Article published May 30, 2004
UNCW fails to uncover criminal pasts
Another student accepted to UNCW after withholding the truth about his criminal record on an admission application is accused of crimes against a female student, but the university has no plans to review its admissions policies.
John B. Peck, 27, acknowledged Thursday that he didn't cite felony and misdemeanor convictions on his University of North Carolina at Wilmington application. He now faces charges of misdemeanor stalking and making harassing phone calls to UNCW student Christen Naujoks, his 22-year-old ex-girlfriend. She recently took out a restraining order against him.
Mr. Peck said school officials contacted him last week and asked whether he lied on his application. The school's inquiry came after a Star-News reporter contacted the university about his record.
"I said, 'Yeah, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten in,'»" he said.
Mr. Peck, who started at UNCW in August 2002 and was planning to attend classes this summer and fall, said he has been expelled because of the deception.
The situation raises further questions about whether admissions policies at UNCW and elsewhere are lax in identifying or rejecting convicted criminals and whether that compromises students' safety.
The issue came to light last week, when it was learned that Curtis Dixon – the 21-year-old student charged in the murder of 18-year-old Jessica Faulkner – lied about his criminal record on his UNCW application. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor larceny in 2000 but didn't disclose that on the application.
Mr. Dixon and Ms. Faulkner lived on the same floor of Cornerstone Hall.
UNCW officials said late last week they have no plans to consider modifications to the school's admissions policy regarding criminal backgrounds. They said it's similar to others across the country and that the self-reporting system has worked in the past.
Applications to UNCW ask prospective students whether they've been convicted of a crime other than a minor traffic violation and whether they've "entered a plea of guilty, a plea of no contest, a plea of nolo contendere, or an Alford to a criminal charge or otherwise accepted responsibility for the commission of a crime."
The form relies solely on the word of the prospective student, with no way to ensure truthfulness. By signing the statement, an applicant certifies the information is complete and accurate, school officials said.
"This is standard practice in universities all across the country," UNCW spokeswoman Mimi Cunningham said. "We rely on the honor of our students."
But that didn't work in at least two cases, and there could be others. Mr. Peck said he knows a couple of other people who lied about their pasts to get into UNCW; they still attend school there. He declined to name them.
If a prospective student checks the box on the application indicating a criminal record and if the applicant is otherwise admissible to the university, the application would be forwarded to the dean of students. The dean would review the situation, interview the applicant and make a decision about acceptance, according to university policy.
Ms. Cunningham said UNCW received about 15,000 applications for the 2004-05 school year, and fewer than 1 percent – about 125 applicants – indicated they had criminal records. She said the bulk of the offenses were "very minor." At least two applicants were denied admission after an interview with the dean of students, she said, declining to say how many applicants were interviewed by the dean.
School officials said backgrounds checks on all applicants would be unreasonable.
A quick Internet search of applications for several colleges revealed that some don't ask about criminal backgrounds at all, and others ask less specific questions than UNCW.
An online freshman application for Ohio State University, for example, includes only the question, "Have you ever been charged with or convicted of a felony?" and a box to explain it.
In Mr. Peck's case, it will never be known whether his prior convictions would have kept him out of the university had he disclosed them.
Mr. Peck pleaded guilty in November 2001 to a misdemeanor count of assault on a female and two felony counts of crimes against nature, a sex offense. He was originally charged with first-degree rape and first-degree sex offense after an incident with a girlfriend who claimed he raped her and threatened her with a handgun, according to court documents. Mr. Peck pleaded guilty to the less serious charges.
He is in the final year of a three-year supervised probation term, spent about 30 days in jail and is attending anger-management classes, according to court records.
His next court appearance for the pending charges is scheduled for June 9.
In a criminal complaint, Ms. Naujoks, who declined to be interviewed for this story, said she broke up with Mr. Peck and he followed her around school on three occasions attempting to talk to her and not allowing her to get into her car.
In a complaint seeking a protective order, Ms. Naujoks also claimed Mr. Peck left 17 obscene messages on her answering machine March 5.
Mr. Peck said he agreed to comply with the order and that he wants to put the matter behind him.
"It's like I've been hit with a ton of bricks," he said, adding that he has never physically harmed Ms. Naujoks.
Last week, Ms. Cunningham cited federal law when declining to say whether Mr. Peck withheld the truth about his criminal record on his admissions application or whether he disclosed it and was accepted anyway. Mr. Peck subsequently acknowledged that he didn't include his record on the application.
Earlier last week, school officials said Mr. Dixon, "did not cite any irregularities" in his application, thus confirming he lied on his application.
"We believe there was a compelling reason to let the public know that there were no irregularities in Curtis Dixon's application," Ms. Cunningham said in explaining why the school released that information about Mr. Dixon but not Mr. Peck.
