Kathryn Marguerite Benoit, was our beloved daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece and friend.
As her extensive and incredibly eclectic range of friends show, Katy had an amazing gift for connecting with people. Katy was innately kind, smart and fun. She had a passion for learning about others and bringing out the best in herself and those close to her. She has always relished her spiritual journey.
Katy attended Longfellow Elementary and North Junior High. She enjoyed a wide range of activities, including soccer, 4-H, Girl Scouts and Bogus Basin Ski Team. Her signature passion and gift was her music.
Katy's musical life began as a preschooler in her Aunt Kristin's Musical Kids class. Piano lessons quickly followed. At age 5, Katy began playing the fiddle. She placed fifth in the Weiser National Fiddle Contest at age 9. When Katy was 11, her focus shifted to the cello – the instrument she was born to play. Katy studied cello music for many years under Dr. Bill Wharton and was a valued member of the highly acclaimed Boise High Chamber Orchestra. She loved playing in concerts and traveling on orchestra trips, the highlight being a European tour with the Chamber Orchestra in the summer of 2005. Katy's family and closest friends will always remember her beautiful Senior Recital in the spring of 2007.
Katy attended Boise High School and graduated in 2007. She spent a semester at Boise State before enrolling at the University of Idaho. Moscow quickly became Katy's second home. She discovered a second passion in the subject of psychology and continued to find new ways to challenge herself in personal growth.
In the warmer months at Moscow, Katy loved the early morning sunrises, hikes on Moscow Mountain and driving the country roads of the Palouse. In the colder months, she loved attending football games, spending extra time with her Alpha Gamma Delta sorority sisters, working with the music department and, occasionally, griping about icy streets during her cherished calls to family back home.
In recent years, Katy developed a fondness for dancing (anywhere, anytime), Thai and Mexican food (of the spiciest variety), baking cookies, traveling (family trips were a hallmark of her life, and she spent her '09 spring semester studying in Spain), attending Breakfast Club with friends and generally doing whatever she could to march to the beat of her own drum (a skill she actually started honing around age 3 or 4).
Katy graduated from Idaho in December 2010 with a major in psychology and a minor in music. She began Graduate School at Idaho in August 2011. Her last weeks as a physical being on Earth were filled with excitement and anticipation for her new role as a Teacher's Assistant, where she would be teaching undergraduate classes in Social Psychology and Developmental Psychology.
Katy was a recipient of the Bronze, Silver and, just this past year, Gold Congressional Awards, which are given by Congress to outstanding young Americans with high achievement in volunteer public service, physical fitness and personal development.
Katy leaves behind her parents, Gary and Janet; her brother, Andy; her son, Caleb and his loving parents Sarah and Jonathan; her Grandparents, Alice Benoit of Meridian, and Gerald and Lorene Guentz of Nampa; Aunt Cindy Benoit and Uncle Ken Benoit, and cousins David, Cristen and Ryan, Aunt Kristin Sample and cousins Suzanne, Rosie and Russell, Aunt Karen Fleming and Uncle Bob Fleming and cousins Travis and Trent, along with many treasured friends.
A celebration of life will be held at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011 at the Boise High School Auditorium, 1010 W. Washington St. Boise, ID 83702.
A reception will follow the celebration at the high school in the Quad and Cafeteria area.
Published in Idaho Press Tribune from August 26 to August 28, 2011
*********************************************************************************************
FORMER PROFESSOR ERNESTO BUSTAMANTE KILLED KATHRYN BENOIT, THEN SELF.
A college professor suffering from multiple personality disorder gunned down his student lover, police said, then later put a bullet through his own head.
Ernesto Bustamante resigned from the University of Idaho in Moscow after the woman with whom he'd been sleeping with, Kathryn Benoit, filed a complaint against him in June, authorities said in court documents.
Their relationship had deteriorated in March, but Bustamante continued to harass Benoit, friends of the 22-year-old graduate student told police.
That all ended, however, on Monday evening.
Benoit's roommates, Meghan Walker-Smith and Emma Gregory, told police they were baking cookies when Benoit went outside to smoke a cigarette around 8:40 p.m.
"She had been outside about 2 minutes when they both heard gun shots," the police affidavit stated. "Emma Gregory went to the front door and saw that Benoit had been shot and was down."
The psychology student was struck several times in the chest and throat by a .45 caliber gun, authorities said. Neither roommate saw the gunman, but both suspected 31-year-old Bustamante.
Gregory told police Benoit said her former lover had "pointed a handgun at her on multiple occasions and put the gun in her mouth at one point."
These incidents led her to file the complaint with the university.
