August 12, 2007: Mr. Bustamante starts his employment with the university as an assistant professor of psychology.
Fall 2007: Mr. Bustamante tells Kenneth D. Locke, chairman of the psychology department, of his diagnosis of bipolar disorder, which is managed through medication.
Fall 2007: Three or four female students share with Mr. Locke their observations of Mr. Bustamante’s “flirtatious behavior and favoritism.” Mr. Locke meets with Mr. Bustamante about the complaint and discusses proper faculty-student relationships.
Aug. 23, 2010: Kathryn Benoit enrolls in Mr. Bustamante’s Psychology 218 class.
December 7: The university’s ethics-and-compliance hotline receives an anonymous call disclosing that Mr. Bustamante is having sexual relationships with students, and that a relationship with one student is abusive. (The university later confirmed that Ms. Benoit was not the student in that abusive relationship.)
December 8: Katherine Aiken, dean of the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences, and Carmen Suarez, the university’s director of human rights, access, and inclusion, meet to discuss the hotline report. Ms. Aiken also meets with a faculty member the caller mentioned as having relayed information about Mr. Bustamante.
December 9: The faculty member tells Ms. Aiken that the purported victim will not make a formal complaint.
December 13: Ms. Aiken and Richard Reardon, associate dean of the college, meet with Mr. Bustamante and tell him that any romantic relationship with a student must stop immediately. Mr. Bustamante denies any violation of policy.
May 1, 2011: Mr. Bustamante e-mails Mr. Locke and states that he is experiencing withdrawal symptoms because of a change in his medication. Mr. Locke encourages him to seek medical attention.
June 10: Ms. Benoit makes her first contact with the university’s human-rights office to complain about Mr. Bustamante. Ms. Suarez asks her to submit a written complaint and urges her to take safety precautions and to contact the local police in Moscow, Idaho. Ms. Suarez also provides Ms. Benoit with contact information for Alternatives to Violence of the Palouse, a group that provides help for victims of domestic and sexual violence. The university also contacts the Moscow police.
June 12: Ms. Suarez receives an e-mail with Ms. Benoit’s complaint. Ms. Benoit charges Mr. Bustamante with sexual harassment and threatening her with violence, by holding a loaded gun to her head on three occasions and telling her in detail how he would use the weapon.
June 13: Ms. Benoit tells Ms. Suarez she has contacted the police. Ms. Suarez provides Ms. Benoit with information about a lawyer she could contact if she wanted to pursue an order of protection. Ms. Aiken informs the provost of the complaint.
July 6: Ms. Suarez delivers the complaint to Mr. Bustamante. The letter outlines Ms. Benoit’s formal complaint and directs him to have no contact with her. Mr. Bustamante agrees to meet with university officials on July 19. Ms. Suarez requests security measures as precaution for the scheduled meeting with Mr. Bustamante.
July 11: Mr. Bustamante e-mails Ms. Suarez his response to the complaint, in which he denies Ms. Benoit’s allegations.
July 14: A university threat-assessment team, which includes a Moscow police representative, meets to assess the safety risk to Ms. Benoit and those involved in the investigation. Ms. Suarez and another official meet with Ms. Benoit and tell her that university investigators will interview Mr. Bustamante on July 19. They recommend that Ms. Benoit stay somewhere other than her home.
July 19: Ms. Suarez and Gary Williams, chair of the English department and a co-investigator, conduct an in-person interview with Mr. Bustamante, who admits to a sexual relationship with Ms. Benoit but denies threatening her with a weapon. He admits to having sexual relationships with other university students who are not his advisees or his own students and denies being told by university officials in December 2010 that having intimate relationships with his students is wrong. Mr. Bustamante asks what would happen if he resigns. Ms. Suarez says the university’s investigation would stop. Mr. Bustamante later e-mails his intention to resign to Mr. Locke.
July 22: Ms. Aiken tells Mr. Bustamante that acceptance of his resignation would require specific conditions, including his agreement to teach out his summer-session distance-education and online courses and to not come to campus without notifying his supervisor. It also says the university would agree to stop the investigation arising from Ms. Benoit’s complaint. Mr. Bustamante e-mails Ms. Aiken that he agrees to the conditions.
August 5: Mr. Bustamante delivers a signed separation agreement, which includes limited access to his office and laboratory (accompanied by Mr. Locke) and no access after August 9.
August 8: Ms. Aiken meets with Ms. Benoit and reminds her to call 911 if she has any concerns for her safety. M. Duane Nellis, the university’s president, signs Mr. Bustamante’s separation agreement.
August 9: Mr. Bustamante cleans out his office, supervised by Mr. Locke.
August 22: Fall semester begins. Ms. Suarez meets with Ms. Benoit and informs her that Mr. Bustamante’s contract with the university was formally concluded on August 19. Ms. Suarez cautions Ms. Benoit to get assistance from the police if she has safety concerns and encourages her to take advantage of university support services.
August 22: Ms. Benoit is shot and killed outside of her house near the university.
August 23: Mr. Bustamante is found dead in a nearby hotel room.
