Principals talk about students charged in death

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) – The Latest on the alleged abduction and slaying of a 13-year-old Virginia girl (all times local):

3 p.m.

High school principals for two college students accused in the slaying of a 13-year-old girl say they are shocked their former students face charges.

The principals at the Maryland high schools describe the former students as involved in extracurricular activities and focused on academics.

Principal James LeMon at Wilde Lake High School says David Eisenhauer was an excellent student-athlete who ran track, had many friends and wanted to be an engineer.

Hammond High School Principal Marcia Leonard says Natalie Keepers was involved with the theater program, literary magazine and had a passion for engineering.

Keepers is charged with improper disposal of a body and accessory after the fact. Eisenhauer is charged with murder and kidnapping in the death of Nicole Madison Lovell.

Keepers and Eisenhauer are in their first years as students at Virginia Tech.

(Corrects high school to Wilde Lake, not Wylde Lake.)

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2:10 p.m.

A neighbor says a college student who is charged in the death of a 13-year-old girl was a quiet person who kept to herself.

Thomas Lee lives across the street from the family of Natalie Keepers in Laurel, Maryland. Keepers has been charged with improper disposal of a body and accessory after the fact.

The neighbor says her family just celebrated her getting into Virginia Tech. He says Keepers was a great girl and also “loner-type” who kept to herself.

Virginia Tech freshman David Eisenhauer has been charged with first-degree murder and abduction in the death of Nicole Madison Lovell.

Police have not said how the students knew Nicole.

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12:35 p.m.

A school official says additional counselors were brought in to help students grieving over the death of a middle school classmate in Virginia.

Montgomery County public schools spokeswoman Brenda Drake said 10 counselors were on duty Monday at Blacksburg Middle School – seven more than usual. She said the counselors were busy in the morning, but students seemed to be getting back to their routine by around noon.

Blacksburg police say seventh-grader Nicole Madison Lovell’s body was found in North Carolina on Saturday, four days after she disappeared. A Virginia Tech student has been charged with abducting and killing the 13-year-old, and another Tech student has been charged with helping dispose of her body.

Nicole’s mother, Tammy Weeks, told The Washington Post (http://wapo.st/201JsDS) that her daughter had been bullied at school. Drake said she could not confirm that because of privacy laws, but she said the county’s schools have anti-bullying programs.

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10:25 a.m.

Two Virginia Tech students accused in the death of a 13-year-old girl have made their first appearances in a courtroom.

Eighteen-year-old David Eisenhauer made a brief appearance in a Montgomery County courtroom on Monday out of sight of reporters. Eisenhauer was scheduled to appear at 10 a.m., but showed up ahead of time. The clerk’s office said Eisenhauer had retained court-appointed attorney Chris Tuck. He is charged with first-degree murder and abduction in the death of 13-year-old Nicole Madison Lovell. Her body was found near the Virginia-North Carolina border.

Police have not said how she was killed or released a motive for the slaying.

Nineteen-year-old Natalie Keepers entered the court wearing an orange jumpsuit with handcuffs and shackles. She is charged with improper disposal of a body and accessory after the fact. She told Judge Robert Viar (VY’-ur) Jr. that she understood the charges against her and had retained counsel, attorney Kris Olin.

Both have their next court date is March 28.

The students did not enter a plea.

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9:35 a.m.

The mother of a slain Virginia teenager says the girl endured bullying at school and on social media before her death.

Tammy Weeks told The Washington Post (http://wapo.st/201JsDS) that 13-year-old Nicole Madison Lovell often cried to stay home from school. Nicole told her that girls called her fat and talked about her scars from a liver transplant she had when she was 5.

Weeks says her daughter loved pandas and wanted to be on “America Idol” when she got older.

Police have charged an 18-year-old Virginia Tech student, David Eisenhauer of Columbia, Maryland, with first-degree murder and abduction. Another Tech student, 19-year-old Natalie Marie Keepers of Laurel, Maryland, is charged with improper disposal of a body and accessory after the fact in the commission of a felony.

Police say Lovell’s remains were found Saturday in Surry County, North Carolina.

(Corrects that mother of slain teen spoke to The Washington Post, not The Roanoke Times)

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4:05 a.m.

A 13-year-old girl who police say was abducted and killed by a Virginia Tech student is being remembered by friends as an “angel” on Earth.

Eighteen-year-old David Eisenhauer has been charged with first-degree murder and abduction in the death of Nicole Madison Lovell, whose body was found over the weekend in North Carolina.

Another Virginia Tech student, 19-year-old Natalie Keepers, also faces charges in connection with Lovell’s death.

Davy Draper, who said he’s a close family friend of the Lovells and knew the teen most of her life, called her an energetic and outspoken girl who got along with everyone.

A spokesman for the Blacksburg Police Department said officials didn’t yet know when the two suspects would make their first court appearances.

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