Student Who Was Abducted Dies After Police Chase

A female student from an Ohio State University campus and a man suspected of abducting her both died after a police chase and shooting, Kentucky State Police said Tuesday. The chase began Monday afternoon in northern Kentucky as police responded to a call about a person in distress, authorities said in a news release. Officers intervened when the vehicle exited a highway and stopped on a ramp in Oldham County, northeast of Louisville. Police said a trooper heard gunfire from the vehicle and returned fire. Both the woman and suspect were fatally shot, the AP reports. Authorities said the trooper killed the suspect, 24-year-old Ty'rell Pounds. It is unclear who shot the woman, 20-year-old Skylar Williams. Williams was a student at Ohio State's Mansfield campus. She and Pounds were both from Mansfield.

The university's Department of Public Safety said in a news release that Williams was in a parking lot at the school shortly before noon Monday when she was approached by a male suspect known to her. The release said the man displayed a handgun, forced Williams into his vehicle, and fled with her. Kentucky police said a witness called 911, saying the person saw a distressed woman at a gas station being forced into a vehicle by a man. The caller said it appeared the woman was asking for help. "Our Ohio State community suffered a tragic loss with the death of Mansfield student Skylar Williams," Ohio State University President Michael V. Drake said in a statement. "This senseless and shocking incident has left our campus shaken." The Kentucky State Police Critical Incident Response Team is investigating. (The ex of the woman found dead in a suitcase has been arrested.)