SALT LAKE CITY — Police released the audio recordings of 911 calls made by Lauren McCluskey in the days before she was murdered.
On October 22, the University of Utah student wasshot and killed by an ex-boyfriend on campus.
The first call she made to SLCPD dispatch occurred on October 13th, a day after she first reported being harassed to University of Utah police.
The call opens with McCluskey saying, “Hi, I have been blackmailed for, for money with threats of sending out….”
Police redacted the portion of the call where McCluskey describes the threats made against her. A timeline provided by the University indicates McCluskey was being threatened with compromising photos.
A dispatcher tells her to contact University of Utah police.
McCluskey then says, “I’ve talked to them already, but I just wanted to call you as well.” She goes on to say, “I was just concerned because I wasn’t sure how long they were going to take to file the arrest.”
Less than a week later, on Oct. 19, McCluskey reached out to Salt Lake City police again, sounding more desperate for help.
“Last Saturday I reported, and then, I haven’t gotten an update,” McCluskey tells the dispatcher.
The dispatcher asks if she has been in contact with University of Utah police and several times she expresses frustration with how University police are handling the case.
“They haven’t updated or done anything. So the case, it involves extortion,” McCluskey says. “I haven’t gotten updates and it’s been a week.”
McCluskey is told to contact the detective at the University assigned to her case and the call ends.
The final audio recording is a call placed by Matt McCluskey, Lauren’s father, on Oct. 22, the night she was attacked.
“My daughter is Lauren McCluskey and she went missing tonight,” McCluskey tells the dispatcher. “She was abducted while we were talking to her on the telephone. So we heard her being assaulted and we called the University of Utah campus police.”
The dispatcher informs McCluskey that police are aware of the situation.
Minutes later, McCluskey’s body was found in the backseat of a car parked on the University of Utah campus.
Salt Lake City Police say they are not directly affiliated with Salt Lake City 911 dispatch. They say dispatch forwarded the calls to University of Utah police and SLCPD officers were not informed of the case.
The three audio recordings were obtained through a public records request made by our partners at The Salt Lake Tribune.
