Court upholds dismissal of college board from lawsuit


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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a lower court's dismissal of the Nebraska State College Board of Trustees from a lawsuit over the 2010 disappearance of a Peru State College student.

The mother of Tyler "Ty" Thomas sued the board, saying it violated Title IX, the 1972 law that prohibits sex discrimination in schools, by failing to protect Thomas from harm.

Thomas, 19, disappeared after encountering Joshua Keadle, a fellow Peru State student now serving prison time for raping another teenage girl.

Citing a number of previous decisions, the appeals court agreed Friday with a lower court judge who last year dismissed the college board from the lawsuit. U.S. District Court Judge John M. Gerrard found that while officials could have done more to protect Thomas, attorneys for her estate failed to show deliberate indifference by college officials.

Thomas was a freshman at the small southeast Nebraska college when she disappeared in December 2010 after leaving a party. Authorities said Keadle told them he and Thomas had sex in his vehicle that night, and Keadle later told investigators Thomas threatened to report he had raped her.

Keadle, who is now serving 15 to 20 years for the 2008 rape of a 15-year-old girl, has not been charged in Thomas' disappearance. The state issued a death certificate for Thomas in 2013, though her body has never been found.

In the weeks before Thomas' disappearance, Peru State's director of campus security had recommended to administrators that Keadle be expelled, according to court documents, but other officials declined to do so. At the time, Keadle was a 29-year-old student who had been accused of sexually harassing two female students during his first weeks of living in a co-ed dorm.

Keadle has denied killing Thomas in past interviews with media after her disappearance. He has since repeatedly declined to speak to The Associated Press from prison.

A prison spokesman did not immediately return a message requesting to speak to Keadle by phone.

Neither attorneys for the college board nor Thomas' mother immediately returned calls Friday seeking comment.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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MARGERY A. BECK

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