Student found ‘not breathing’ for 23 minutes had ghastly injuries, including nails ripped off — and no one knows what happened
A Kentucky college student found unresponsive in her dorm room with deep lacerations and bruising was not breathing for 23 minutes — and her parents are demanding answers to the now-months-long investigation into what happened.
Isabella Willingham, 21, a student at Asbury University, was rushed to the hospital Nov. 27 and placed in intensive care due to the severity of her injuries, according to Lex18.
Willingham’s parents, who had not heard from her for hours after she returned to campus after Thanksgiving, received a worrying phone call from her dorm resident director.
“At 11 that night, we get a call from the resident director of her dorm, and she tells us that Bella is in an ambulance on her way to the emergency room, that she had been found unresponsive on the floor of her room by her roommate,” her father, Andy Willingham, told the outlet.
Paramedics told her parents their daughter had stopped breathing for 23 minutes.
But her injuries also raised agonizing concerns.
Willingham suffered deep gashes and swollen legs, photos obtained by the outlet show.
The young university student also noticed her acrylic nails had been ripped off when she woke up in the hospital.
She spent two weeks recovering at the University of Kentucky Hospital.
The Jessamine County Sheriff’s Office confirmed and documented Willingham’s multiple injuries and launched an investigation to determine what happened to the student.
However, her father took umbrage with the local police department and the university. He told Lex18 that cops allegedly said his daughter’s injuries were likely from falling out of her bunk bed, a claim on which he pushed back.
“There’s no way these could’ve been caused by anything other than someone doing something to her,” he told the station.
Andy Willingham also said the university was not taking what happened to his daughter seriously and waited over a week to notify other students that there could be a potential threat on campus.
“As a parent, I want to know if there’s a possibility of someone coming into the school or campus being potentially dangerous,” the concerned father told the outlet.
Asbury University stated that it was aware of what happened to Willingham, but told other students it did not believe there was a threat on campus, according to Andy Willingham.
The father noted the university hadn’t asked anyone to come forward with information about what happened to his daughter and claimed an email asking for tips was sent to girls in his daughter’s dorm but not the entire student body.
Now, months removed from the terrifying ordeal, the Willingham family is still searching for answers.
“I contacted them and said this is not okay, you have to give a detail so if someone knows something, they’ll come forward, and the school’s response to me was that we felt like they had done everything they could do,” he told the outlet.
The father, who’s an alumnus of the school, noted that Asbury University had “never been anything but good, and they still are good as far as the institution goes” before the incident.
A spokesman for Asbury University released a statement to Lex18 saying the investigation is “ongoing,” and the school is working with law enforcement to determine what happened to Willingham.
“We are unable to provide any updates or specific information at this time. Asbury’s priority remains the safety and well-being of its students, faculty, and staff.”
The university then requested all “additional inquiries” be forwarded to the Jessamine County Sheriff’s Office.
Asbury University is a small school with around 1,900 students, and about 90% of its undergraduates live on campus, according to the institution’s website.
The university is located about 15 miles from the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
