Scholarship Fund Honors Slain Student : 16-Year-Old Mira Mesa Boy Beaten to Death Near Scripps Ranch

Mira Mesa High School is establishing a scholarship fund in memory of a 16-year-old student killed last week near Scripps Ranch.

Jeffrey Vance Rudiger was found Thursday behind a Treena Street warehouse, police said. He had been beaten and stabbed.

Contributions to Fund Asked

An autopsy completed Saturday determined that the cause of death was head injury suffered in the beating, Deputy Coroner Charles Kelley said.

Sgt. Bob Manis said investigators still have no leads in the case.

Mira Mesa High School Principal Jim Vlassis said Rudiger’s family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to a scholarship fund that will bear the youth’s name.

The amount of the yearly college scholarship has yet to be established, Vlassis said.

He said the scholarship may be aimed toward students interested in photography or journalism, Rudiger’s main interests in school.

Rudiger was a member of the student government and was helping put together the school’s yearbook, Vlassis said.

Vlassis described Rudiger as a “very bright student” who maintained a 3.0-plus average while holding two jobs.

“He was a very industrious young man,” the principal said. “He was a very pleasant, handsome, outgoing person--everything you would want your kid to be.

“The kids are taking it very hard because he was an extremely popular young man,” Vlassis added. “It’s just absolutely senseless.”

Rudiger worked at the Chuck E. Cheese pizza restaurant on Hilbert Street and at a Mira Mesa Boulevard haircut shop, where he was last seen alive Thursday night.

Vlassis said funeral services were planned for today at 11:30 a.m. at El Camino Memorial Park, 5600 Carroll Canyon Road.