After a hard night’s work, a snowman was brutally murdered on American University’s campus.
A dusting of snow covered American University’s grounds on Feb. 1, 2023. Some of the many excited students stayed up late to work on the first snowman of the season. First-year students Angel Aviles and JP Villanueva were two of these builders. They stayed up until 4 a.m., fully intending to build the perfect snowman.
As Aviles said, “We looked out the window for a quick second, and saw snow. We called many of our friends to come out to run around in the snow. After about an hour outside, we got the brilliant idea to build a snowman. It took us an hour and a half to make. I was freezing, feeling as if I was dying of the cold and of back pain. It was a hard job since it was our first snowman and there was very little snow to work with.”
Snowfall rates have been decreasing over the past few years due to climate change, and this trend has persisted in Washington, D.C.. In 2021, there were 13.2 inches of snow, and 5.4 in 2020, a rate that has continued to decrease overall. With 0.4 of an inch of snow to work with according to Extreme Weather Watch, the snowman was smaller than Villanueva and Aviles initially intended.
“When we finally built our first snowman, we were ecstatic… since it was our first time,” said Villanueva. They named the snowman Andrew, a tiny, gentle snowman on the quad.
Once they woke up in the late afternoon, Villanueva and Aviles were shocked to see how many people had expressed their happiness for Andrew. However, later that night, he was killed. The snowman had pieces everywhere. “When we saw that Andrew the snowman was murdered, it brought a wave of sadness and regret. We couldn’t help but think, ‘Who could destroy such a beautiful snowman?’” said Villanueva. Aviles and Villanueva debated this issue, but it came down to the evilest intentions.
Villanueva explained, “The suspect list came down to the people that were jealous of such a beautiful and huge snowman; to be honest, it didn’t give us a shot at finding the suspect.”
Aviles said, “He may have been destroyed, but he still lives on in our hearts! I hope Andrew knows he was loved.”
But the two have plans for the future. Villanueva remarked, “I hope to be able to build another snowman, an even bigger one with friends to serve as a memorial for Andrew the snowman, to prove to people that just because you murdered Andrew doesn’t mean that Andrew has left.”
American University is anxiously awaiting for its next snow, and thus the next snowman. After that, who knows what will happen? Will the snowman murderer strike again?