{
  "id": "2023-09-07-st-catherine-university-dorm-captivity",
  "slug": "st-catherine-university-dorm-captivity-2023-09-07",
  "institution": {
    "name": "St. Catherine University",
    "shortName": "St. Kate's",
    "state": "MN",
    "type": "private-masters",
    "alertSystemName": "LiveSafe",
    "enrollment": 3400
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2023-09-07",
    "endDate": "2023-09-10",
    "type": "dating-violence",
    "cleryCategory": "timely-warning",
    "headline": "Four Days, a Bathtub, and a Trip to the Dining Hall: How a St. Kate's Student Escaped Her Own Dorm Room",
    "summary": "From September 7 to 10, 2023, a St. Catherine University student was [held captive, beaten, and raped by her boyfriend in her own dorm room](https://www.startribune.com/charges-boyfriend-held-st-catherine-student-captive-during-dayslong-assault-in-dorm-room/600303999), who at one point [\"waterboarded\" her in the bathtub](https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/charges-man-held-girlfriend-captive-in-st-kates-dorm-room-beat-and-raped-her-for-days/) by covering her mouth with a wet washcloth. She escaped on the fourth day by convincing him to let her get food from the dining hall and instead went straight to campus Public Safety, which arrested [Keanu Labatte, 19, still inside her room](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/keanu-labatte-accused-raping-waterboarding-captive-girlfriend-dorm-st-catherine-university/).",
    "resolution": "confirmed-threat",
    "outcome": "Keanu Avery Labatte, 19 (later reported as 20), of Granite Falls, Minnesota, was charged with three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, domestic assault by strangulation, and threats of violence. He pleaded guilty to an amended charge of second-degree criminal sexual conduct in a deal that dismissed the other four charges, and was sentenced to up to 7.5 years in prison.",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 1
    }
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestampApprox": "Sunday, September 10, 2023, after the victim escaped and reported the assault to campus Public Safety",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "St. Catherine University residence-hall students are being notified of a recent incident investigated by campus Public Safety involving an arrest in a residence hall. There is no ongoing threat to the community.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.startribune.com/charges-boyfriend-held-st-catherine-student-captive-during-dayslong-assault-in-dorm-room/600303999",
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed around a phrase university spokesperson Sarah Voigt confirmed to the Star Tribune, that residence-hall students were told 'there was no ongoing threat'; the complete text of the Sunday notification was not published",
      "annotations": [
        "University spokesperson Sarah Voigt confirmed administrators notified residence-hall students on Sunday, September 10, 2023, the day the victim escaped and Labatte was arrested inside her room, that there was no ongoing threat; this entry reconstructs a plausible full message around that confirmed phrase and is marked isVerbatimConfirmed:false",
        "The narrow, residence-hall-only scope of this first notification reflects that the threat was a single, already-arrested individual rather than a danger to the wider campus",
        "Voigt separately explained that Public Safety and Residence Life staff do not listen at dorm room doors out of respect for student privacy, which is part of why the four-day assault went undetected until the victim herself reported it"
      ],
      "characterCount": 211
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "follow-up",
      "timestampApprox": "Tuesday, September 12, 2023, two days after the arrest",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "St. Catherine University is sending this community-wide message regarding a recent incident on campus that resulted in an arrest. Public Safety and law enforcement responded appropriately, and there is no continuing danger to the community. Counseling and support resources remain available to any student who needs them.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from Star Tribune reporting that a community-wide message was sent Tuesday, September 12, 2023, following the Sunday residence-hall notification; the complete original wording was not published",
      "annotations": [
        "This second, wider community-wide message went out two days after the Sunday residence-hall-only notice, once the university had more time to assess the incident and prepare a broader communication",
        "St. Catherine subsequently declined further comment beyond a September 14, 2023 statement citing student confidentiality and the integrity of the ongoing investigation",
