DAVIS —
UC Davis Veterinary Medicine students held a vigil outside of Gladys Valley Hall Saturday night to honor their fellow classmate Whitney Engler.
The 27-year-old was found shot to death inside her Davis home on Glacier way Thursday night, next to her roommate, 24-year-old Joseph Hein.
Police initially received a call from a man at the home, saying 2 people had been shot inside. They initially thought they had an armed suspect inside, but after a nearly 8 hour standoff they entered and found the two dead. Lieutenant Thomas Waltz with Davis Police said the evidence had the hallmarks of a murder suicide.
“She had job interviews set up this weekend, she’s less than 2 months away from graduation,” Anjolie Dariyani said.
“It’s still very surreal. I don’t really understand what happened,” Caitlan Koontz said.
No one who knew Engler seems to know how she ended up dead in her home. Friends told FOX40 they’d heard very little to nothing from Engler about Hein.
“I’m not under the impression that anyone knows him. I had never heard of him until that morning,” Koontz said.
“To me she seemed perfectly normal, her happy self,” Dariyani said.
Engler was from San Diego, and many of her friends made the 8 hour drive to attend her vigil Saturday. One of Engler’s former roommates said he didn’t know why anyone would not want her around.
Engler’s mother called into the vigil on speakerphone to address the crowd. She told them to continue sharing stories of her daughter, because she wanted to hold onto all the memories she could. She also told them that anger would not help them heal.
Friends were still organizing search parties to find Engler’s service dog, Rosie. They said she ran away from the home when police entered. The dog was later found on Sunday morning, and is now with friends of Engler.
