District Briefing

GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

Student Found Dead in Dorm Room

A George Washington University student was found dead in her campus dorm room yesterday.

University spokeswoman Tracy Schario said that the body of Laura Treanor, 19, a junior from Yorktown Heights, N.Y., showed no signs of trauma and that it appears she died of natural causes.

Her roommates discovered her and called 911, Schario said.

D.C. police are investigating, but authorities from the natural death squad, not the violent crimes branch, were looking into it, said police spokesman Sgt. Kenny Bryson.

Campus officials sent students two e-mail alerts about Treanor's death, noting that her dorm room had been secured by authorities.

According to the Web site for the student newspaper, Treanor was a contributing editor for the Life section of the newspaper and a member of Phi Sigma Sigma sorority.

-- Theola Labbé-DeBose

COURTS

Jail Escapee Given 24 Years in 2005 Murder

A Northeast Washington man who briefly escaped from the D.C. jail in 2006 was sentenced to 24 years in prison yesterday on various charges, including being an accessory to murder, obstruction of justice and escape.