Murder Trial To Begin For Columbia Man Charged In VA Teen's Death

BLACKSBURG, VA – A murder trial will begin this week for David Eisenhauer, the former Virginia Tech student and Wilde Lake High School grad accused of stabbing a Virginia middle schooler to death. He was suspected of having an inappropriate relationship with the girl.

Eisenhauer, 20, of Columbia, Maryland, is charged with first-degree murder in the murder of Nicole Madison Lovell. His trial starts Monday in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Christiansburg, Virginia.

Lovell, 13, disappeared from her family's apartment in Blacksburg, Virginia, on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016, and her remains were found Saturday, Jan. 30, just over the state line in Surry County, N.C.

Officials suspect Lovell had an inappropriate relationship with Eisenhauer, who allegedly killed the girl to keep her from revealing the nature of their connection.

The 13-year-old girl required vital medication for a liver transplant, according to Blacksburg Police. Family members discovered she was missing when they tried to administer the medication in the morning and found the dresser pushed against her bedroom door, the Roanoke Times reported.

Lovell described her alleged killer, then 18-year-old Eisenhauer, as her boyfriend after the two met on Facebook, according to The Washington Post.

Once he discovered the girl's age, Eisenhauer was afraid she would "expose" him, a friend of his reportedly said.

Eisenhauer was arrested at Virginia Tech three days after Lovell was reported missing. At the time, the freshman engineering major was charged with one felony count of abduction in connection with 13-year-old girl's disappearance.

Natalie Keepers, 21, also from Howard County and a former Virginia Tech student, is accused of conspiring prior to the death, helping to put Lovell's body in the back of Eisenhauer's Lexus and traveling with him to Surry County, N.C., to bury it.

Keepers took police to the spot where investigators found the girl's body and blood in the snow at the scene. She would later tell police that they made another stop at a Walmart in Wytheville, Virginia, to buy cleaning supplies after the murder, and that she helped clean the body with sanitizing wipes and bleach.

After Lovell's remains were found, Eisenhauer was charged with murder.

Eisenhauer attended Wilde Lake High School and was a star track athlete. In 2015, he was named the Howard County boys indoor track athlete of the year. He was listed as a long distance runner on Virginia Tech's track and field team until his bio was removed following his arrest.

Keepers attended Hammond High School, interned at NASA, wanted to pursue a career in aerospace engineering and was the eldest of four children in a middle-class family, according to The Washington Post.

She is charged as an accessory in Lovell's death. Her trial is scheduled for September.

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The Associated Press and Greg Hambrick contributed to this report.

Pictured, David E. Eisenhauer and Natalie M. Keepers. Photo Credit: Montgomery County, Va., Jail.