Male Acquaintance Arrested in Killing of Female University of Arkansas Student

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A student at the University of Arkansas has been killed, and Oklahoma police have arrested a former student.

Katharine Wood, 24, a senior English major from Greenbrier, was found dead Sunday morning at an apartment off campus, the university said.

Oklahoma State Highway Police arrested Zachariah Marcyniuk, 28, of Fayetteville almost 10 hours later in southern Oklahoma on a first-degree murder charge.

Fayetteville police were called to the Colonial Arms Apartments a few blocks off campus at 7:21 a.m. Sunday after a caller reported that a woman at the complex seemed to be involved in a "disturbance" with someone outside, according to a police department release.

Officers found a purse at the building and used information from it that led to an apartment where the purse's owner was believed to reside. They received no response and entered the apartment, where they found Wood's body.

According to the Northwest Arkansas Times, police Sgt. Shannon Gabbard said investigators began looking for Marcyniuk for questioning based on his relationship with Wood and a criminal history that Gabbard said included charges in 2005 of first-degree false imprisonment, aggravated assault, violation of a protection order, burglary, theft of property and first-degree criminal mischief.

Gabbard said Marcyniuk and Wood had been acquainted or they had been romantically involved at some point.

University spokesman Steve Voorhies said Monday that Marcyniuk was a junior at Arkansas but withdrew last month.

Police obtained a warrant for his arrest, and put out a description of Marcyniuk. About 5 p.m., an Oklahoma trooper stopped a car by that description for speeding on Interstate 40, the paper said. The trooper arrested the driver, Marcyniuk, after learning of the warrant.

Marcyniuk was jailed in Beckham County Jail in Sayre, Okla.

Police did not say how Wood died. The body was being sent to the Arkansas State Medical Examiner's Office for a determination.

University Chancellor John White said the campus community grieved with Wood's family and friends.

"The loss of any student is a loss for the entire campus," White said in a press release. "But a death under these circumstances is such a tragic waste."