{Photos} College student who beat school sweetheart to death

They were high-school sweethearts determined to make their long-distance relationship work. Clayton Whittemore had made the journey to see his beautiful girlfriend Alexandra Kogut at the college where she’d recently started studying.

 

 

She couldn’t wait to see him and he’d travelled over a hundred miles to be with her, but instead of a romantic reunion, Alexandra, 18, would end up dead, brutally beaten to death with a hair curling iron.

Clayton, 21, met Alexandra at high school in their hometown of New Hartford, Conneticut. They’d been dating for almost two years and seemed like the dream couple. Clayton had been a star athlete and a promising hockey player, while Alexandra had captained the local swimming team.

 

"Should have known…"

In 2012, Alexandra moved away from home to study communications at the College at Brockport, New York. Clayton stayed to study accounting. Both told friends and family they were in love, and despite the 150 miles between them, they wanted to stay together.
In September that year, after only being at college a few months, Alexandra shared on Twitter how excited she was that Clayton was coming to visit her. It read: "So excited for @Whittemore21 to come to Brockport Saturday and bring me half moons [cookies]."

But after his arrival, it was clear something wasn’t right. Alexandra posted another Tweet that evening – the last one she’d write – saying, "Should have known."

 

It was as though she expected something and she’d been proven right, but no one could have predicted what Clayton did just hours later. On the morning of September 29, 2012, at around 2am, Clayton attacked Alexandra during an argument.

 

In her dorm room, he viciously beat her to death with his fists and then with her hair curling iron. With his girlfriend dead, he left without calling for help and went on the run.

Amazingly, Alexandra’s mum, Becky Kogut, had a sixth sense that something wasn’t right. She tried calling her daughter’s mobile but couldn’t get through, so she called the college and begged them to check on her. Alexandra’s body was found in her room with extensive abuse to the upper body. The cause of death was recorded as blunt force trauma.

Clayton was found by police at 4am, 100 miles away – he was halfway to the Canadian Border. During questioning he confessed, "I killed my girlfriend. I wasn’t even drunk. I just snapped."

Clayton claimed he’d been arguing with Alexandra about "stupid stuff" and they’d started shoving each other. The fight escalated. ‘"She wouldn’t stop pushing me, so I started punching her," he said. "I kept hitting her over and over with my fists."

Clayton said Alexandra’s breathing then began to sound irregular and she was gurgling. He grabbed a curling iron and beat her until the noises stopped. "I didn’t want the girl I loved to suffer," he said, as though he’d committed an act of kindness. He was arrested and charged with murder. 

Back in her hometown of New Hartford, hundreds of Alexandra’s friends and family packed into a church for her funeral. Mourners were encouraged to "celebrate her love and her life, rather than remember the few tragic moments that took her from us". Purple ribbons were tied around trees and mourners wore purple to bring attention to domestic violence.

Despite his confession, Clayton pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder when the trial began in May 2014. His defence team argued that Clayton had suffered severe abuse by his dad in his childhood, which his sister testified to, saying her father was extremely physically and emotionally abusive.

The defence then tried to claim that this abuse had led Clayton to snap and insisted he should be convicted on a lesser charge of manslaughter.

The prosecution dismissed the argument and said the killing was down to domestic violence. The court heard that Clayton had a temper and he’d been aggressive with former girlfriends too. His confession during the initial questioning was damning.

Justice is served
After a three-week trial, the jury took just two hours to find Clayton guilty of second-degree murder. As the verdict was read, Alexandra’s mum Becky Tweeted, "Justice for my sweet baby."

As family members cried, Clayton remained emotionless. At sentencing, two years after killing his girlfriend, Clayton was given 25 years to life in prison. Finally, the former hockey star wept.
The judge spoke about his disbelief over Clayton’s decision to put Alexandra out of her misery: "You call an ambulance. You get help. She wasn’t some animal."

Clayton had travelled across the country to see the girl he claimed to love then beat her to death. Sadly, Alexandra’s realisation "should have known" came too late to save her.