Parents Sue in Stabbing Death of UC Berkeley Student

The Agoura Hills parents of a UC Berkeley student who was stabbed to death while she was studying on campus have filed a wrongful death suit against the university regents, saying the school failed to protect her.

The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court on Feb. 2, alleges that the regents--who govern the university system--knew or should have known that transients were sleeping in the hall where Grace Rualo Asuncion was killed, and that the university should have provided better security.

“I certainly think the conduct of the regents exposed this young girl to a risk that they should have foreseen, something that they in exercising care should have said, ‘Look, wait a minute, maybe we should be watching this problem,’ ” said Edwin Train Caldwell, attorney for the parents, Edward and Aida Asuncion.

Caldwell said he had no evidence that Grace Asuncion was killed by a transient, and a university spokesman said no arrests have been made in the case.

The university spokesman declined to comment on the specifics of the lawsuit or on Caldwell’s allegations, but said campus police were working to solve the case.

“We empathize with the family,” University spokesman Jesus Mena said. “It’s a real tragedy for them and the campus as a whole.”

Asuncion, a 20-year-old junior in molecular and cell biology, was found stabbed to death a little more than a year ago by a janitor in Eshleman Hall, a building that houses student government offices and organizations. Her body was discovered in the fifth-floor office of the Filipino-American Alliance, where friends said she often studied alone.

At the time, no guards were posted in the building, but university police did patrol the area, Mena said.

Since the slaying, a guard has been assigned to monitor the hall and request identification from all people entering the building. In addition, the building closes at 11:30 p.m. and no one is allowed to enter until it reopens at 7:30 a.m., Mena said.

But Caldwell contends such measures should have been taken before a student was slain.

Furthermore, he said, campus police did not tell the Asuncion family after the slaying that transients often slept in the hall. The parents found out from college friends of Asuncion, he said. Had the family known earlier, he said, they would have filed suit long ago.

The presence of the transients indicated Grace Asuncion “was put at risk by going in a building that is occupied by street people without any kind of protection,” Caldwell said.

Caldwell said the statute of limitations for filing a wrongful death suit had almost run out when the Asuncions discovered the information.

“I fault the UC police department for what amounts to protecting the regents for liability from a civil lawsuit,” Caldwell said.

If attorneys for the family determine there was a conflict of interest, they will ask the UC police to turn over the investigation to the Berkeley Police Department, Caldwell said.