After receiving threats and intimidation from Bustamante, we believed Katy had obtained a restraining order, changed addresses and filed a complaint with the University of Idaho," they said, according to KBOI 2 News.
But Moscow police say a request for a restraining order was never made, according to KBOI 2 News.
Bustamante, who had no criminal record, suffered from "multiple personality disorder," his close friend Rowdy Hope told police.
"One [personality] Bustamante calls a 'psychopathic killer' and another [he] calls 'the beast.'" he said, according to the court documents.
Authorities learned that Bustamante had several guns, including a "Smith and Wesson .45 cal semi-automatic handgun and a 1911 .45 caliber handgun."
Police tracked Bustamante's rented 2010 Chrysler Sebring to the University Inn Best Western, which led to a standoff that lasted several hours. The professor ended the standoff Tuesday morning by killing himself.
Bustamante resigned from the University of Idaho last week, and had been an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Communication there since 2007.
"We are both shocked and saddened by these events. Our heartfelt sympathy goes to the victim's family and friends," the university said in a statement.
Benoit's family said in their own statement that "Katy was a beautiful, intelligent and musically talented woman and we are so saddened by her tragic death. ... She was looking forward to her graduate studies and excited about her future."
As her extensive and incredibly eclectic range of friends show, Katy had an amazing gift for connecting with people. Katy was innately kind, smart and fun. She had a passion for learning about others and bringing out the best in herself and those close to her. She has always relished her spiritual journey.
Katy attended Longfellow Elementary and North Junior High. She enjoyed a wide range of activities, including soccer, 4-H, Girl Scouts and Bogus Basin Ski Team. Her signature passion and gift was her music.
Katy's musical life began as a preschooler in her Aunt Kristin's Musical Kids class. Piano lessons quickly followed. At age 5, Katy began playing the fiddle. She placed fifth in the Weiser National Fiddle Contest at age 9. When Katy was 11, her focus shifted to the cello – the instrument she was born to play. Katy studied cello music for many years under Dr. Bill Wharton and was a valued member of the highly acclaimed Boise High Chamber Orchestra. She loved playing in concerts and traveling on orchestra trips, the highlight being a European tour with the Chamber Orchestra in the summer of 2005. Katy's family and closest friends will always remember her beautiful Senior Recital in the spring of 2007.
Katy attended Boise High School and graduated in 2007. She spent a semester at Boise State before enrolling at the University of Idaho. Moscow quickly became Katy's second home. She discovered a second passion in the subject of psychology and continued to find new ways to challenge herself in personal growth.
In the warmer months at Moscow, Katy loved the early morning sunrises, hikes on Moscow Mountain and driving the country roads of the Palouse. In the colder months, she loved attending football games, spending extra time with her Alpha Gamma Delta sorority sisters, working with the music department and, occasionally, griping about icy streets during her cherished calls to family back home.
In recent years, Katy developed a fondness for dancing (anywhere, anytime), Thai and Mexican food (of the spiciest variety), baking cookies, traveling (family trips were a hallmark of her life, and she spent her '09 spring semester studying in Spain), attending Breakfast Club with friends and generally doing whatever she could to march to the beat of her own drum (a skill she actually started honing around age 3 or 4).
Katy graduated from Idaho in December 2010 with a major in psychology and a minor in music. She began Graduate School at Idaho in August 2011. Her last weeks as a physical being on Earth were filled with excitement and anticipation for her new role as a Teacher's Assistant, where she would be teaching undergraduate classes in Social Psychology and Developmental Psychology.
Katy was a recipient of the Bronze, Silver and, just this past year, Gold Congressional Awards, which are given by Congress to outstanding young Americans with high achievement in volunteer public service, physical fitness and personal development.
Katy leaves behind her parents, Gary and Janet; her brother, Andy; her son, Caleb and his loving parents Sarah and Jonathan; her Grandparents, Alice Benoit of Meridian, and Gerald and Lorene Guentz of Nampa; Aunt Cindy Benoit and Uncle Ken Benoit, and cousins David, Cristen and Ryan, Aunt Kristin Sample and cousins Suzanne, Rosie and Russell, Aunt Karen Fleming and Uncle Bob Fleming and cousins Travis and Trent, along with many treasured friends.
A celebration of life will be held at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011 at the Boise High School Auditorium, 1010 W. Washington St. Boise, ID 83702.
A reception will follow the celebration at the high school in the Quad and Cafeteria area.
Published in Idaho Press Tribune from August 26 to August 28, 2011
*********************************************************************************************
FORMER PROFESSOR ERNESTO BUSTAMANTE KILLED KATHRYN BENOIT, THEN SELF.
