Family to hold private funeral in Massachusetts for CCBC graduate killed at Rice University

The family of Andrea Rodriguez Avila is holding a private funeral service Friday in Massachusetts for the 21-year-old from Nottingham who was killed last week at Rice University in Texas, an online obituary said.

Relatives and friends were invited to attend visiting hours from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at Vida Real Internacional Church in Somerville, Massachusetts. The funeral service at the church Friday, however, is private. She will be buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett, Massachusetts, just north of Boston.

“Andrea was incredibly intelligent and brilliant; her intelligence was matched only by her kindness and compassion. She approached life with a warmth and grace that touched the hearts of many,” the obituary said. “Her eagerness to learn, her generous spirit, and her unwavering dedication to helping others exemplified the love of Christ in all that she did.”

Avila, who was remembered at a candlelight vigil on Tuesday at the Community College of Baltimore County , was killed on Aug. 26 in what officials say was a murder-suicide. She was found dead in her dorm room at Rice University, the school she attended following her 2023 graduation from CCBC.

Also a graduate of Perry Hall High School, she is survived by her parents, of Nottingham in eastern Baltimore County. She also was a “dear sister” to two siblings, a “cherished granddaughter” and an “adoring great granddaughter,” the obituary said.

Rice University officials have said the junior was pre-law and majoring in political science. A statement from her family released last week said she dreamed of working for the United Nations.

Her family asked in the statement that fellow students and friends celebrate her memory by caring for others.