Family hires PI to investigate student's death

VALDOSTA - A Gwinnett County family has hired a private investigator to search for clues in the mysterious death of their daughter at Valdosta State University.

Relatives of 17-year-old Valdosta State freshman Jasmine Benjamin say that they hope the investigator can turn up new leads in the case. They say they've hired Martinelli Investigations Inc. of Lawrenceville to assist in the investigation.

Police detectives have canvassed dormitories and interviewed several students on the south Georgia campus, hoping to learn how Benjamin died. Police say they're treating the case as a homicide, though autopsy results are not complete and they can't say for certain whether she was slain.

Benjamin, who is from Lawrenceville, was found unresponsive on a couch in a study room of her dormitory on Nov. 18.