A college professor suffering from multiple personality disorder gunned down his student lover, police said, then later put a bullet through his own head.
Ernesto Bustamante resigned from the University of Idaho in Moscow after the woman with whom he'd been sleeping with, Kathryn Benoit, filed a complaint against him in June, authorities said in court documents.
Their relationship had deteriorated in March, but Bustamante continued to harass Benoit, friends of the 22-year-old graduate student told police.
That all ended, however, on Monday evening.
Benoit's roommates, Meghan Walker-Smith and Emma Gregory, told police they were baking cookies when Benoit went outside to smoke a cigarette around 8:40 p.m.
"She had been outside about 2 minutes when they both heard gun shots," the police affidavit stated. "Emma Gregory went to the front door and saw that Benoit had been shot and was down."
The psychology student was struck several times in the chest and throat by a .45 caliber gun, authorities said. Neither roommate saw the gunman, but both suspected 31-year-old Bustamante.
Gregory told police Benoit said her former lover had "pointed a handgun at her on multiple occasions and put the gun in her mouth at one point."
These incidents led her to file the complaint with the university.
After receiving threats and intimidation from Bustamante, we believed Katy had obtained a restraining order, changed addresses and filed a complaint with the University of Idaho," they said, according to KBOI 2 News.
But Moscow police say a request for a restraining order was never made, according to KBOI 2 News.
Bustamante, who had no criminal record, suffered from "multiple personality disorder," his close friend Rowdy Hope told police.
"One [personality] Bustamante calls a 'psychopathic killer' and another [he] calls 'the beast.'" he said, according to the court documents.
Authorities learned that Bustamante had several guns, including a "Smith and Wesson .45 cal semi-automatic handgun and a 1911 .45 caliber handgun."
Police tracked Bustamante's rented 2010 Chrysler Sebring to the University Inn Best Western, which led to a standoff that lasted several hours. The professor ended the standoff Tuesday morning by killing himself.
Bustamante resigned from the University of Idaho last week, and had been an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Communication there since 2007.
"We are both shocked and saddened by these events. Our heartfelt sympathy goes to the victim's family and friends," the university said in a statement.
Benoit's family said in their own statement that "Katy was a beautiful, intelligent and musically talented woman and we are so saddened by her tragic death. ... She was looking forward to her graduate studies and excited about her future."
Kathryn Marguerite Benoit, was our beloved daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece and friend.
As her extensive and incredibly eclectic range of friends show, Katy had an amazing gift for connecting with people. Katy was innately kind, smart and fun. She had a passion for learning about others and bringing out the best in herself and those close to her. She has always relished her spiritual journey.
Katy attended Longfellow Elementary and North Junior High. She enjoyed a wide range of activities, including soccer, 4-H, Girl Scouts and Bogus Basin Ski Team. Her signature passion and gift was her music.
Katy's musical life began as a preschooler in her Aunt Kristin's Musical Kids class. Piano lessons quickly followed. At age 5, Katy began playing the fiddle. She placed fifth in the Weiser National Fiddle Contest at age 9. When Katy was 11, her focus shifted to the cello – the instrument she was born to play. Katy studied cello music for many years under Dr. Bill Wharton and was a valued member of the highly acclaimed Boise High Chamber Orchestra. She loved playing in concerts and traveling on orchestra trips, the highlight being a European tour with the Chamber Orchestra in the summer of 2005. Katy's family and closest friends will always remember her beautiful Senior Recital in the spring of 2007.
Katy attended Boise High School and graduated in 2007. She spent a semester at Boise State before enrolling at the University of Idaho. Moscow quickly became Katy's second home. She discovered a second passion in the subject of psychology and continued to find new ways to challenge herself in personal growth.
In the warmer months at Moscow, Katy loved the early morning sunrises, hikes on Moscow Mountain and driving the country roads of the Palouse. In the colder months, she loved attending football games, spending extra time with her Alpha Gamma Delta sorority sisters, working with the music department and, occasionally, griping about icy streets during her cherished calls to family back home.
In recent years, Katy developed a fondness for dancing (anywhere, anytime), Thai and Mexican food (of the spiciest variety), baking cookies, traveling (family trips were a hallmark of her life, and she spent her '09 spring semester studying in Spain), attending Breakfast Club with friends and generally doing whatever she could to march to the beat of her own drum (a skill she actually started honing around age 3 or 4).
Katy graduated from Idaho in December 2010 with a major in psychology and a minor in music. She began Graduate School at Idaho in August 2011. Her last weeks as a physical being on Earth were filled with excitement and anticipation for her new role as a Teacher's Assistant, where she would be teaching undergraduate classes in Social Psychology and Developmental Psychology.
