Bio

Justin R. Geiger was born on January 29, 1987. His family had lived in South Beloit, Illinois, before moving to nearby Rockton, Illinois, within the year before the killings. He graduated from Hononegah High School in Rockton, where friends and a former coach described him as polite, outgoing, and always smiling; in a 2004 newspaper interview, he had named his father, an insurance salesman, as his role model. Geiger had just completed his freshman year at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, majoring in marketing, and lived in a house about two blocks from campus that he shared with several roommates, including Anthony Klochak.

Murder Story

On the night of July 15 into the early morning hours of July 16, 2006, a small gathering took place at the house Geiger shared with his roommates; two of the other housemates were out of town that weekend. Amber N. Carlson, 19, a fellow University of Wyoming student from Denver, and Adam Towler, 20, of Laramie, who had previously attended Emory University and planned to transfer to Georgetown in the fall, were both visiting the house that night.

Police believe Geiger shot and killed Carlson with a rifle and killed Towler by stabbing him multiple times in the chest with a knife that had been kept in the house he shared with Klochak. Geiger also attacked his roommate, Anthony Klochak, 19, with the same knife, wounding him, before Klochak managed to escape the residence. Neighbors called police after hearing Klochak yelling for help. Amber Carlson, who was visiting the house, reportedly walked into a room during the early morning hours and discovered Towler's body. Geiger then shot himself in the head with the rifle, dying at the scene. Klochak survived his injuries, fled the house, and cooperated with the ensuing police investigation.

Laramie Police Commander Dale A. Stalder said investigators believed alcohol was involved in the incident to some degree, though its exact role was unclear, and found no evidence that other drugs were involved. Police were unable to determine a motive for the attack.

Nearly a year after the killings, Amber Carlson's father, Steve Carlson, a Denver County sheriff's deputy, publicly criticized the University of Wyoming's handling of what he described as previous warning signs of dangerous behavior from Geiger, and pushed for the termination of university officials he believed had failed to act. The university, in turn, threatened possible action against Carlson over an angry email he had sent to the university's president. The university stated it had since updated its policies to better identify and assist students who might be at risk of violent behavior.