Murdered dental student receives posthumous degree 17 years after slaying

<p>Almost two decades after a Medical College of Georgia student was slain by her boyfriend, the Augusta school granted her a posthumous Doctor of Dental Medicine degree.</p><p>Dorothy "Dolly" Hearn was a year away from graduation in 1990 when she was killed by Barton Corbin. Though authorities initially ruled her death a suicide, her case was reopened after Corbin's wife, Jennifer, died under similar circumstances in December 2004.</p><p>As his wife's trial was beginning in September, Corbin pleaded guilty to killing both women. He is serving two life sentences for their deaths. His dental license was revoked last month.</p><p>Hearn, 27, was found dead with a .38-caliber handgun in her lap, in July 1990 _ the same month Corbin became a dentist. Hearn and Corbin were classmates and had dated for more than a year, but were in the midst of a breakup at the time.</p><p>"We know the degree will mean as much to her as it does to us," her brother Carlton Hearn Jr. told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "And it will help us move on and learn to live with this tragedy."</p><p>The posthumous degree is the first bestowed in the college's history.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2007/4/100728