Months after Isabella “Bella” Willingham, 21, was found unresponsive and severely injured in her dorm room at Asbury University in Kentucky, the incident is still under investigation.
Video screenshot @The College Tour
The student’s family says they haven’t received any new information from authorities and are calling on the private Christian university for answers.
Andy Willingham, Bella’s father, told LEX 18 News, “As a parent, I want to know if there’s a possibility of someone coming into the school or campus being potentially dangerous.”
Last November, after not hearing from her for hours, the Willinghams received a call at 11 p.m. from Bella’s resident director. She told them Bella had been found unresponsive on the floor of her dorm room and was on her way to the emergency room at the University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington.
According to LEX 18, “Paramedics told Bella’s parents that she’d stopped breathing on her own for 23 minutes, but it was her injuries that really sounded the alarm. The Jessamine County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Bella had multiple injuries, cuts, and bruises.”
In addition, her acrylic nails had been ripped off.
NBC News reported that when Andy Willingham arrived at the hospital, the chaplain on duty told him “his daughter was on a ventilator and had gruesome injuries.”
Willingham also told news outlets that two sheriff’s deputies “were called to the hospital because doctors determined his daughter’s injuries were most likely caused by abuse or a beating.”
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Due to the severity of her injuries, Bella was in the hospital for almost two weeks, and has no memory of what happened that day or the previous day. Both a rape kit and toxicology report were conducted. The results found she was not sexually assaulted and did not have concerning substances in her system.
Initially, authorities told Bella’s parents her injuries were likely from falling out of her bunk bed.
But both Bella and her parents don’t believe that to be the case.
“There’s no way these [injuries] could’ve been caused by anything other than someone doing something to her,” Andy Willingham told LEX 18.
He doesn’t believe Asbury University has responded quickly enough to find out what really happened.
Willingham told news outlets the school waited more than a week after the incident to notify the student body. The school also sent an email asking for information, but only sent it to the girls in Bella’s dorm rather than the entire campus.
He told LEX 18 “he’s disappointed that students weren’t put on high alert and asked to come forward with tips.”
In December, the school released a statement to LEX 18 saying they were aware of the incident and it was “being investigated by appropriate authorities with the University’s full cooperation.”
Bella, who has decided not to return to Asbury, is now speaking out. In March, she called out the university for its lack of security measures and cameras.
“I want what happened to me to draw attention to the fact that Asbury needs more cameras on all of their exits and entryways…The students definitely need way more protection than they’re getting,” she told NBC News.
Jessamine County Sheriff Kevin Grimes told news outlets that the police have reviewed dorm videos, spoken to residents, and that, to date, there have been no leads or evidence of a crime in the dorm room.
Still, parents, alumni and students have concerns.
In March, a number of people from a Facebook group known as “Asbury Anonymous” organized a vigil on campus in Bella’s honor.
Bella’s parents attended the vigil, and her mother Jennifer told WDKY News: “We won’t give up until Asbury acknowledges their (sic) part in what happened that day on November 27th. Asbury has to make changes before any other student is harmed emotionally and physically.”
In response, Asbury’s director of strategic communications, Abby Laub, told WDKY: “This matter is part of an ongoing investigation by the appropriate authorities and with the University’s full cooperation. We are unable to provide any updates or specific information at this time. Asbury’s priority remains the safety and well-being of its students, faculty, and staff.”
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