This week, the university learned of the homicide last weekend of 2016 expressive therapies graduate Emily Todd, whose family hailed from Chebeague Island off the coast of Maine. Todd was a resident of Bethel, Connecticut.
Local news reports says Todd was fatally shot on the Bridgeport harbor front by a man she was meeting. The assailant had been neither apprehended nor identified as of Wednesday afternoon.
Todd was a therapeutic recreational assistant at the St. John Paul II Center in Danbury, Connecticut. Expressive therapies instructor Nancy Jo Cardillo remembers her as “sensitive, vulnerable and wide open.”
“In class, she always spoke from her heart,” Cardillo said. She recalled that Todd had a younger brother whom she missed dearly while she was at Lesley. “In fact, she would go home to be with him for his birthday and other events,” Cardillo said.
“She was playful, emotionally expressive, loved children, connected to her peers from a compassionate place, and loved to dance,” Cardillo said.
“This week we learned the upsetting and tragic news that a member of the Lesley family was the victim of a fatal shooting,” said Interim President Richard Hansen. “Our condolences are with her loved ones and others on whom Emily had an impact, and we are making counseling services available to Lesley students, faculty and staff.”