Students from Castleton University began moving back into their dorms on Sunday after their fall break, even as state police continue to investigate the murder of a retired dean at the school that happened on a rail trail just yards from campus.
Vermont State Police are asking the public, businesses and hunters to review their surveillance systems after Honoree Fleming, a retired Castleton dean and professor who was married to best-selling author Ron Powers, was found shot to death on a rail trail last week.
Police said Friday night an autopsy showed that Fleming, 77, of Castleton, died from a gunshot wound to the head on Thursday afternoon. She was found on the Delaware & Hudson Rail Trail about a mile south of the Castleton campus of Vermont State University, which was closed.
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“The campus will reopen Monday morning, providing a supportive environment for those who wish to come together,” Vermont State University spokesperson Sylvia Plumb said in an email over the weekend. Monday events such as an admissions open house were canceled. Regular class schedules were expected to resume Tuesday.
“Well, I know I’m not going that way anytime soon," Castleton sophomore Samera Rideout told WPTZ, adding that she was unsettled to see the crime scene tape still up when she returned to school over the weekend.
Sisters Samera and Diamanta Rideout, a sophomore and senior, respectively, said their return from fall break definitely seemed a bit odd.
"It’s definitely a lot quieter — usually all my friends would be coming back at this time, but a lot of them have chosen to stay home for an extra day, especially with the cancellation, so it’s just super different than the atmosphere we’re used to," Samera said.
A witness reported a possible suspect was northbound on the trail walking toward campus after gunshots were heard, police said. The witness described a 5-foot-10-inch male with short, red hair, last seen wearing a dark gray T-shirt and carrying a black backpack. State police said he is considered to be armed and dangerous and asked anyone who might have seen him to call them.
Junior football player Josh Peters said he felt uneasy because the description could match countless people. “It doesn’t really help because that’s almost like everybody you’d come across, so it is surprising, and it’s really upsetting too.”
Fleming was a beloved retired dean of education and researcher “with countless papers published," the university said in a statement Friday.
She also was the wife of Powers, who co-wrote the book “Flags of Our Fathers," about the men involved in the famous flag-raising during the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima. A Pulitzer Prize winner in 1973 for criticism as a television-radio columnist, he also wrote a biography of Mark Twain and collaborated with the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy on the politician's memoir, “True Compass.” More recently, Powers wrote “No One Cares About Crazy People: The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in America,” about his sons' battles with schizophrenia.
Fleming died days before what would have been the couple's 45th wedding anniversary.
Her husband said she was walking on her favorite trail.
“There is an area-wide dragnet out for her killer,” Powers posted online Friday. “Police believe that it was random, but all possibilities remain open.”
He added, “Those of you who knew her know that she was beautifully named. I have never known a more sterling heart and soul than hers. She has taken far more than half my own heart and soul with her.”
