Suspect arrested in murder of student on Kentucky college campus

A suspect was taken into custody Saturday on murder charges in connection with the killing of a student on the campus of Campbellsville University in Kentucky.

The Campbellsville Police Department said that officers were first called to the school at 12:43 a.m. local time on a report of an unresponsive male in his dorm room. The victim, 18-year-old Josiah Malachi Kilman, was rushed to a local hospital, where he died. His cause of death is under investigation. 

The suspect was identified by police as 21-year-old Charles E. Escalera. Campbellsville University disclosed that Escalera was also a fellow student.

Following a manhunt, the Green County Sheriff's Office and Kentucky State Police received a call at about 5:15 p.m. local time regarding a suspicious male in a barn on the border of Green County and Taylor County, which includes the city of Campbellsville. Responding state police located Escalera and took him into custody without incident, Campbellsville police said. He is being held on murder charges. 

Campbellsville University, a small private Christian college, was placed on lockdown during the search for Escalera.

"Campbellsville University is grieving the loss of one of our family," Dr. Joseph Hopkins, Campbellsville University president, said in a statement. "We have lost a student and our hearts are broken."

Police did not provide any details regarding a motive, or the circumstances which led up to the killing. It was also unclear if the suspect and victim knew each other prior to the incident.

Campbellsville is located about 80 miles south of Louisville.

This comes just two days after a 22-year-old nursing student was killed while on a jog on the Athens campus of the University of Georgia. A 26-year-old man was arrested Friday on murder charges. 

In:
• Murder
• Kentucky

Faris Tanyos

Faris Tanyos is a news editor for CBSNews.com, where he writes and edits stories and tracks breaking news. He previously worked as a digital news producer at several local news stations up and down the West Coast.