Landon School alumnus charged with murder

George Huguely and Yeardley Love might have looked at each other once and seen something like their own reflections staring back. Both took turns as star athletes at their Maryland private schools, Huguely, of Chevy Chase, at Bethesda's Landon School and Love at Baltimore's Notre Dame Preparatory School. Both were 22-year-old, fourth-year students at the University of Virginia. Huguely was midfielder on the men's lacrosse team, while Love played defense for the women's team. They lived down the street from each other in Charlottesville, Va. At one time, they were romantically involved.

But when Love, from Cockeysville north of Baltimore, was found by police in her apartment at 2:15 a.m. Monday, her image had been shattered. A pool of blood surrounded her head on her pillow, her right face was badly bruised, and her right eye was swollen shut, according to a police affidavit. Someone had forced her bedroom door open and put a hole in it. A few hours later, Huguely, a Chevy Chase native who was once captain of Landon's lacrosse team, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

In a prepared statement, his attorney, Francis Lawrence, called Love's death an accident with "a tragic outcome," not murder.

Charlottesville police were called by Love's roommate at her apartment in the 200 block of 14th Street N.W. in Charlottesville, and initially were told in the 911 call that Love might have been suffering from an alcohol overdose, police spokesman Ric Barrick said. But when police arrived, they declared her dead on the scene.

"The body was lying in a way that someone from a certain vantage point wouldn't have been able to see the trauma," Barrick said.

Police continue investigation. Between 8 and 9 a.m. Monday, Huguely voluntarily appeared at a Charlottesville police station. He told police that an argument with Love on Sunday became physical, according to a police affidavit for a search warrant of Huguely's apartment, a few buildings down the street from Love's residence. He told police that he shook Love repeatedly and that her head repeatedly hit the wall of her apartment. He also admitted that he had kicked a hole in the door leading to Love's room. Huguely said the two previously had been in a romantic relationship, according to the affidavit. SOURCE: Gazette