'Remember Ruth': Friends honor murdered UIC student with fundraiser

The man accused of killing UIC student Ruth George had a short court appearance on Thursday, and is set to be back in court Nov. 30.

Police say Donald Thurman murdered George in a campus parking garage after she refused to talk to him last year. The night George was murdered, she had been hanging out with friends.

Thurman had just gotten out of prison early for an armed robbery conviction. 

As this case moves forward in court, friends of George are working to make their Chicago campus safer.

“We all felt sort of helpless because we were thinking we could have done this, we could have done that.  We could have avoided it,” said Srishti Dube, George’s friend.

George’s friends created a fundraiser and are selling t-shirts that say “Remember Ruth.”

The fundraiser was organized by Delta Epsilon Mu-Psi Chapter at the University of Illinois at Chicago, which is a co-ed professional fraternity where 19-year-old George was known as Ruthie.

“These shirts - they tell her story, but they also have a very strong slogan about making campuses safe because you know nobody should have to go through this,” said Bhavana Muppavarapu, George’s friend.

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The students behind this fundraiser say it is about increasing awareness while decreasing crime.

“We want more student patrolling, more patrolling of police on campus in general,” said Dube.

Money raised from "Remember Ruth" will go to an organization that fights campus crime.

“If it helps one person in the future . . . make sure their friend is getting home safely, walking them to their car, anything like that that. It’s truly what makes us and her family feel a lot better,” said Muppavarapu.

George's friends hope people will wear the shirts when they mark the one year anniversary of the vicious campus killing next month.