Dunster Murder Faces New Scrutiny

An article in the June 3 edition of The New Yorker has renewed questions surrounding last year's murder-suicide in Dunster House.

The article strongly criticizes the University's handling of information regarding the emotional state of murderer Sinedu Tadesse '96.

Tadesse stabbed and killed her sleeping roommate, Trang P. Ho '96, on May 28, 1995 before killing herself.

The New Yorker article, written by former English Department faculty member and former Adams House non-resident tutor Melanie Thernstrom '87, traces Tadesse's mental state during her college years.

The article reprints excerpts from diaries Tadesse kept in the years leading up to the tragedy.

The article also alleges that the University was aware of but chose not to act on a 1993 letter in which Tadesse expressed a sense of profound loneliness.

The letter was written during the summer after Tadesse's first year to a Harvard Law School student she picked at random from the phone book.

The article quotes Tadesse's letter: "I am like a person who can't swim chocking [sic] for life in a river...All you have to do is give me a hand and put into words what you already know."

Thernstrom wrote that the law student who received Tadesse's cry for help forwarded the letter to a dean.

In the article, Thernstrom criticizes Harvard for withholding information.

"In the wake of the tragedy, Harvard officials said that Sinedu never indicated that she needed any help, an assertion that was widely repeated in the press reports," Thernstrom wrote.

She continues that Tadesse had been receiving counseling during her three years at Harvard from a University Mental Health Services therapist, Douglas Powell.

The University denied any wrong-doing in a statement last Monday: "Based on what we knew then, we remain confident that appropriate steps were taken."

Thernstrom says Tadesse clung emotionally to Ho, telling her family that Ho was her "best friend" after her first year at the College. But Ho's strongest attachment was to her family, whom she visited in Medford each weekend, according to Thernstrom.

Tadesse expressed her jealousy of Ho's family life. Thernstrom quotes the diary, "[Ho will] live on tucked in the warmth & support of her family while I cry alone in the cold."

Disillusioned by hopes of a close friendship with Ho that did not materialize, Tadesse wrote during her sophomore year, "Trang [Ho] told me I am boring.... If I ever grow desperate enough to seek power & a fearful respect through killing, she would be the first one I would blow off."

Tadesse's diaries, were examined during the police investigation of the incident and can be obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

Dunster House Master Karel F. Liem denied the allegations that the University mishandled the situation between Tadesse and Ho before the murder-suicide.

According to Thernstrom's article, the relationship between Tadesse and Ho had deteriorated to the point where they were no longer speaking.

Thernstrom writes, "Trang [Ho] told her sister she had asked...officials to change rooms [during last year], but the request was denied."

But Liem said that such a request for a room transfer was "not true."

Thernstrom refused to comment for this story

Thernstrom says Tadesse clung emotionally to Ho, telling her family that Ho was her "best friend" after her first year at the College. But Ho's strongest attachment was to her family, whom she visited in Medford each weekend, according to Thernstrom.

Tadesse expressed her jealousy of Ho's family life. Thernstrom quotes the diary, "[Ho will] live on tucked in the warmth & support of her family while I cry alone in the cold."

Disillusioned by hopes of a close friendship with Ho that did not materialize, Tadesse wrote during her sophomore year, "Trang [Ho] told me I am boring.... If I ever grow desperate enough to seek power & a fearful respect through killing, she would be the first one I would blow off."

Tadesse's diaries, were examined during the police investigation of the incident and can be obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

Dunster House Master Karel F. Liem denied the allegations that the University mishandled the situation between Tadesse and Ho before the murder-suicide.

According to Thernstrom's article, the relationship between Tadesse and Ho had deteriorated to the point where they were no longer speaking.

Thernstrom writes, "Trang [Ho] told her sister she had asked...officials to change rooms [during last year], but the request was denied."

But Liem said that such a request for a room transfer was "not true."

Thernstrom refused to comment for this story