Who Killed Andrea DelVesco and What Happened to the UCLA Student?

Death in the Dorms is the new six-episode anthology docuseries from ABC News Studios that is now available to stream on Hulu.

The series tells the "unimaginable" true stories of six college students whose lives tragically ended in murder.

The six cases covered are those of UCLA student Andrea DelVesco, University of Florida freshman Christian Aguilar, University of Virginia lacrosse player Yeardley Love, Baruch College freshman Michael Deng, University of South Carolina senior Samantha Josephson, and Western Kentucky University freshman Katie Autry.

The first episode explores the death of psychology student DelVesco, the events leading up to her death, and what happened afterward. Newsweek has the full story about the tragic death of DelVesco and who was found guilty of murdering her.

Who Killed Andrea DelVesco?

On September 21, 2018, a judge sentenced Alberto Hinojosa Medina, then 25, to life in prison without the possibility of parole for stabbing and killing 21-year-old student DelVesco and setting her home on fire three years prior.

In May 2018, a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury convicted Medina of first-degree murder. He was also convicted of arson, cruelty to an animal and two counts of burglary.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mark Windham deemed Medina too dangerous to ever be released, saying: "He brutally murdered a beautiful, innocent person. He seriously wounded an entire community. He must never walk free again."

In Death in the Dorms DelVesco's mom, Leslie DelVesco, says that Medina's conviction brought "huge relief" to her.

"He was finally going to be serving his punishment for killing Andrea," she said.

Medina attended Fresno State but was visiting his friend and accomplice, Eric Marquez, who was a student at UCLA, the night that DelVesco died.

Marquez, also 25 at the time, admitted to charges of burglary and acting as an accessory after the fact and was sentenced to two years and eight months in state prison.

According to Death in the Dorms, there was "insufficient evidence" to show that Marquez knew "exactly what happened inside" DelVesco's apartment the night of her death.

What Happened to Andrea DelVesco?

DelVesco's body was found by firefighters inside her apartment, which was part of a complex, in the Westwood neighborhood of LA, having been stabbed 19 times.

After she was stabbed, a trash can was put on her bed and set on fire. No smoke was found in her lungs, suggesting she was killed before the fire was set.

Victor Avila, a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles County, speaks about DelVesco's case throughout Death in the Dorms and says that detectives believe "the killer tried to cover up his crime by setting her and her room on fire."

One of DelVesco's roommates said she fell asleep at about 3 a.m. Detectives believe that later that morning, Medina went inside her apartment and stabbed her while she was screaming.

The screams were heard by one of DelVesco's neighbors, Sarah Muhr, at around 6:15 a.m. and the police were called. Officers looked around the area but did not knock on any doors at the complex. The same neighbor then called the police again, around half an hour later, after realizing DelVesco's apartment was in flames.

Two LAPD officers were terminated after the case, and how officers responded to the neighbor's calls drew scrutiny from the public.

Medina's animal cruelty charge resulted from DelVesco's pet dog, who was in her apartment at the time of her death, having to be euthanized after being burned in the fire. DelVesco's mom speaks in Death in the Dorms about going to visit her late daughter's pet in the animal hospital.

"We all agreed that it was better if we just let Shay Panda (the dog) go to join Andrea," Leslie DelVesco says. "We said goodbye to Shay Panda and sent her to kiss Andrea for us. And then it hit me—if Andrea was involved in that same fire, what her body must have looked like."

According to the documentary episode, Medina and Marquez were tracked down by police after Sonos speakers that had been stolen from a different, nearby apartment that night were traced back to them.

The speakers have to be registered online to use and police were able to contact the person whose email was connected to the stolen Sonos devices. They said they had borrowed them from their roommate, Medina.

"Medina's roommate tells them that Alberto Medina was down in Los Angeles visiting a friend at UCLA that weekend," Avila says in Death in the Dorms, "and that when he came back, he had these Sonos speakers."

Medina told the officers that Marquez was the one who killed DelVesco but evidence, including DNA recovered from blood in Medina's car, DelVesco's red blanket, and a bloody knife that matched the set from her apartment, told a different story.

Death in the Dorms is available to stream now on Hulu.