The Colorado Springs police are looking for a suspect allegedly responsible for the fatal stabbing of UCCS Teaching Professor Haleh Abghari.
Ceasar Lorenzo Wilson, 53, is being charged with second-degree murder for allegedly stabbing Abghari, 54, on the morning of Aug. 7 at a residence in the 6400 block of Caddy Point near the intersection of North Powers Boulevard and North Carefree Circle.
A Nov. 18 CSPD news release said that Wilson is considered to be armed and dangerous. They ask the public to notify police if spotted but to not approach him.
Director of Communications Jenna Press said there is no record of the suspect being affiliated with UCCS.
Anyone with information to help aid in the investigation can contact CSPD at 719-444-7000 or 1-800-222-8477 if they would like to remain anonymous.
“Grieving is not a linear process, and it is not uncommon for news like this to bring such profound tragedy back to the surface,” VAPA Chair Glen Whitehead wrote in an email about Abghari’s death to VAPA majors and minors on Nov. 18. “I, along with all of our faculty, have been so impressed by your vigilance, maturity and care for one-another these past months.”
Abghari joined UCCS in 2015 as the head for UCCS’ voice program for the Visual and Performing Arts Department.
Her death marked the third UCCS-affiliated death that’s been investigated as a homicide in the past year, according to past Scribe reporting. The prior two happened in a campus dorm room on Feb. 16 after VAPA student Samuel Knopp, 24, and Pueblo woman Celie Rain Montgomery, 26, were shot and killed.
Her death also marked the third loss of a member the VAPA department in the last two years. On top of Abghari and Knopp, the department also lost Robert von Dassanowsky, the founding director of the department’s film studies program, after he died at 58 from undisclosed causes in October 2023.
Campus offers a variety of mental health resources through the Wellness Center, the TELUS Health app or the CARE team.
Ceasar Lorenzo Wilson. Photos courtesy of CSPD.