Sinedu Tadesse

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REAL CRIMINAL
Name	Sinedu Tadesse
Gender	Female
Birth Date	September 25, 1975
Place of Birth	Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Date of Death	May 29, 1995
Place of Death	Dunster House, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Occupation	Medical student
Pathology	Unclassified killer Stalker
Signature	Sending her suicide note and school picture to the student newspaper
Modus Operandi	Stabbing
Type	Disorganized Rejected
No. of Victims	1 killed 1 attempted
Span of crimes	May 29, 1995
Status	Deceased (suicide by hanging)

“	Keep this picture. There will soon be a very juicy story involving the woman in this picture.	”
	— Tadesse's suicide note to the Harvard Crimson, included with her yearbook photo

Sinedu Tadesse was an Ethiopian-American mentally ill Harvard exchange student and the killer of her college roommate, Trang Phuong Ho, before Tadesse committed suicide.

History

Tadesse was born to an affluent family in Addis Ababa, but due to warfare and unrest in her family's own backyard, Tadesse's father was imprisoned when she was seven. As she was bullied by peers and even looked down upon by her own family, Tadesse became introverted and poured her attention into academia. She graduated as valedictorian at the International Community School, which earned her a scholarship as an exchange student at Harvard. In spite of her social life being delayed so she could get into Harvard Medical School, Tadesse averaged at a B grade, which Harvard wouldn't accept in spite of Tadesse qualifying for other medical universities. When Tadesse tried to make friends, she sent form letters to people she found in phone books, pleading for them to be friends with her to cure her loneliness. After Tadesse's previous roommate moved out, she roomed with Trang. Trang was born in a Vietnamese labor camp, and she immigrated to Boston with her father and older sister as a child, her family living for a long time off welfare payments. Two years before the attack, Trang's mother and younger sister joined the rest of their family in the U.S. She also graduated as valedictorian from Boston Technical, being voted most likely to succeed and the only Harvard student among her graduating class. At Harvard, she was well liked by students and who Tadesse obsessed over. Like Tadesse, Trang majored in biology, hoped to become a doctor, and joined a racial student association, but Trang specifically rose to the rank of president.

Tadesse constantly tried to get Trang's attention and insert herself into Trang's life, which led to Trang planning a change of roommates. Tadesse's family has challenged that account and said Tadesse wanted a change of roommates. Tadesse sent Harvard's student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, a copy of her yearbook photo, with a typewritten note without a signature warning to watch out for what would happen with Tadesse. On May 28, 1995, Tadesse barged into Trang's dorm and slashed her dozens of times with a large hunting knife, killing her. Tadesse also dealt serious injuries to Thao Nguyen, a friend of Trang's who was visiting. Tadesse then went into the bathroom and killed herself by hanging. Harvard was significantly criticized for not following through with reports on Tadesse's declining psyche and altercations with Trang, which resulted in Trang's family suing Harvard. Trang's and Tadesse's deaths were the third and fourth in Dunster House that school year, preceded by two suicides of students. Melanie Thernstrom, a journalist and author who was an alumnus of Harvard around the same time as Trang and Tadesse, wrote a book about the case and its coverage, Halfway Heaven. She found Tadesse's diaries after traveling to meet her family in Ethiopia, the documents described her loneliness and mental illness without healthcare.

Tadesse's remains were returned to Ethiopia, where she remains buried at the national Orthodox Cemetery.

Known Victims

Trang Phuong Ho, the student murdered by Tadesse

• May 28, 1995: The Dunster House murder-suicide
  • Trang Phuong Ho (stabbed 45 times with a hunting knife)
  • Thao Nguyen (attempted; stabbed)

On Criminal Minds

While never directly mentioned or referenced in the franchise, Tadesse appears to be the inspiration for the following criminals:

• Season Three
  • Anna Begley ("Doubt") - Both are mentally ill female murderers who were criminally active at their colleges, targeted one of their classmates, killed them by stabbing, sent messages about the murders to be publicized, and committed suicide.
• Season Eight
  • Diane Turner ("Zugzwang") - Both are female stalkers and murderers with severe depression, pursued medical careers, targeted other women in their college life (Tadesse's roommate and Diane's professor, respectively), sent messages to police before their murders, and killed their intended victims in a murder-suicide.

Sources

• Wikipedia
  • Murder of Trang Phuang Ho
  • Melanie Thernstrom
• Murderpedia's article on Tadesse
• Find a Grave profile for Trang
• Halfway Heaven (1997)
• Harvard Crimson:
  • September 13, 1995
  • February 27, 2012
  • March 23, 2017
• Harvard Magazine article on the case
• Library of Congress excerpt of Thernstrom's book on the case
• New York Times article on the case
• New Yorker article on the case
• Washington Post article on the case
• Salon.com article on the case
• Slate Magazine article featuring the case
• London Review of Books article on the case
• Criminal Element article featuring the case
• True Crime New England episode on the case
• Wicked Crime article featuring the case
• Ranker article featuring the case
• Grunge article featuring the case