Student from Delco found dead, boyfriend arrested

An autopsy is set for Monday for Karlie Hall, an 18-year-old Millersville University freshman from Chadds Ford who was found dead in her dorm room Sunday under what officials called suspicious circumstances.

Hall's boyfriend in the meantime is being held on aggravated-assault charges stemming from a physical altercation before she was found unresponsive about 5 a.m. by emergency personnel responding to a call for a cardiac arrest.

LancasterOnline, citing unidentified sources, reported that Hall had been "severely beaten."

The Associated Press reported that the arrest affidavit for Gregorio Orrostieta, 19, said police found him covered in blood and performing CPR on Hall when they arrived.

Orrostieta, 19, of Kennett Square who is not a student at the school, told officers he had shoved Hall, causing her to fall to the ground and hit her head on a chair, according to the affidavit. He then gave her a "back hand" to her face causing her to become unresponsive.

Orrostieta was ordered held on $1.5 million bail late Sunday, according to court records.

The Lancaster County District Attorney's Office said in a statement that the exact cause of Hall's death wasn't immediately apparent, but her death was considered to have happened "under suspicious circumstances."

Prosecutors said there was "no evidence that anyone else is involved" in the altercation between Hall and Orrostieta and there was no danger to the campus community.

The university said counseling staff will be available on campus to talk to students who need assistance.

"Our university community has suffered an unfathomable loss," Millersville President John Anderson wrote in a message to students and staff. "I ask that you join me in sending our thoughts and prayers to Karlie's family and friends."

Hall was a business administration major with a concentration in management, said Janet Kacskos, Millersville University director of communications.

"Nothing like this has ever happened here before," said Kacskos.

Hall graduated from Unionville High School in June 2014. She was hardworking and a good sister to her twin, Kristen, said Unionville principal Paula Massanari.

"The thing that always struck me was that I always saw her as a really devoted sister. You rarely saw one without the other," Massanari said.

Hall was part of the high school rugby club, volunteered at a local animal shelter and held a part-time job in high school to save up for college, Massanari said.

Hall's older sister and mother both graduated from Unionville High School as well, she said.

"Their ties to this community run deep and the school is devastated, obviously, by what happened to her," Massanari said.

Orrostieta graduated from Kennett High School in 2014, the school district said. He has played soccer for the Kennett Blue Demons, according to the Facebook page of Gregg Ostrage.