Paper Says Story Did Not Lead to Girl's Murder

By: Joe Strupp The top editor of the Star-News in Wilmington, N.C. says his paper was right to publish a story about a local college student being stalked by a former boyfriend, even though the boyfriend allegedly shot the student to
death last week and the student's mother had asked the paper not to run the story.

But Executive Editor Allen Parsons says he would resign from his post if needed to help the paper recover from what he says has been a difficult situation. "I don't think it should come to that," he told E&P. "But if my
fears are realized, that people come to interpret this as something it is not -- a heartless disregard for people -- then I would step aside because I would be so closely aligned with it that I would have to leave to prevent
the paper from suffering damage to its credibility or reputation."

Publisher Ken Svanum stood by Parsons and the paper, saying no resignations are likely. "That is not the case," he said about any resignation speculation. "I think the community is shook, but the paper did what it should."

Parsons' comments followed the Friday murder of Christen Marie Naujoks, 22, a student at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Investigators believe she was shot to death by John Brian Peck, 28, a former UNCW student and ex-boyfriend of Naujoks.

The New Hanover County Sheriff's Office has charged Peck with first-degree murder, according to a department spokesman. He remained at-large Monday night, according to chief deputy sheriff Tom Parker, who said the investigation has not involved the newspaper's reporting. "At this point, we don't have any information ongoing related to the Star-News," he said. "I don't anticipate we will."

The Star-News (Click for QuikCap) first became interested in Naujoks following the May 5 killing of another UNCW student, Jessica Lee Faulkner. Police arrested a fellow student, Curtis Dixon, in that case and later revealed that he had lied on his college application about a previous criminal conviction.

At that point, Parsons said, Star-News editors wanted to know more about the university's process for checking such information on applications. During its reporting, the paper was contacted by Holly Naujoks, who told reporters about her daughter's harassment by Peck and a restraining order she had taken out against him.

During their research, Star-News reporters contacted UNCW officials to ask if Peck had informed them on his application of a previous conviction for sexual assault, said Mimi Cunningham, assistant to the university
chancellor. She said she personally assisted Star-News reporter Patrick Gannon with the research and asked Peck if he had lied on his application.

When Peck told the university he had lied, he was suspended on May 27, according to Cunningham, who stressed that the suspension was for lying, not for having a conviction. The Star-News published its story on May 31, which dealt with the entire issue of background checks and support for students who are abused or stalked, focusing on Peck and Naujoks, Parsons said.

But Naujoks' mother, who had gone to the paper initially, had asked that neither her daughter's name nor Peck's be included in a story. Parsons said the paper declined the request because it was an issue "we were concerned about," Parsons told E&P. "What safeguards are in the system?"

Parsons said he discussed the conflict with several editors, but in the end made the decision himself to run the article. "A big part of it was the previous killing and that the (Naujoks) family made us aware of it,"
Parsons explained. "They felt that the university didn't do all it could to make sure (Naujoks) wasn't tormented by this guy.

"In going forward, my thought was that there was nothing we were going to reveal that (Peck) didn't already know."

Parsons says he feels tremendous sympathy for the family but in no way believed the paper's story would lead to harm against Naujoks. "You can construct a situation in which you would not write almost any newspaper article," he argued. "You can't always know that something bad will happen. What you do as a journalist is find out the truth and print it."

Gannon, who could not be reached for comment, did not go to work on Monday, Parsons said, describing his reaction to the killing as "devastated." The editor said the reporter did not lobby either for or against the story being published. "I think he felt it was a decision his editors would have to make," Parsons said. "He was concerned about focusing on the university aspect of it."

Parsons said the tragedy has prompted him to put more coverage on the domestic violence issue in the future, saying "we're never going to let it be background noise."