Early Morning Attack

Nguyen, the sole survivor of the attack, heard Tadesse's alarm clock go off at around 8 a.m., according to Murphy.

She told investigators there had been no prior altercation or dispute between the two roommates, and that the action took her "completely by surprise," Murphy said.

Ho was lying in her bed when she was assaulted, Nguyen told investigators. Nguyen was stabbed while attempting to come to Ho's aid.

Tadesse then barricaded herself in the bathroom, where she hung herself. Investigators found no self-inflicted or stab wounds on Tadesse's body, Murphy said. Murphy said investigators had made "sufficient inquiries" to both women's next of kin before releasing their names.

Several residents living in rooms surrounding the Dunster House courtyard described being awakened soon after 8 a.m. by the screams of Nguyen.

"I woke up at 8:30 to hear a girl out in Dunster courtyard shrieking, `Someone's killed my friend, someone's killed my friend.' It went on for three or four minutes," said Timothy M. Cullen '96.

"I heard her screaming, that woke me up. I thought it was somebody drunk," said Sean M. Doherty '96. "Then I heard more screams, louder, and got out of bed to see what was going on. I saw her stumbling aimlessly."

Doherty said Nguyen sat on the bench outside the Dunster G-entryway and called for help.

"She was bleeding from the hand and from her wrist," Doherty said. "We went down to the second floor, and we saw drops of blood all over the place."

A fourth-floor resident of the H-entryway, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Harvard police instructed him and other entryway residents to return to their rooms and lock thedoors.

They mentioned that they were searching for asuspect who they described as a Black woman withlong hair wearing a T-shirt, he said.

Later, Tadesse's body was removed fromH-entryway as three emergency medical workersattempted to revive her.

"There was an empty stretcher, they brought outthe stretcher and carried her away," said athird-floor resident of the H-entryway who askednot to be identified this morning. "They weretrying to resuscitate her because she had hungherself. They carried her away with a respiratorover her mouth. I don't whether she was dead ornot."

Tadesse "was on a stretcher and they weretrying to revive her as they were wheeling herout," Doherty said. "She appeared to be dead, itlooked like she was dead."

Rowe said Harvard will not release furthercomment on the incident, but added that theUniversity is establishing a hotline for concernedparents.