Mr. Dixon could face the death penalty and remains in jail without bond, charged with first-degree murder, first-degree rape, first-degree sex offense and first-degree kidnapping in connection with Ms. Faulkner's murder. UNCW officials have declined to release his status with the university.
Patrick Gannon: 343-2328
Patrick.gannon@starnewsonline.com

Published: Jun 6, 2004
Modified: Jun 6, 2004 5:57 AM
UNCW student shot dead
Her mother had spoken with paper about ex-boyfriend
By JOSH SHAFFER AND CRAIG JARVISWILMINGTON -- Sheriff's deputies Saturday searched for the former boyfriend of a UNC-Wilmington student who was slain near her home Friday night, just one month after a young Cary woman who was enrolled at the coastal university was killed in a dorm room.
Former UNCW student John Brian Peck, 28, of Wilmington has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Christen Marie Naujoks, 22, outside her apartment, the New Hanover County Sheriff's Department said.
Authorities said Peck is armed with an assault rifle and should be considered dangerous.
Naujoks had been frightened enough of Peck that she had taken out a restraining order against him in April, after his arrest on charges of stalking her and making harassing phone calls to her. Peck was due in court on those charges Wednesday.
Peck is already on probation for sexually assaulting another girlfriend in 2001 and was under a restraining order to stay away from that woman, too.
One week ago, the Wilmington Star-News reported that Peck had failed to disclose his convictions on his application to the university, and the story also noted the new charges against him. Peck said he was expelled after the Star-News contacted the university about his record, the newspaper reported.
The article stemmed from the May 5 slaying of Jessica Lee Faulkner, 19, of Cary, in her dorm. Curtis Dixon, 21, a fellow student, has been arrested on charges of raping and murdering her. Last month the Star-News reported that Dixon had failed to tell the university about a misdemeanor larceny conviction.
The paper began looking into Peck after hearing from Holly Naujoks of Solon, Ohio, who was prompted by Faulkner's death and by her daughter's problems with Peck to call the paper, an editor said.
Tim Griggs, managing editor of the Star-News, said Saturday that Naujoks' mother had told the newspaper about her daughter's situation to draw attention to the university's lack of domestic violence counseling.
Subsequently, the woman expressed concern about printing her daughter's and Peck's names, he said. Griggs said the paper printed the names to add credibility to the story.
"We felt it was important to show a real-world case," Griggs said. "It was important to show this kind of thing does happen -- that someone could lie to get into school. Not to place blame on the university; rather, what can be done?"
Griggs said the timing of Naujoks' slaying left him "nauseous" and that he agonized for her family. But he said that the forthcoming court hearing on the restraining order also could have been a factor, if Peck turns out to be the killer.
"Did we play a part in this?" Griggs said. "I hope not. I don't think so. It's hard to tell what sets a person off."
Holly Naujoks could not be reached for comment Saturday. Relatives said she and her husband were traveling to North Carolina.
Suspect may be armed
W.T. Parker, chief deputy of the New Hanover County Sheriff's Department, said the county's 911 center received a call reporting a shooting at NorthChase Apartments about 9:45 p.m. Friday. Deputies found Naujoks lying on the sidewalk with gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Peck is thought to be driving a dark green 2000 Toyota 4Runner with North Carolina license tag SRR-8120. He is 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighs 180 pounds and has blond hair and hazel eyes.
At a brief news conference Saturday evening, Parker held up a Chinese-made SKS assault rifle and said Peck may be carrying a similar firearm.
"Do not approach him or attempt to make contact with him," Parker said. "Call 911."
UNCW Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo said the killing of freshman Faulkner on the last day of final exams this spring prompted the university to review its procedures to protect students.
"This recent tragedy further compels our commitment and resolve to explore what additional measures, if any, the university can take to ensure the safety of our university community," she said in a prepared statement. "We express our deepest sympathy to the Naujoks family and friends."
Naujoks was a transfer student who was not expected to return to school, UNCW officials said. She was a junior pre-education major.
A great-aunt, Helen Naujoks of Cleveland, Ohio, said the young woman had moved to Wilmington to attend college after graduating from high school in Solon, a suburb of Cleveland. "She was a real sweetheart, just an absolute little doll," she said.
Peck was a junior and a pre-communication studies major, but university officials said he was suspended effective May 27.
Naujoks lived in an apartment complex north of Wilmington near the city's airport. Her porch spilled over with plants and flowers. Neighbors said she was a caring woman with a green thumb.
"That's all she ever did, is take care of her plants," said Sandra Apple, a neighbor. "She took care of another neighbor's dog, too. She was a really sweet person."
Apple got into her wheelchair Friday night to investigate the noise outside.
"I heard the shots," she said. "By the time I got in my chair and got outside, it was all over."
