuries were caused by an accident and have said it's been damaging to her reputation. 

The sheriff said that somebody from his office, who didn't have authority to speak, made those comments. 'I can tell you, someone spoke out of turn on that,' Grimes said.

Isabella, who is no longer a student at Asbury, said she has no recollection of what happened to her.

'It was probably a group of girls. I barely talked to anyone. I knew like three people on campus. Like, I never left my room. I just feel like it was girls because I only knew girls,' she told NBC News. 

 'I want what happened to me to draw attention to the fact that Asbury needs more cameras on all of their exits and entryways.'