UNC-Charlotte professor’s cause of death: Multiple stab wounds, autopsy says

A UNC-Charlotte professor was stabbed more than 200 times when she was killed in September, the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner’s Office has determined.

Jeannine Skinner, 35, was found dead at a southwest Charlotte apartment on Sept. 1. She was an assistant professor of gerontology and psychology in UNC-C’s Department of Psychological Science.

Her colleagues said she was passionate about her teaching and her research, which focused on cognitive aging. She connected well with her students, they said, and she was always looking for ways to improve.

“She was just such a wonderful, bright light in this world,” interim department chair Eric Heggestad said in September.

Three days after Skinner was killed, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police arrested Donny Lewis Franklin, 45, and charged him with murder. Police said Franklin and Skinner were in a relationship.

This story was originally published November 20, 2017 at 4:59 PM with the headline "UNC-Charlotte professor’s cause of death: Multiple stab wounds, autopsy says."