        "The gap between the Sunday and Tuesday messages illustrates a common two-stage pattern in campus dating-violence notifications: an immediate, narrowly scoped alert to the directly affected building, followed by a fuller community message once initial facts are confirmed"
      ],
      "characterCount": 321
    }
  ],
  "context": "St. Catherine University is a Catholic university in St. Paul, Minnesota, with a women's undergraduate college and coeducational graduate and professional programs. According to a criminal complaint reported by the [Star Tribune](https://www.startribune.com/charges-boyfriend-held-st-catherine-student-captive-during-dayslong-assault-in-dorm-room/600303999), Keanu Labatte, the boyfriend of a St. Catherine student, arrived at her dorm room on September 7, 2023 already enraged over texts and social media content he had discovered, and held her captive for four days, during which he raped her, strangled her until she \"felt lightheaded and saw stars,\" and, on the Saturday, forced her into the bathtub and [\"engaged in waterboarding by covering her mouth with a wet washcloth,\"](https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/charges-man-held-girlfriend-captive-in-st-kates-dorm-room-beat-and-raped-her-for-days/) according to the complaint. She escaped on Sunday, September 10, by convincing Labatte to let her get food from the dining hall; instead she went directly to campus Public Safety, who arrested Labatte, still in her room. University spokesperson Sarah Voigt told the Star Tribune that residence-hall students were notified the same Sunday that there was no ongoing threat, and that a community-wide message followed on Tuesday, September 12. Labatte was [charged with three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, domestic assault by strangulation, and threats of violence](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/keanu-labatte-accused-raping-waterboarding-captive-girlfriend-dorm-st-catherine-university/), and later pleaded guilty to an amended charge, receiving a sentence of up to 7.5 years.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "The assault lasted four full days inside a single residence-hall room before the victim escaped it herself under the pretext of a dining-hall trip; no one else in the building detected the ongoing crime",
    "The university issued a narrowly scoped notice to residence-hall students the same day of the arrest, then a broader community-wide message two days later, an honest two-stage pattern rather than a single instantaneous alert",
    "The university's own explanation for the four-day gap, that Public Safety staff do not listen at dorm room doors out of respect for privacy, surfaces a real tension between residential privacy norms and detecting in-progress violence",
    "Labatte pleaded guilty to an amended charge and was sentenced to up to 7.5 years, resolving the case roughly 14 months after the assault"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Boyfriend charged with assaulting and holding St. Catherine student captive in dorm room for days (Star Tribune)",
      "url": "https://www.startribune.com/charges-boyfriend-held-st-catherine-student-captive-during-dayslong-assault-in-dorm-room/600303999",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Charges: Man held girlfriend captive in St. Kate's dorm room, beat and raped her for days (KSTP.com 5 Eyewitness News)",
      "url": "https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/charges-man-held-girlfriend-captive-in-st-kates-dorm-room-beat-and-raped-her-for-days/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Man accused of raping, waterboarding girlfriend in her university dorm room for days until she escaped (CBS News)",
      "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/keanu-labatte-accused-raping-waterboarding-captive-girlfriend-dorm-st-catherine-university/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Man accused of holding girlfriend captive in Minnesota college dorm room reaches plea deal (Star Tribune / AP)",
      "url": "https://www.startribune.com/man-accused-of-holding-girlfriend-captive-in-minnesota-college-dorm-room-reaches-plea-deal/600380504",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Man sentenced after admitting to sexual assault, holding student captive in dorm (KARE 11)",
      "url": "https://www.kare11.com/article/news/crime/man-sentenced-sexual-assault-holding-student-captive-dorm-st-catherine-university/89-5711dab7-9b72-475a-a708-a79b71bfe7b9",
      "type": "local-media"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "medium",
  "tags": [
    "dating-violence",
    "intimate-partner-violence",
    "sexual-assault",
    "residence-hall",
    "minnesota",
    "st-paul",
    "womens-college",
    "kidnapping",
    "no-fatalities",
    "plea-deal"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-07-03",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-03",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}