Peck lives in a one-story Wilmington house on a circular drive. On Saturday, the blinds were closed over the front windows, and a pair of old boots sat on the porch. Birds fluttered around multiple bird feeders.
His neighbor, Joyce Barefoot, described Peck as likable and attentive to his yard.
"He and his girlfriend were real close," she said. "They had a little fish pond and they planted some flowers. Then one day she was gone."
Barefoot said she saw Peck a few hours before Friday night's slaying.
"My daughter and I were pushing the baby around the circle," she said. "It must have been about 7:30 when we saw him leave. He waved, and my daughter waved back. I didn't wave."
Staff writer Craig Jarvis can be reached at 829-4576 or cjarvis@newsobserver.com.
News researcher Brooke Cain contributed to this report.; Correspondent Josh Shaffer reported from Wilmington.
© Copyright 2004, The News & Observer Publishing Company,
a subsidiary of The McClatchy Company

   Published: Jun 13, 2004
Modified: Jun 13, 2004 9:18 AM
Killings jolt UNCW, city, newspaper
Shooting-suicide stirs issue: What could have stopped it?Naujoks, 22, was shot to death by her ex-boyfriend.
By MARTHA QUILLIN, Staff Writer
WILMINGTON -- Christen Marie Naujoks was a beaming, tender-hearted young woman who would have made a fine marine biologist or special-education teacher. Whatever path she might have chosen, those who knew her say she was destined to do good.
The 22-year-old UNC-Wilmington student was killed June 4 by a man who, for the past few weeks at least, was just as determined to do harm.
After shooting Naujoks, his ex-girlfriend, on a sidewalk at her apartment complex, John Brian Peck, 28, headed west, apparently toward Ohio with the intent of murdering Naujoks' mother. Police say he planned to kill her and several other women.
Before he could get there, he was confronted by rangers and police in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He wheeled his car around at a roadblock, fired a few shots at officers and then shot himself. His car tumbled 60 feet almost straight down.
Images of the two dead young people have haunted Wilmington the past week. Friends, family and co-workers of Naujoks and Peck, along with police, university administrators, domestic violence victims' advocates and the local newspaper, which knew she was in danger, have asked the question that lingers after a woman is killed by someone she knew.
Could anything have stopped him?
Marie Brodie, a training specialist with the N.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence in Durham, says the question is unanswerable, but worth contemplating, because it recognizes that society has an obligation to try to protect victims of domestic abuse.
"There are two things I try to keep in mind," Brodie said: "That abuser committed that murder, and that abuser committed that murder alone.
"But the second thing is, we as a society, and as a community around that couple, have some sort of responsibility in terms of doing everything we can with the knowledge that we have to keep battered women safe."
That might mean helping a woman into a shelter or teaching her about safety planning so that when the time is right, she can escape. It might just be serving as a confidant, to make sure the victim doesn't feel isolated.
Naujoks' case is the kind of domestic violence that is especially frustrating for those who advocate for victims: The woman recognizes she is in danger, confides in friends and family, seeks the legal protection available to her -- and still ends up as prey.
Angry outbursts
Tina Nelson, a friend of Naujoks and classmate at UNC-Wilmington, said Naujoks and Peck had dated about two years. They met when both worked at a Wilmington pet store, Nelson said.
"I was really happy for her at first," Nelson said, because Naujoks was far from her home and family and seemed lonely. She enjoyed Peck's attention and the time the two spent together.
But gradually, Nelson said, Peck began to have angry outbursts.
"Sometimes it was directed at Christen, and sometimes it was at something else," Nelson said. "But she was always the one who had to be there."
They broke up and got back together several times, Nelson said. Finally, in April, over spring break, Naujoks broke up with Peck for good. Then the real trouble started.
Peck called the Naujoks' home in Solon, Ohio, leaving more than a dozen obscene messages. When classes resumed, Peck followed Naujoks around campus and, she later told police, sometimes kept her from getting in her car.
Naujoks sought help from university police, who said they would do what they could while she was on school grounds. Because she lived off campus, they urged her to talk to local law enforcement as well.
At some point, Nelson said, Naujoks hired a private detective, who checked Peck's background and found that he had pleaded guilty to two felony charges and a misdemeanor in the sexual assault of a former girlfriend in 2001. Court records show he was originally charged with first-degree rape in the case. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail, ordered to attend anger management classes and placed on probation for three years, which included the time he was dating Naujoks.
Naujoks obtained a restraining order against Peck in late April. He was arrested within a week for violating the order by stalking and harassing her. The couple was due in court on the matter this past Wednesday.
Second thoughts
The Wilmington Star-News got interested in the case after another student, Jennifer Faulkner of Cary, was raped and killed in a dorm room on campus May 7. A fellow student, Curtis Timothy Dixon of Charlotte, has been charged in her death.
