CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The murder of a UIC freshman on the school’s Near West Side campus has devastated her family and friends, who remember her as “the sweetest person” with the “brightest smile.”
“She was the light of our family and the best of all of us,” Esther George wrote on Facebook about her younger sister, 19-year-old Ruth George, who was strangled early Saturday in a campus parking garage.
“She was wise beyond her years and now she is gone to soon. God give us peace,” Esther George wrote.
UIC police said a suspect is in custody in connection to Ruth George’s death.
UIC police said a man followed George into the parking garage about 1:35 a.m. He has been detained for questioning. The Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled her death a homicide by strangulation.
A UIC spokeswoman said Monday afternoon that the suspect is still in custody.
Ruth George graduated in 2018 from Naperville Central High School and was remembered by her gymnastics coach as someone “fun to watch compete.”
“We are devastated to hear of the passing of Ruth George,” Naperville gymnastics coach Christina Tardy said in a statement released by Naperville School District 203.
“Ruth was such a sweet girl and had the biggest and brightest smile. We loved having her as a member of the NCHS gymnastics team,” Tardy said.