Reports Sunday that a Kansas University student had been murdered in Costa Rica sent a shock wave across campus.
Details, however, were lacking late Sunday about how Shannon Martin, a 23-year-old Topeka senior, was killed in the small, coastal town of Golfito.
Martin, who was to return for Sunday's commencement ceremony, where she was to graduate with honors, recently traveled to Costa Rica to collect plant samples for a research project that she began a year ago, KU officials said.
She was last seen Saturday night walking to the home of her host family. She was found dead early Sunday, Costa Rican authorities told U.S. embassy officials.
The U.S. embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica, was closed late Sunday night.
Shannon Martin's family was unavailable for comment.
"It's always a tragedy when something like this happens to anyone, but when it happens to such a special person it just makes it extremely difficult to accept," said Craig Martin, a KU professor of ecology and evolutionary biology who worked with Martin on her projects. They are not related.
Last year Shannon Martin spent six months in Golfito through KU's Study Abroad Program. She was working on a project that focused on the family of epiphytic ferns, Vittariaceae, Craig Martin said.
She recently returned on her own, with the help of two grants, to get more plant samples needed for additional tests.
"We were on the verge of publishing the results of her research," Craig Martin said.
Shannon Martin was majoring in biodiversity, ecology and evolutionary biology and was planning a career in academia, Craig Martin said. She had been selected for departmental honors on the basis of a paper and public presentation she had given about her research a few days before leaving for Golfito, he said.
She also had been inducted into the national honor society Phi Beta Kappa.
KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway expressed shock and sadness at Shannon Martin's death and offered condolences and assistance to the student's family.
"It is heartbreaking in this season of graduation and celebration to see one of our best and brightest lost in such a tragedy," he said. "With the help of authorities, we will pursue with the details of this tragic event because we must be able to assure the safety of our students."
Orley "Chip" Taylor, also an ecology and evolutionary biology professor, knew Shannon Martin through her work in Monarch Watch, a butterfly research lab.
"She was a wonderful person to have around the lab," Taylor said. "She was very positive and very pleasant."
This is the first time such a tragedy has occurred in 10 years of sending students to Costa Rica, said Susan Gronbeck-Tedesco, director of the Study Abroad Program. KU officials were to check their records today to see whether similar tragedies had happened elsewhere.
The Study Abroad Program will take a close look at what happened, Gronbeck-Tedesco said.
"This is a very small town and Costa Rica is a very safe and secure country."
Craig Martin and Taylor agreed. Both have traveled in the country and have been to Golfito.
"Golfito is not the type of town where you expect this to happen and Costa Rica is not the country where you would expect it to happen," Taylor said.
"It's a mellow, sleepy little town," Craig Martin said. "You feel quite safe. This is something that could have happened in Lawrence or anywhere else. It's just a freak, bizarre, evil thing that has happened."
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