Katy was a recipient of the Bronze, Silver and, just this past year, Gold Congressional Awards, which are given by Congress to outstanding young Americans with high achievement in volunteer public service, physical fitness and personal development.
Katy leaves behind her parents, Gary and Janet; her brother, Andy; her son, Caleb and his loving parents Sarah and Jonathan; her Grandparents, Alice Benoit of Meridian, and Gerald and Lorene Guentz of Nampa; Aunt Cindy Benoit and Uncle Ken Benoit, and cousins David, Cristen and Ryan, Aunt Kristin Sample and cousins Suzanne, Rosie and Russell, Aunt Karen Fleming and Uncle Bob Fleming and cousins Travis and Trent, along with many treasured friends.
A celebration of life will be held at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011 at the Boise High School Auditorium, 1010 W. Washington St. Boise, ID 83702.
A reception will follow the celebration at the high school in the Quad and Cafeteria area.
Published in Idaho Press Tribune from August 26 to August 28, 2011
*********************************************************************************************
FORMER PROFESSOR ERNESTO BUSTAMANTE KILLED KATHRYN BENOIT, THEN SELF.
A college professor suffering from multiple personality disorder gunned down his student lover, police said, then later put a bullet through his own head.
Ernesto Bustamante resigned from the University of Idaho in Moscow after the woman with whom he'd been sleeping with, Kathryn Benoit, filed a complaint against him in June, authorities said in court documents.
Their relationship had deteriorated in March, but Bustamante continued to harass Benoit, friends of the 22-year-old graduate student told police.
That all ended, however, on Monday evening.
Benoit's roommates, Meghan Walker-Smith and Emma Gregory, told police they were baking cookies when Benoit went outside to smoke a cigarette around 8:40 p.m.
"She had been outside about 2 minutes when they both heard gun shots," the police affidavit stated. "Emma Gregory went to the front door and saw that Benoit had been shot and was down."
The psychology student was struck several times in the chest and throat by a .45 caliber gun, authorities said. Neither roommate saw the gunman, but both suspected 31-year-old Bustamante.
Gregory told police Benoit said her former lover had "pointed a handgun at her on multiple occasions and put the gun in her mouth at one point."
These incidents led her to file the complaint with the university.
After receiving threats and intimidation from Bustamante, we believed Katy had obtained a restraining order, changed addresses and filed a complaint with the University of Idaho," they said, according to KBOI 2 News.
But Moscow police say a request for a restraining order was never made, according to KBOI 2 News.
Bustamante, who had no criminal record, suffered from "multiple personality disorder," his close friend Rowdy Hope told police.
"One [personality] Bustamante calls a 'psychopathic killer' and another [he] calls 'the beast.'" he said, according to the court documents.
Authorities learned that Bustamante had several guns, including a "Smith and Wesson .45 cal semi-automatic handgun and a 1911 .45 caliber handgun."
Police tracked Bustamante's rented 2010 Chrysler Sebring to the University Inn Best Western, which led to a standoff that lasted several hours. The professor ended the standoff Tuesday morning by killing himself.
Bustamante resigned from the University of Idaho last week, and had been an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Communication there since 2007.
"We are both shocked and saddened by these events. Our heartfelt sympathy goes to the victim's family and friends," the university said in a statement.
Benoit's family said in their own statement that "Katy was a beautiful, intelligent and musically talented woman and we are so saddened by her tragic death. ... She was looking forward to her graduate studies and excited about her future."
As her extensive and incredibly eclectic range of friends show, Katy had an amazing gift for connecting with people. Katy was innately kind, smart and fun. She had a passion for learning about others and bringing out the best in herself and those close to her. She has always relished her spiritual journey.
Katy attended Longfellow Elementary and North Junior High. She enjoyed a wide range of activities, including soccer, 4-H, Girl Scouts and Bogus Basin Ski Team. Her signature passion and gift was her music.
Katy's musical life began as a preschooler in her Aunt Kristin's Musical Kids class. Piano lessons quickly followed. At age 5, Katy began playing the fiddle. She placed fifth in the Weiser National Fiddle Contest at age 9. When Katy was 11, her focus shifted to the cello – the instrument she was born to play. Katy studied cello music for many years under Dr. Bill Wharton and was a valued member of the highly acclaimed Boise High Chamber Orchestra. She loved playing in concerts and traveling on orchestra trips, the highlight being a European tour with the Chamber Orchestra in the summer of 2005. Katy's family and closest friends will always remember her beautiful Senior Recital in the spring of 2007.
