On Jan. 4,29-year-oldChristian Bautista was arrested and charged with the New Year’s Eve murder ofPA graduate student Lauren Bump.
Bump, 24,was stabbed to death in O.P. Schnabel Park in San Antonio, Texas and her body was found on thetrail shortly after.
According to KENS 5 News,Bautista has an extensive criminal history ofincidentsincludingseven arrests,drug possessionand aggravated assault.Bautista is beingheldin BexarCounty jailon$200,000 bond.He was located after a call about a suspicious person at O.P. Schnabel Park on Jan. 3.
Bautista’s roommate told investigators that he gave Bautista a military-style combat knife for Christmas, according to THV 11, which is believed to be the murder weapon.
Since Bump’s death, there have been two memorial runs heldnear her homein her honor, one of which took place at the park where she was killed.
At Bump’s funeral, hundreds released pink balloons in her memory. Bump’sJan. 12memorial service on campus closed with a candlelight vigil.
PA program director Michael Murphyremembered Bump as an excellent student and as a person who “really understood what it meant to live a Christ-centered life.”
”She ‘got’ the mission of the program and the university and was already looking for ways to serve people with her newly acquired skills and her life,” Murphy said.
According to Murphy, Bump had been doing clinical rotations since August and many of her reports commented on how kind and hard-working she was.
With only 34 other students in Bump’s PA class, the group is close knit. Murphy said that about half of the students attendedBump’sTexas funeral and spent time talking with her family.
”Her family and classmates are determined to make sure that Lauren’s life is remembered far longer than her death,” Murphy said. “They realize that she has gained a victory in Christ.”
One of Bump’s close friends in the program, Rachel Fritsche, posted many pictures andloving words in Bump’s memory on her Facebook page. One such post reads, “As we celebrate your life … we are believing that God will be most powerful when we are our weakest.”
Murphy said that Bump developed in many ways, not just academically, since beginning the PA program.
”I am very proud to have known her,” Murphy said.
