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No Bail for Virginia Tech Student Charged in Killing of 13-Year-Old

Natalie Keepers wanted to be part of something "secretive" and was involved in the murder plot from the beginning, a prosecutor said.
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A judge on Thursday refused to grant bail to a Virginia Tech student charged in the killing of a 13-year-old, and prosecutors said the woman told police she was "excited" to be a part of something "secretive."

Natalie Keepers, 19, is charged along with another student, David Eisenhauer, 18, in the killing of Nicole Lovell, whose body was found in North Carolina three days after she disappeared from her Virginia home.

"She killed someone she never even met," Montgomery County Commonwealth Attorney Mary Pettitt said in court Thursday, according to NBC affiliate WSLS.

Pettitt argued that Keepers was involved in the plot to kill Lovell from the beginning. Keepers is charged with accessory before the fact of first-degree murder, concealing a dead body and accessory after the fact to first-degree murder.

Keepers and Eisenhauer planned to take Lovell "to a remote location under the guise of a date," Pettitt said in court, according to the station.

Image: Natalie Keepers
Natalie KeepersBlacksburg PD

"Keepers told investigators she was 'excited' to be part of something 'secretive' and 'special,'" Pettitt said in an email.

A motive in the killing has not been disclosed. Keepers told police where to find the girl’s body, Pettitt said.

Lovell was disappeared from her Blacksburg home on Jan. 27, and authorities were especially concerned because the liver transplant recipient left behind her daily medication.

A preliminary cause of death is stabbing, officials said. The charge of accessory before the fact indicates Keepers was not present during the killing. Eisenhauer is charged with first-degree murder and abduction.

After the murder, Keepers and Eisenhauer allegedly went to a Walmart in Wytheville to buy cleaning supplies with the girl’s body in the trunk of the car, Pettitt said.

Keepers said in court that she has a history of depression and suicidal thoughts, and her attorneys argued she should be freed on bail so she can get proper treatment, WSLS reported.

A judge ordered Keepers held without bail.