Update: Southern Adventist Student Murdered

COLLEGEDALE, Tenn. (WTVC-TV) - A Southern Adventist University student has been murdered while on a student mission project in the state of Yap in Micronesia.

A spokesperson for Southern Adventist, in Collegedale, confirms that Kirsten Wolcott, a junior liberal arts education major, was killed on Wednesday. According to the Adventist News Network, she had reportedly gone jogging by herself before morning classes and did not return.

The publication also reports that an arrest has been made in the case, but no further details were available.

"This is devastating news, not only for the family but for the school and the Adventist Church," said Homer Trecartin, associate secretary for the Adventist world church and director of Adventist Volunteer Service.

"Throughout the history of the church many have made the sacrifice to go serve and some have paid with their lives," Trecartin said. "Our prayer is that God will raise other people to finish the work that Kirsten and others started."

Ms. Wolcott, originally from the Richmond, Virginia area, was teaching second grade at the Yap Adventist School.

Wolcott was on Southern Adventist University’s distinguished dean’s list. She was also known for her love of music and running. She played the harp and piano and sang in Bel Canto, Southern’s women’s chorus.

In a statement a Southern Adventist spokesperson said, "Southern is profoundly saddened by the loss of Kirsten Wolcott. At a painful time such as this, we remember in prayer Kirsten's parents, friends, fellow Student Missionaries, and all on our campus who knew and loved her well."

The school is providing counseling services for fellow students and have set up a special web site in memory of Ms. Wolcott. They have also set up a table in the Campus Ministries area of the student center where people can leave notes and remembrances.

The public can leave messages of condolence HERE.

Yap SDA School opened in 1987 as an elementary school and subsequently expanded to a kindergarten through 12th-grade school. The school is run mostly by Adventist college students volunteering as teachers. About 10 student missionaries are serving this year in Yap, Trecartin said. Teachers live in apartments on campus.

Yap, about 16 miles long and four miles wide, is one of four island states of the nation of Micronesia, a U.S. protectorate.