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Saturday, November 12, 2005
Legislator's son held in woman's death
Man, 20, charged with manslaughter
From Staff and AP Dispatches
MURRAY, Ky. -- The son of a state lawmaker has been charged with manslaughter in the death of a Murray State University graduate student.
Police arrested 20-year-old Burgess Harrison Yonts yesterday and charged him with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Nadia Shaheen, 63.
Shaheen's body was found in a ditch on Coldwater Road in Murray abut 6:30 a.m. CST yesterday. She died of blunt force trauma to the head. Police said preliminary evidence indicated that she was hit by a car.
Yonts was being held last night at the Calloway County Jail on a $500,000 cash-only bond.
Witnesses said Yonts, a sophomore at Murray State, left a party at Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity early yesterday, the university's student newspaper reported. Yonts is a member of the fraternity.
Yonts' father, Rep. Brent Yonts, a Democrat from Greenville, could not be reached immediately for comment.
The university said Shaheen, a native of Egypt, was to graduate in December in the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages program.
Mark Galloway, an international student adviser, said Shaheen was well-liked among the students.
"She just made a big meal for the students in her class Wednesday," Galloway said. "She cooked for just about everybody."
Officials at the Lambda Chi headquarters in Indianapolis suspended all activity for the campus chapter.
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