Katy attended Boise High School and graduated in 2007. She spent a semester at Boise State before enrolling at the University of Idaho. Moscow quickly became Katy's second home. She discovered a second passion in the subject of psychology and continued to find new ways to challenge herself in personal growth.
In the warmer months at Moscow, Katy loved the early morning sunrises, hikes on Moscow Mountain and driving the country roads of the Palouse. In the colder months, she loved attending football games, spending extra time with her Alpha Gamma Delta sorority sisters, working with the music department and, occasionally, griping about icy streets during her cherished calls to family back home.
In recent years, Katy developed a fondness for dancing (anywhere, anytime), Thai and Mexican food (of the spiciest variety), baking cookies, traveling (family trips were a hallmark of her life, and she spent her '09 spring semester studying in Spain), attending Breakfast Club with friends and generally doing whatever she could to march to the beat of her own drum (a skill she actually started honing around age 3 or 4).
Katy graduated from Idaho in December 2010 with a major in psychology and a minor in music. She began Graduate School at Idaho in August 2011. Her last weeks as a physical being on Earth were filled with excitement and anticipation for her new role as a Teacher's Assistant, where she would be teaching undergraduate classes in Social Psychology and Developmental Psychology.
Katy was a recipient of the Bronze, Silver and, just this past year, Gold Congressional Awards, which are given by Congress to outstanding young Americans with high achievement in volunteer public service, physical fitness and personal development.
Katy leaves behind her parents, Gary and Janet; her brother, Andy; her son, Caleb and his loving parents Sarah and Jonathan; her Grandparents, Alice Benoit of Meridian, and Gerald and Lorene Guentz of Nampa; Aunt Cindy Benoit and Uncle Ken Benoit, and cousins David, Cristen and Ryan, Aunt Kristin Sample and cousins Suzanne, Rosie and Russell, Aunt Karen Fleming and Uncle Bob Fleming and cousins Travis and Trent, along with many treasured friends.
A celebration of life will be held at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011 at the Boise High School Auditorium, 1010 W. Washington St. Boise, ID 83702.
A reception will follow the celebration at the high school in the Quad and Cafeteria area.
Published in Idaho Press Tribune from August 26 to August 28, 2011
*********************************************************************************************
FORMER PROFESSOR ERNESTO BUSTAMANTE KILLED KATHRYN BENOIT, THEN SELF.
A college professor suffering from multiple personality disorder gunned down his student lover, police said, then later put a bullet through his own head.
Ernesto Bustamante resigned from the University of Idaho in Moscow after the woman with whom he'd been sleeping with, Kathryn Benoit, filed a complaint against him in June, authorities said in court documents.
Their relationship had deteriorated in March, but Bustamante continued to harass Benoit, friends of the 22-year-old graduate student told police.
That all ended, however, on Monday evening.
Benoit's roommates, Meghan Walker-Smith and Emma Gregory, told police they were baking cookies when Benoit went outside to smoke a cigarette around 8:40 p.m.
"She had been outside about 2 minutes when they both heard gun shots," the police affidavit stated. "Emma Gregory went to the front door and saw that Benoit had been shot and was down."
The psychology student was struck several times in the chest and throat by a .45 caliber gun, authorities said. Neither roommate saw the gunman, but both suspected 31-year-old Bustamante.
Gregory told police Benoit said her former lover had "pointed a handgun at her on multiple occasions and put the gun in her mouth at one point."
These incidents led her to file the complaint with the university.
After receiving threats and intimidation from Bustamante, we believed Katy had obtained a restraining order, changed addresses and filed a complaint with the University of Idaho," they said, according to KBOI 2 News.
But Moscow police say a request for a restraining order was never made, according to KBOI 2 News.
Bustamante, who had no criminal record, suffered from "multiple personality disorder," his close friend Rowdy Hope told police.
"One [personality] Bustamante calls a 'psychopathic killer' and another [he] calls 'the beast.'" he said, according to the court documents.
Authorities learned that Bustamante had several guns, including a "Smith and Wesson .45 cal semi-automatic handgun and a 1911 .45 caliber handgun."
Police tracked Bustamante's rented 2010 Chrysler Sebring to the University Inn Best Western, which led to a standoff that lasted several hours. The professor ended the standoff Tuesday morning by killing himself.
Bustamante resigned from the University of Idaho last week, and had been an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Communication there since 2007.
"We are both shocked and saddened by these events. Our heartfelt sympathy goes to the victim's family and friends," the university said in a statement.
Benoit's family said in their own statement that "Katy was a beautiful, intelligent and musically talented woman and we are so saddened by her tragic death. ... She was looking forward to her graduate studies and excited about her future."
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