NU student slain in Mission Hill

Woman, 22, shot in her off-campus apartment

Police searched a park across the street from 170 Parker Hill Ave., where a Northeastern University student was found shot to death yesterday. (PHOTOS BY MARK WILSON/GLOBE STAFF)

A 22-year-old Northeastern University student from Connecticut was found dead in her Mission Hill apartment yesterday morning, shot twice in the legs and once in the chest, in a crime that has rattled the quiet neighborhood near the school's campus.

Although some neighbors heard the sounds of gunshots overnight, police said, no one called 911. Police were alerted only when the building manager saw the victim's body through her open apartment door and called authorities to the scene.

Police were reticent about releasing details of the slaying, saying only that the victim was a 22-year-old woman. But the victim's father, in a telephone interview from Connecticut, confirmed that her name was Rebecca Payne.

Dozens of police officers descended yesterday on Parker Hill Apartments on Parker Hill Avenue, a winding, hilly road of three-deckers with a view of the skyscrapers of downtown Boston. The officers and a dog trained to sniff for ballistic evidence scoured under cars in front of the building and in the parking lot and searched around nearby trees and in the surrounding brush.

A blue Mini Cooper that police believe belonged to Payne was cordoned off with yellow tape and later towed from the scene. Police stayed late into the evening, taking photos of the building lobby and interviewing residents, who were not allowed to enter without identifying themselves.

The victim's father, Nicholas Payne, was preparing to travel to Boston yesterday afternoon to identify his daughter, he said in a brief phone interview.

The shooting shocked the neighborhood, where elderly residents and families mix with college students from Northeastern and Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Councilor Michael P. Ross, who lives about five houses away from the complex, said Mission Hill is a police-friendly neighborhood with an active crime-watch group that meets regularly with law enforcement officials.

"It's the kind of neighborhood where when [residents] see something that is not right, they're not afraid to pick up the phone and call the Police Department," Ross said. "There is a strong dialogue among the community and police."

Elaine Driscoll, a spokeswoman for Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis, said police had not determined whether the shooting was random or if the victim knew her attacker. It was the city's 23d homicide of the year, the same as this time last year.

"Detectives are working very hard to determine the facts and circumstances of this incident, but the details remain unclear," Driscoll said. "Any time a young life is taken by gun violence, it's a terrible tragedy. We are doing everything we can to bring the person or persons responsible for this to justice."

A spokeswoman for Northeastern University declined to confirm if a student had been killed and released a five-line statement saying the university was aware of the investigation.

"It appears that a number of Northeastern students live in the building where the death took place," the statement said.

Two Northeastern faculty members, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Payne was a student at the university.

One of Payne's professors, who asked not to be named, said she was an athletic training major and called Payne the "sweetest young lady."

"She was one of the leaders in the program," the professor said. "She was always the first to volunteer to help, a bubbly outgoing personality, a nurturer for the young people coming through."

Some neighbors told investigators that they heard gunshots sometime around midnight, but that they did not call 911, according to the two law enforcement officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Driscoll confirmed that at least one witness had heard gunshots.

In the morning the building manager saw Payne's door ajar, looked inside, and found her body, police said.

Driscoll said Payne had at least one roommate, but the spokeswoman said she did not know whether investigators had spoken with any roommates or if anyone else was in the apartment when Payne was shot.

It was unclear, Driscoll said, whether Payne could have survived if someone had called 911 immediately after hearing the gunshots. An autopsy should reveal the time of death, Driscoll said.

Payne had moved into the two-bedroom apartment last August and lived with a female roommate, said Richard C. Pierce, president of Housing Management Resources Inc., of Quincy, which manages the buildings.

"This building has been in a safe neighborhood," Pierce said. "This came, obviously, as quite a shock to us all."

Payne's friends were stunned by her death.

"She was a great person," said Andy Celella, a sophomore at Northeastern who described Payne as loyal and caring. "Whenever I saw her, she was smiling. Anything you needed, you could ask her, and she'd say, 'Sure, I'll take care of it.' "

Payne, who was from New Milford, Conn., was an athletic, energetic woman with an easy temper and a love of sports, her friends said.

For two years, she was a camp counselor at Camp Washington, a sleep-away camp for children and teenagers in Lakeside, Conn.

"She was very good with kids," said Kevin Holland, the camp's director. "She was always very high-energy, very upbeat. She was great at pepping up the whole group and keeping them going."

Danica Hall, a 21-year-old Wentworth student who lives in the complex, said she was home at the time of the shooting but did not hear anything. "I obviously think it's crazy," she said. "I don't know why somebody didn't call."

Neighbors said that while there have been parties, loud music, and car break-ins in the area, violence was unheard of.

Pierce said tenants must enter the building with a key through a vestibule monitored by a camera.

John R. Ellement of the Globe staff and Globe correspondent Jillian Jorgensen contributed to this report. Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.