Kansas University Chancellor Robert Hemenway has asked Costa Rican officials for an update on the investigation into the 2001 slaying of KU student Shannon Martin.

In a letter mailed Friday to Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco, Hemenway noted that he had asked Costa Rican Ambassador Jaime Daremblum to arrange a meeting next month between the Organization of Judicial Investigation — the Costa Rican equivalent of the FBI — and KU’s Jeffrey Weinberg and Diana Carlin.

Carlin, dean of the graduate school and international programs at KU, and Weinberg, Hemenway’s personal assistant, will be in Costa Rica from March 5 to 7 for meetings with University of Costa Rica officials.

Martin, a 23-year-old honor student from Topeka, was stabbed to death May 13, 2001, after leaving a nightclub in Golfito, Costa Rica. She was in Costa Rica to complete a research project.

More than a year later, Costa Rican authorities detained a woman and two men in connection with the case. The men were later released; the woman remains in custody but has not been charged.

Martin’s mother, Jeanette Stauffer of Topeka, has been openly critical of efforts to solve her daughter’s slaying.

The apparent lack of progress, Hemenway wrote, “continues to test the family’s patience.” He added, “this spring will mark the second-year anniversary … It is imperative to the family of Shannon Martin and to us that this criminal matter be resolved and the killer brought to justice.”

Stauffer welcomed news of Hemenway’s letter.

“It’s about time — it’s been 19 months since my daughter was killed, and whoever killed her is still out there,” she said Monday. “I appreciate what the university has done.”