13 WTHRVigil held for slain IU professor
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Michael Griffin
Don BeltonJennie Runevitch/Eyewitness News
Monroe County - A candlelight vigil in Bloomington Friday night honored a respected Indiana University professor. 53-year-old Don Belton was found murdered Monday in his home.
At the Monroe County Courthouse, they came by the hundreds and stood shoulder to shoulder on a bitterly cold New Years Day, to exchange hugs, shed tears and mourn a friend.
Friends, colleagues and complete strangers stood in silence, to remember Don Belton and take a stand against violence.
John McGuigan met Belton at his bookstore, where Belton was a frequent customer.
"I'm here to honor Don Belton. Honor his name. He was a wise and kind and gentle friend," McGuigan said.
"He was a really extraordinary person and we are all greatly diminished by his loss," said Patricia Ingham, Belton's colleague at IU.
"It's been emotionally, just devastating, to lose a friend in such a violent way," said colleague Rae Greiner, who organized the vigil.
The Indiana University English professor was found murdered in his Bloomington home Monday.
Investigators say 25-year-old Michael Griffin stabbed Belton multiple times, in what Griffin claimed was a crime of passion.
Griffin later pleaded not guilty to the murder, but told police he attacked the professor after being sexually assaulted by Belton on Christmas day.
It's an allegation colleagues find hard to believe.
"The Don that I knew wasn't capable of anything like what he's been accused of. The Don that anyone I've spoken to knew isn't capable of those things," Greiner said.
"The circumstances of his death were tragic and we want to make sure that his life is celebrated, more so than his death," McGuigan said.
Professor Belton came to Indiana University to teach creative writing in the fall of 2008. He quickly became a beloved member the community.
Friends say it was his warmth, his kindness, and his smile that lit up a room. Greiner says that's why so many gathered, with candles in hand, to grieve together.
"The candles I hope do demonstrate in some way what a bright light he was in our lives and how we feel like it's been put out."
Friends of Don Belton have set up a website urging prosecutors not to accept Griffin's claim that Belton sexually assaulted him.
Griffin is being held without bond in the Monroe County Jail.
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