After Dixon's arrest, the newspaper reported that Dixon had failed to disclose his criminal history on his application to attend UNC-Wilmington. Because the school does not conduct criminal background checks of prospective students, administrators had no way to know about it.
Christen Naujoks' mother, Holly, called the paper after that story ran. She said her daughter was being stalked by Peck, another student who had lied on his application, saying he had never been convicted of a serious crime.
Allen Parsons, executive editor of the Star-News, said Holly Naujoks believed that the school could do more to help her daughter and others who become the victims of harassment.
Reporter Patrick Gannon worked on the story for a week to 10 days, contacting Peck and Christen Naujoks. Peck gave Gannon an interview. Naujoks decided not to but understood that a story was being written, Parsons said.
After Gannon inquired about Peck, university officials confirmed Peck's criminal history and suspended him. School was already out for the summer.
Two days before the story was to be published, Holly Naujoks called Gannon again, with second thoughts. She said she was worried the story might push Peck toward more violence. She asked whether it could hold for a while.
"She thought it might set him off," Parsons said last week. The reporter referred Mrs. Naujoks to his editors. She spoke with Parsons, and he and other editors discussed whether to run the story, kill it, or try to find another case to illustrate the absence of criminal backgrounding throughout the UNC system.
The paper decided to publish the story, in part, Parsons said, because it would not tell Peck anything about his victim he did not already know, such as her name, where she lived, worked, or went to school. And by running the story, Parsons said, the paper would raise the issue of whether conducting background checks could reduce campus violence.
The story ran on the Star-News' front page Sunday, May 30. It's not clear whether Peck saw it.
Other killings planned?
After Naujoks was killed, investigators said they found evidence at Peck's rental house indicating he had been planning Christen Naujoks' death since at least mid-May, before her mother called the Star-News. They also said they found evidence that Peck intended to kill Holly Naujoks; the former girlfriend who filed the rape charges; his own mother, who lives in Florida; and a Florida therapist he had seen as a young man.
Parsons said the staff at the newspaper has been devastated by Christen Naujoks' killing. Although he is ambivalent about the proper tactics, he is resolute about the newspaper's role in covering domestic violence.
"What if you know about it, and you don't write about it?" he said. "If we hadn't written about it, would there have been this manhunt, and would Peck have been found before he committed more murders?"
In the end, he said, "John Peck did this. We didn't have the power to stop him. We didn't have the power to start him up. Her family didn't have the power to stop him. The people who helped her fill out the restraining order didn't have the power to stop him. The sheriff's department didn't have the power to stop him. His father didn't have the power to stop him.
"He is the one who is responsible."
Staff writer Martha Quillin can be reached at 829-8989 or marthaq@newsobserver.com.
© Copyright 2004, The News & Observer Publishing Company,
a subsidiary of The McClatchy Company

Last updated: December 18. 2004 12:00AM
... more honesty from parents?
Curtis Dixon got the chance to murder Jessica Faulkner because his father helped him lie his way into UNCW. Now Curtis Dixon is dead, too.
His father not only was a lawyer, but also the right-hand man of UNC-Charlotte's chancellor. He no longer holds that job.
Fathers are not only entitled to help their children; they're expected to. But James Dixon didn't level with his university counterparts about his son's troubled academic and emotional past. He didn't offer reasons to believe his son had overcome those problems and was entitled to another chance.
Instead, from his office at UNC-Charlotte, he faxed an application on his son's behalf that included multiple falsehoods and failed to include pertinent facts. Among them were episodes of hostility and (Curtis later told investigators) his departure from Navy boot camp after being classified as homicidal and suicidal.
UNCW officials may now regret that they waived an essay requirement and admitted Curtis Dixon after the usual deadlines had passed, though that was allowed for various reasons, some of which applied to him.
But university officials apparently had no reason to doubt the truthfulness of the application, and, like most of their counterparts at most other colleges, didn't try to verify information on it.
That's about to change across the UNC system. From now on, admissions offices will seek more information about applicants' backgrounds. For example, the campuses will establish a common database that allows them to check whether an applicant has been thrown out of a sister institution.
Those changes are coming, alas, because of the violent deaths of four UNCW students in one year.
No checking system will ever be perfect. But a better system might have detected the omissions and lies on Curtis Dixon's application. That would have saved the lives of Jessica Faulkner and Curtis Dixon.
It might even have saved the lives of two other students if – and we'll probably never know – the murder of Ms. Faulkner in any way inspired John Peck to murder Christen Naujoks and later kill himself.
James Dixon is entitled to the deepest sympathy for the loss of a son he must have loved very much. The father didn't know that submitting a falsified college application would lead to murder and suicide.
But he did know that what he did was wrong. The consequences were catastrophic.