DuFresne, a 1999 graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in performing arts, was murdered in January 2005 near her apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.,It was a bittersweet victory for the family of a rising-star Emerson College alumna last Thursday as the murder trial for the killer of Nicole duFresne closed with a guilty verdict.

DuFresne, a 1999 graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in performing arts, was murdered in January 2005 near her apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Rudy Fleming, 20, was convicted Oct. 12 for the murder, according to Edison Alban of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.

Alban said Fleming was found guilty of murder in the first degree, as well as two counts of robbery in the first degree, four counts of attempted robbery in the second degree and one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.

One faculty member who used to teach duFresne said the conviction didn’t erase the pain of her former student’s untimely death.

“I’m sad about all of it,” said Maureen Shea, performing arts department chair, on hearing about the killer’s conviction. “It was a tragedy to lose Nicole, and now there’s another life lost.”

DuFresne, who was 28 at the time of her death, moved to New York and was starting a promising career in acting, producing and directing. Before moving to New York, duFresne had made a name for herself in the Seattle area, peforming with a number of theatre companies.

But her blossoming career was cut short at approximately 3 a.m. on Jan. 27, 2005.

DuFresne was walking toward her apartment with her fianc