Beau Solomon, a UW Madison student, was murdered in Italy on Friday, July 1, 2016, early in the morning. According to CBS News, Suspect Massimo Galioto, a homeless man, was taken into custody four days later, on account of aggravated homicide. Solomon was in Italy for a foreign exchange program, something most colleges and even Arrowhead has.

Solomon, a Wisconsin native, was found with a head wound and blood on his shirt.

According to Galioto’s companion, Alessia, whose last name was omitted in Italian newspapers, Solomon approached the couple, claiming to have been robbed. Then Alessia says Solomon and Galioto got into an angry scuffle, then Galioto pushed Solomon into the Tiber River. Police are still unsure why the two scuffled.

According to NBC News, Solomon, 19, had beaten childhood cancer. He had attended River Valley High School, in Spring Green, Wisconsin, a small high school with only approximately 450 students, a much smaller high school than Arrowhead. Solomon had been the quarterback of the football team.

Solomon moved to Italy to study finance at John Cabot University, a liberal arts college in Rome. He arrived on Thursday, June 30, and was last seen only hours later after leaving a pub in Trastevere, in Rome.

According to CBS News, over 300,000 American students study abroad each year. Recently, Arrowhead Spanish-speaking students took a trip to Peru.

Italian State TV said that charges of up to $1,700 were made on Solomon’s credit card at a Milan store, hundreds of miles away from both where Solomon was found and where Galioto’s encampment was.

Police found Solomon’s body on Monday in the Tiber, a few kilometers away from the Garibaldi Bridge, where Galioto’s encampment was located.

ANSA News Agency, located in Italy, said that preliminary autopsy results showed that Solomon’s injuries were consistent with both a fall and days spent in the water. Police officials are looking specifically to see if Solomon was conscious when he fell into the water.

Multiple Italian news agencies claim to have unnamed sources who saw a man push someone into the Tiber River early Friday morning.

Junior Mary Baumgartner, who was on the trip to Peru says, “My family does not go abroad often, so most of my safety information came from Srta. Koepke [Spanish teacher].”

Amy DiBernardo, a social worker in New York City, told CBS News, “Parents should actually talk to their kids about how to know what their limits are. Some of the dangers that might present themselves abroad that may not actually present themselves in their hometown, in their contained units.”

Junior Greyson Maclean recently traveled to Peru for a school Spanish trip. Maclean says, “My parents spoke generally about safety abroad. However, I did get more Peru-specific safety instructions from a family member (third cousin) who has been to Peru.”
Is studying abroad worth the risks? Maclean says, “I would definitely study abroad again. I had an amazing time and I feel like it helped me appreciate what I was learning more.”