Student faces indictment

An IU graduate student lost her son three years ago -- and she might in turn lose her own life because of it.\nJulie Rea, 31, was indicted by a Lawrenceville, Ill. grand jury for two counts of murder and arrested by Indiana State Police Thursday at Bloomington Hospital's crisis care unit. She is being held there without bail under an agreement between her attorneys and police. \nRea's 10-year-old son, Joel Kirkpatrick, was found stabbed to death in her apartment Oct. 13, 1997. Although initial hearings on the warrant will be held in Monroe County, in order to face both counts of murder she must be extradited to Illinois. Rea's attorneys said they would fight extradition at a hearing Tuesday.\nRea, who was studying educational psychology through the School of Education, adamantly refuted all charges through her attorneys. \nThe Bloomington firm of Liell & McNeil will be representing Rea, and have done so for the past three years. \n"It is our goal to see the true killer arrested and convicted," Harper said. \nLawrenceville police and Illinois special prosecutor Ed Perkinson were unavailable for comment as of press time.\nAt the time of the incident, Rea told police she thought an attacker had broken into her home and kidnapped her child. When police arrived, they found the child dead. Rea gave a description of the attacker but no suspects were found.\nProfessor Curtis Bonk worked with Rea throughout her time at IU. Bonk believes the charges are unjustified.\nOne student said in an e-mail to Bonk that Rea's lifestyle went through a major change after the incident -- so much so that she installed a new security system and got a guard dog, he said.\n"She was a caring person," Bonk said, "It just doesn't make sense."\nLiell said Rea has passed polygraph tests, and that the Lawrenceville prosecutor did not want to charge her. \n"What we feared has really come true," Liell said. "The person who really did this is still free."\nRea is facing death by lethal injection if she is found guilty.\nIllinois has been criticized recently for putting innocent people on death row. Of those that have been on death row since 1977, more have been exonerated than executed, Harper said.\nThe Associated Press contributed to this story.