BANGOR — As funeral arrangements and memorial plans were made final for the Husson University student who police found Monday strangled in her apartment, an instructor at the university said Brooke Locke had not shown any signs of being worried about her safety.
“Bright, clever and always smiling, always cheerful. That’s how I remember her and I think that’s how most people remember her,” Morgiana Halley, Locke’s freshman English teacher at Husson, said Thursday from her Bangor home.
Locke, 21, a third-year occupational therapy student at Husson and member of the Epsilon Tau Epsilon sorority, was found dead in the apartment she shared with fellow Husson student Zackery Mailloux, 21, police say. Locke and Mailloux had recently broken up, according to a friend.
Mailloux was charged with murder on Monday shortly after police discovered Locke’s body and is being held at Penobscot County Jail without bail until a grand jury indicts him.
Halley, an adjunct English professor, said at age 71 she’s seen a lot and, “I’ve had students who I know have been in abusive relationships.” She saw no indication that Locke was in such a situation, Halley said.
“If she felt rotten, she didn’t want other people to feel rotten — she wanted to cheer them up,” said Halley, noting she often talked with Locke in the time since she taught her in class.
Funeral arrangements for Locke have been scheduled in her hometown of Auburn. Visiting hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday and her funeral is 11 a.m. Monday at the Fortin Funeral Home, located at 217 Turner St. in Auburn.
Husson University will hold a candlelight vigil for Locke at 6 p.m. Sunday near the bell tower on the Bangor campus, the school announced. In case of bad weather, it will be held in the Newman Gymnasium.
Locke’s Edward Little High School classmates are holding a candlelight vigil near the school’s bell tower at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 27, said Cassandra Hartford, who along with 2010 class president Chris Camire has created the Facebook page “In Remembrance of Brooke Locke.”
Halley said her strongest memory of Locke is the young woman’s professed love of hunting. Halley recounted a story Locke told her about going hunting for the first time on Thanksgiving.
“All the other women in the family were cooking and she went out hunting with the men and she was the first one to get a deer,” the Husson teacher recalled. “To look at her, you never would have thought ‘woodsy girl.’ Her nails were always polished, her hair was always perfect, and she wore a lot of pink.”
The news of Locke’s death has hit Halley hard, she said.
“She was always wanting to do things for other people. She just liked to be nice to people,” Halley said.
“The thing that drives me crazy is that it’s such a waste.”
Mailloux graduated from Houlton High School in 2010 and was a continuing education student at Husson.
“Being a small school, many teachers and administrators recall Zack and we feel disheartened that these unfortunate events have taken place,” Houlton High School principal Marty Bouchard said Thursday.
Halley said she did not know Mailloux.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence and would like to talk with an advocate, call 866-834-4357, TRS 800-787-3224. This free, confidential service is available 24/7 and is accessible from anywhere in Maine.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
