Police canvass Valdosta St. dorms in death case

VALDOSTA, Ga. — Police detectives have been canvassing dormitories at Valdosta State University, hoping to glean clues from students about the mysterious death of a 17-year-old freshman on the south Georgia campus.

Valdosta police tell The Atlanta Joual-Constitution (http://bit.ly/QHlcJT) that the pace of the investigation is gaining speed now that students have retued from Thanksgiving break. Police say they're treating the case as a homicide, though autopsy results are not complete and it's not certain how Jasmine Benjamin died.

She was found unresponsive on a couch in a study room of her Georgia Hall dormitory on Nov. 18.

Valdosta police Cmdr. Brian Childress said investigators do not believe she was the victim of a random crime. He said police have a couple of theories about what happened, but need to do more interviews.

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Information from: The Atlanta Joual-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com