Woman Charged in Student's Death

TUCSON, Ariz. | Upset that her roommate had accused her of theft, a University of Arizona freshman bought a knife, returned to their dorm room and stabbed the woman as she slept, according to court papers filed Thursday.

But before 18-year-old Galareka Harrison killed Mia Henderson, she forged a note in which the victim purportedly admitted falsely accusing her roommate and "mentioned ending her own life," university police Officer Mario Leon wrote in a sworn statement.

Harrison entered the room, left the note on her roommate's desk and then stabbed her "numerous times," according to the probable cause statement filed in Pima County Justice Court.

Harrison is jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail on a first-degree murder charge in Wednesday's stabbing. A judge entered a not guilty plea on her behalf.

Police would not say what Harrison had been accused of stealing and would not release the police report her roommate filed Aug. 28.

But Lee Ann Dejolie, a Northern Arizona University student who described herself as a close friend of Henderson's, said Henderson had complained this week that her roommate had been going through her purse and taking things.

Both girls were residents of communities on the Navajo Indian Reservation - Henderson from Tuba City and Harrison from Chinle, about 100 miles east of Tuba City near New Mexico.

After Harrison's initial court appearance Thursday, her mother, Janice Harrison, said her daughter has no history of violence.

When Henderson filed the police report, she told police that she would not stay in her dormitory room until either Harrison or she was moved, Police Chief Anthony Daykin said. Daykin said the roommate had also been named as a possible suspect in a theft report filed by another student in the dorm.

The next day, Henderson declined an offer of different housing, Daykin said. The chief said Wednesday that he did not know when Henderson had returned to the dorm room or what had triggered their fight.

But students called police shortly before 6 a.m. after hearing screams, and officers found both young women injured. Both were taken to a hospital, where Henderson was pronounced dead. Harrison was not seriously hurt.

[ Associated Press Writer Felicia Fonseca in Albuquerque, N.M., contributed to this report. ]