A new ESPN documentary is shedding light on the tragic death of University of Utah athlete Lauren McCluskey.
In a trailer exclusive to PEOPLE, those who are familiar with her story — and how she spoke up and sought help before ultimately being shot to death — piece together the “investigation four years in the making.”
“The justice system failed her in so many different ways,” says one person who was interviewed for the film, while another said of McCluskey that “she went to the police expecting to get help. It’s just really a betrayal of trust.”
Lauren McCluskey.Steve C. Wilson / University of Utah
“As documented inLISTEN,the people and the institutions responsible for protecting her failed at every turn,” a network logline said.
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McCluskey reportedly had broken up with Rowland, and had pleaded for help to police as he stalked and extorted her, but “no one listened,” the network alleges in the documentary.
Lauren McCluskey.Facebook
The university report cited “shortcomings” in the system, such as “gaps in training, awareness, and enforcement of certain policies rather than lapses in individual performance” when it described how campus police handled McCluskey’s case.
Still, university officials said in the report they didn’t believe they could have stopped Rowland from murdering McCluskey.
The student-athlete was fatally shot Oct. 22, 2018 on the school’s Salt Lake City campus.
Rowland, a convicted sex offender, was found dead hours laterinside a Salt Lake City churchfrom an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
According to the school’s statement, the shooting took place at about 8:20 p.m. Campus police responded to a call of a possible abduction at that time and found McCluskey’s body in a parked car outside a dorm.
McCluskey, a Washington state native and a senior at the school, was majoring in communication and was a highly regarded member of the school’s track and field team, a statement from the school at the time said.
LISTENpremieres Tuesday, March 28, at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+ and ESPN+ on Hulu.
source: people.com
