LOWGAP — The winding roads and chilly, windswept hills near the Virginia border where the body of a brutally murdered 13-year-old girl was left in the snow seemed extra desolate Thursday when an ABC news team interviewed local law enforcement at the site.
The stabbing death of Nicole Lovell, a seventh-grader from Blacksburg, Virginia, has drawn national attention as details of the case slowly emerge.
With two teenage Virginia Tech students charged in connection with her death and held without bond, many media outlets have looked to Surry County authorities for answers.
Surry County Sheriff Graham Atkinson said he’s been contacted by representatives from Reuters, CNN, Fox, ABC, “The Baltimore Sun” and “The Roanoke Times.”
“Most of that dropped off once they found out that we didn’t have any direct involvement,” Atkinson said.
Lovell’s body was discovered in Surry County off N.C. 89 in Lowgap, not far from N.C. 18 and just south of the Virginia border.
Detective James “Buck” Turner was present at the scene with Virginia law enforcement and the FBI, and the sheriff’s office provided security and assisted with logistics.
Atkinson and Turner revisited the scene twice Thursday with producers from Fox’s Crime Scene, which is hosted by Gretta Van Susteren, and the ABC prime time news magazine program 20/20.
During an interview with Marc Dorian, a producer for 20/20, Atkinson estimated that Lovell’s body was found down a short bank about 50 or 60 yards from the highway, and about 20 yards from a newly paved service road.
Dorian asked the officers why the body would have been disposed in such a remote location and yet so close to the road, with a much steeper bank only a few feet from where the young girl was found.
Atkinson couldn’t say.
“Were (the suspects) careless, were they scared, did they want the body to be found,” the sheriff pondered. “I hope some of those questions can be answered.”
The officer in charge of the investigation, Lt. Mike Albert, of the Blacksburg Police Department, was not immediately available for comment, nor was Montgomery County Commonwealth’s Attorney Mary Pettitt.
According to statements released by the Blacksburg police, David E. Eisenhauer, 18, of Columbia, Maryland, was charged with first-degree murder and abduction.
Marie Keepers, 19, of Laurel, Maryland, was charged with improper disposal of a body and accessory to kidnap and murder before and after these crimes.
Both engineering students, who are now reportedly banned from the Virginia Tech campus, are being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.
A Thursday morning bond hearing for Keepers shed more light on the circumstances surrounding Lovell’s disappearance from her home and death.
The judge denied bond for Keepers, according to the Montgomery Circuit Court Clerk.
Media reports indicate that the prosecution presented evidence during the hearing that Keepers had plotted with Eisenhauer to kidnap and kill the girl and helped him dispose of the body.
Pettitt reportedly told the judge that the pair of suspects had stopped at a Walmart to buy cleaning supplies, leaving Lovell’s body in the trunk of his Lexus parked outside.
Keepers reportedly testified that she had struggled with mental health since eighth grade and had felt excited to be a part of something she called “secret” and “special” with Eisenhauer.
Despite the new information, little has been uncovered regarding a possible motive.
Dorian said the lack of a motive combined with the age of the victim, the clean reputation of the suspects and the role of social media both in perpetrating and helping to solve the crime all contribute to the sensational nature of the case.
“That two seemingly upstanding college age kids would be involved in such a horrific crime, this is a big mystery,” he said. “We’ll stay on this story a long time. This is what we do.”
