2008 Woodie Awards
Friends of slain student raise funds for training scholarship
Maggie Cassidy
Issue date: 7/2/08 Section: News
More than a month after Northeastern student Rebecca Payne was found shot to death in her Mission Hill apartment, Boston Police have released few details about the investigation into her murder.
But while investigators continue searching for clues as to who killed Payne and why, her friends at Northeastern are fundraising for a scholarship that the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) created in her name. The Rebecca Payne District 1 Memorial Scholarship will be for upperclassman athletic training majors registered with NATA in New England and honors her generous nature, her friends said.
"She was always willing to help people. That was her goal in life, to do something where she'd be helping people," said senior health sciences major Shane Yeomans, who had been dating Payne since August and had been friends with her since their freshman year.
Payne, 22, was found dead in her Parker Hill Avenue apartment by her building manager shortly before 7 a.m. May 20. Yeomans said Payne had been working at Legal Seafoods in the Prudential Center the night before. He said he talked to Payne on her cell phone while she walked home from the restaurant, where she had been working for about a week.
Boston Police Department (BPD) investigators are still conducting an "active, ongoing investigation" and releasing certain information could impede their search, said BPD spokesperson David Estrada.
Yeomans and several of Payne's friends have been selling memorial wristbands via Facebook and word of mouth to raise money for the scholarship, which was proposed by Northeastern alumnus Jeff Stone.
Senior athletic training major Lauren Ziaks, a close friend of Payne's who has helped lead the distribution of the bracelets, said she was touched to hear about the scholarship.
"I wanted to help them find a way to fund it so that they didn't have to raise it themselves," she said.
The group decided to help fund the scholarship by selling the green wristbands - similar to Lance Armstrong's Livestrong bracelets - which have since been dubbed "Becca's Bracelets."
But while investigators continue searching for clues as to who killed Payne and why, her friends at Northeastern are fundraising for a scholarship that the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) created in her name. The Rebecca Payne District 1 Memorial Scholarship will be for upperclassman athletic training majors registered with NATA in New England and honors her generous nature, her friends said.
"She was always willing to help people. That was her goal in life, to do something where she'd be helping people," said senior health sciences major Shane Yeomans, who had been dating Payne since August and had been friends with her since their freshman year.
Payne, 22, was found dead in her Parker Hill Avenue apartment by her building manager shortly before 7 a.m. May 20. Yeomans said Payne had been working at Legal Seafoods in the Prudential Center the night before. He said he talked to Payne on her cell phone while she walked home from the restaurant, where she had been working for about a week.
Boston Police Department (BPD) investigators are still conducting an "active, ongoing investigation" and releasing certain information could impede their search, said BPD spokesperson David Estrada.
Yeomans and several of Payne's friends have been selling memorial wristbands via Facebook and word of mouth to raise money for the scholarship, which was proposed by Northeastern alumnus Jeff Stone.
Senior athletic training major Lauren Ziaks, a close friend of Payne's who has helped lead the distribution of the bracelets, said she was touched to hear about the scholarship.
"I wanted to help them find a way to fund it so that they didn't have to raise it themselves," she said.
The group decided to help fund the scholarship by selling the green wristbands - similar to Lance Armstrong's Livestrong bracelets - which have since been dubbed "Becca's Bracelets."
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